May 24, 2010.

I´m a real adult now. Hands down. I arrived in Quito, Ecuador last night- a very sweet older man named Fabian picked me up and drove me to Hostal Quito Antiguo, in the nicest area of Quito. The innkeepers are so sweet. When I got inside to my room, I laid down on the bed and just smiled and laughed to myself. I can´t believe I´m here! Over and over I say that to myself. Immediately upon arrival, each person I´ve met instantly speaks Spanish. I. love. it. I´m tempted to write in Spanish now because it´s already on my mind!

So Quito is way more beautiful than I expected. Of course, it´s a city, and it has ugly parts, but the buildings are colorful and there is so much life!!! And it´s situated smack in the middle of the Andes. HUGE MOUNTAINS right outside, looming in the distance, hidden by the fog. It´s only clear in the mornings, usually. I can´t stop looking around when I´m outside- everything about this city fascinates me- people, places, food, music.

This morning I had breakfast (eggs, cheese, toast, and warm leche in which I forgot to put the instant coffee- Ecuadorians don´t drink strong coffee) with a couple from Guayaquil and a solo Colombian traveler man who is touring South America by himself! I was telling the couple I was here by myself and that I didn´t know too many details about what I´d be doing and they were thinking I was crazy. I started to think so too.

I got a brief overview of Quito and bought my plane ticket for tomorrow with Karla Torres, one of the program coordinators. Es muy linda gente and showed me the main area around my hostal. That´s why I feel safe enough to be in this internet cafe writing to youuu.

After Karla left me, I immediately found 2 American girls from Omaha who I saw in a cafe that I passed by. Groups are never a bad thing, so I went with them to meet up with another boy who´s staying in their host family´s house and we bussed it up to La Mitad del Mundo! The bus drivers are crazy. Once the driver stopped in the middle of the street so that the money-collector guy could get some food across the street!

The middle of the world was ok... really touristy. Ecuadorian tourists included, especially cause today was a holiday commemorating La Batalla de Pichincha. I didn´t want to be there long, but couldn´t rush the others so... was stuck. Got back an hour ago. The bus ride was more of an adventure than the Mitad. But I had to do it- when am I gonna come back?

I really am enjoying this Ecuadorian keyboard. Almost getting used to the weird placement of punctuation marks, and the addition of new ones! Tomorrow I go to Cuenca to meet my family!! And why is "Workin at the Car Wash" currently playing in this internet cafe???

Ok, I´ve got more Quito to see. Les dejo ya!