All I can say is wow. I am finally in Ecuador and it’s fantastico. Everything went without a problem. No flight cancellations, no delays, and best of all no lost baggage. I can’t say how happy I was to see my suitcase whole and intact. I even met a couple other CFHI participants on the same flight from Miami to Quito. The flight to Quito was like first class without the extra space. They gave everyone a pillow, a blanket, and headphones to use for the flight. Not to mention a dinner complete with alcoholic options-- for free. I think LAN has probably done by far the best job in air service. Kudos to them. I look forward to my return flight. Also, the flight attendants were very attentive to people who spoke English and those who spoke Spanish. They would just switch back and forth. Needless to say, I looked like I didn’t know Spanish so they spoke to me in English, but I was happy to find that I understood the majority of what they said when they spoke in Spanish. I have also been able to hold my own with conversing for the most part. I realized that I think I will totally be able to manage the language barrier!!!!! YAY! In fact, I’m tempted to blog in Spanish—because once I speaking in Spanish I keep thinking about how to say things. So, there may be a few posts con Espanol o una mezcla de espanol y ingles.
I am very tired by now having woken up at 2am, traveled to O’Hare via car, to Miami to Quito, arriving at 1715, gone through customs and finally making it to my host mom’s house. My host mom is adorable, kind and understanding. She lives alone, except for when she has students stay with her for CFHI programs. For dinner she cooked us –what she called pizza. And it was more or less the idea of pizza—but not what you think of when Americans say—I ate pizza. The crust was different, more soft and without the edge. It was in a casserole pie dish. In fact, I think casserole pizza is a good name for it. It was good. We talked about lots of different things mostly all in Spanish, although she does know some English which helps fill the gaps when I don’t understand.
I asked my host mom (Francia is her name) if there was a Catholic Church close by and she was telling me about it. She also asked the other student who is staying here, Kristen, if she goes to a church. She said that she does, but not a Catholic one. Anyway, I thought it was interesting and funny that Francia called the protestant church the one for gringos and Americans—non-Ecuadorians essentially. (I thought you would get a kick out of that dad).
Kristen and I talked for awhile about things and I’m very excited to have her as mi compañero to explore Ecuador with. She is a first-year med student and we’ve been getting along well thus far.
My room is nice, spacious, and I have it all to myself. OH and I have GOOD NEWS—I found my camera cord. So God willing my camera will continue to function and I will be able to post photos. The mountains here are so beautiful. I dunno what it is about mountains, but they just make me want to travel to them when I see them in the distance.
So I want to say thank you to everyone who has supported me and made it possible for me to be in Ecuador! I hope to keep you all posted on my adventures. All I can say is I feel like everyday is going to be awesome. Pray that I don’t get sick! (So far, so good.)
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