I can’t believe I’m finally here in Quito! This city is absolutely beautiful, with tons of different colored houses and its weaving landscape. It’s not like a U.S. city in which everything shoots up and overpowers the senses in a condensed concrete jungle. The city sprawls out through the mountains’ valleys and practically screams its foreign strangeness. The only drawback I’ve found so far was the disaster we had to survive going through customs. Some planes were delayed, so several huge flights arrived at the same time. It was a mess with people yelling and pushing to get to their luggage and through the customs station. The loud buzz of Spanish really helped Ecuador sink in, giving me a bit of culture shock as I stood out like a sore thumb.

Overall, the first day was a success. We spent a lot of time waiting around in airports and getting to know each other. I’m sure I’m going to make some really great friends in this adventure. I can’t wait to see what we can do for the people here as well as what we can experience and learn from all Ecuador has to offer.