I´ve made it! I am sitting in a cute little internet cafe in Quito across from the hotel we are staying at for the next day. I was surprised to find out that the flight was much shorter than I expected, only 4 and a half hours. They bumped me to an earlier flight to Atlanta and I was worried they might not get my luggage on the right plane but all is well and I have everything. I did, however, find out that I forgot to get a huge reading packet that was for pre-departure reading but fortunately, other students forgot to get it as well. I am going to see if there are any copies at the school. I also didn´t realize that we were supposed to get our host families gifts. I would´ve brought something cool from Chicago. Oh well, I think I may buy something for my host family after I get to know them a little better (we meet them tomorrow).
I imagine it is pretty cold in Chicago and Ohio right now and I cannot say that I am missing it. It is in the mid to upper 60s right now and the sun is shining bright. I put on sunscreen because lord knows I will burn up especially at this alititude. Speaking of altitude, I am definitely feeling the lack of oxygen up here. I have been a little light-headed since getting here and just going up the stairs to my hotel room gets me winded. I am making sure to drink lot´s of water and not exert myself too much for the first week. Can´t go getting HAPE or HACE. (WFRs will appreciate that one)
Today is the only free day we have for a while so a bunch of us decided to go exploring and walk all around Quito. It has been a beautiful day and we went to the basilica and hung out at the Plaza Grande where there was a protest going on. Apparently, about 250 students who went to the police academy went through 15 months of training and were not allowed to graduate because they were not tall enough. What a ridiculous thing to happen.
I love how people are all over the place here. During lunch the streets and parks are packed with people milling around. They take about 2 hour lunch breaks which is really nice. I love how much slower paced things are here. I bet they are more sane than Americans, or at least less stressed and overworked. Another thing I have noticed are the cars. All of them are super tiny and mostly Hyundai, and volkswagen. They have tons of busses and the bus stops are cool because they are elevated and separate from the sidewalk. I won´t deny the craziness of the drivers though. Pedestrians definitely don´t have the right of way.
As of now, I am excited and enjoying myself. The honeymoon stage is pretty sweet. I will try and update in a few days if I get the chance. Hasta luego!
Note: Picture is courtesy of Megan MacPherson. We are in front of the Basilica in the Centro Historico de Quito.
1 comment:
Sounds great. I would love to see more people on the street and fewer cars. What's the air quality like, can you see a long way, are mountains visible all around?
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