Okay, so our plane didn't get in until almost midnight (Ecuador time) on Thursday. At that point we had to go through customs, which took forever. Then, I found out that my host family couldn't come pick me up. So, it's almost 2 AM and I've been traveling all day and the GAIAS representative has no clue what to do with me. She ended up taking me to a hotel, where I spent the night by myself (Mom, don't freak out). It was a bit scary to be in the middle of a strange city and alone at a hotel, but I was tired enough that I watched a bit of tv in Spanish and then went to sleep.
The next morning Eugenia (the GAIAS rep) came to pick me up and took me to USFQ for orientation. The 44 GAIAS students and the rest of the international students spent almost all day listening to people tell us how dangerous the city is and then what a great place it is to visit. Eventually, I stopped taking them seriously. It was also pretty difficult to stay awake during some of the talks later in the day, as I still hadn't recovered from my harrowing journey to Ecuador. I was very glad to meet Rikke, the GAIAS student from Norway, during lunch (a 3 course lunch that I probably shouldn't have finished). She is staying at the same house as me. At the end of the day, I met Dolores, our host mom. She took us home and showed us the house and where we would be staying. It's a beautiful house and we have a little house off the main house to ourselves. The main house is pictured above. We also met Alejandra, Dolores' daughter. She seems very nice and speaks very good English. Dolores, not so much, but that should help us practice our Spanish.
Today we were taken on a tour of the Old Town in Quito and also to La Mitad del Mundo (the equator). It was very interesting walking around the city and seeing the gorgeous churches everywhere and all the people. We had fruit juice at a small stand (passion fruit and strawberry for me) and at lunch at El Buho. Again, there was a whole lot of food that I didn't end up being able to finish. I did manage to eat dessert, though. Torte de tres leches. It was yummy. The equator museum was cool. Our guide took us through some history about the native peoples of Ecuador and demonstrated what happens at the equator. We got back to USFQ around 5 and I somehow managed to get passport photos taken at a store nearby. Then, we got frozen yogurt before Dolores and her boyfriend came. Now, we are relaxing at home, where we have wifi! Even though it is only around 7 pm here, I feel like bedtime is going to come very soon.
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