Breathless First Impressions

Quito, Ecuador

Even as I sit writing, I am a bit light-headed. I landed last night at 3,000 meters above sea level - that´s almost 9,000 feet, something I´m not used to and kind of embarrassing in a strange way. I stopped 3 times on the way home from the supermaxi tonight to rest my lungs. How do the kids here smoke?! The sights, smells and sounds so far have been equally breathtaking.

¨Passengers, I´m sorry to interrupt the film, but please take a moment, if you wish, to peek out the right side of the cabin windows. You will see below a nice line forming of about 6 big ships waiting to enter the Panama canal.¨

And so I removed my headphones (The Prestige was not very good), leaned over my chicken penne from the aisle seat to steal a glimpse, and then raised my glass of cabernet to cheers with my first new friend, Hellene from Toulouse, France. It was an incredible sight, and one that brought home the realization that I was indeed gone again. In broken French and English we chatted throughout the flight about how difficult it was going to be to get by without Spanish! Nice girl, a physiotherapist. Why do I always end up with French speakers no matter where I go?? But she´ll be touring with a local friend who knows her way; I was to be all by my lonesome...

Customs was a pain in the ass. I had more people-watching in spanish Miami International. I stood in Quito´s customs section for about 45 minutos while every other line moved, and then I started switching lines to be clever and make up time. Well, we all know how a brilliant idea like that works out! Like the opening scene of Office Space, I ended up further screwed, stuck behind two short nuns and in front of a family of 4 undisciplined children running through my legs, not to mention now among the next flight´s passengers as everyone on my plane had álready made it through. What´s worse, I could literally see my bag through the customs line sitting on the conveyer belt for 1/2 hour - until some airport dude moved it...
No worries, I got in and got my bag. (Sorry, no good dramatic ending to that one)

Lucie and her sister Fatima (Titi) greeted me with smiles and we rushed out into the pouring rain. Apparently there was a drought until I arrived - but it´s better than the DC snow I suppose. And so I was whisked away through Quito in the fog, through busy streets, alongside large parks, and finally up a hillside to a quaint street and a beautiful old home that I now call my own.

I live in Piedad´s home, their mother, and she speaks very little english which will be a good thing. She is an economist currently working for a ministry tied to the presidential office. The daughters live across town in a nice apartment. I have my own room here and a full bathroom, a radio, television, my ipod, a yet-to-be-activated supercool cell phone, my camera. But none of it really matters without these people. This trip has run smoothly and will continue to be amazing precisely because of the family that has welcomed me so warmly. BIG shout out to Betty Adler for making all of this possible, and for a delicious send-off with authentic Ecuadorian cuisine. Today I awoke to an impressive view of the city from the living room window. It sprawls perpendicularly ¨like a sausage¨, with fog-covered mountains and tres volcanoes rising in three directions just beyond the city limits. A maze of streets sprawl down the hillside as I gaze downward, and I can pick out several university buildings, a cathedral, and a planetarium in their midst. The weather was muy caliente today, and I sweated through my t-shirt in the passenger seat as I began working on the glorious tan that will help me blend in.

The streets are outrageously alive here, both because it was Valentine´s Day and because we are heading into Carnival (I´ve been invited to head north with the sisters to a place called Siete Cascades and then San Lorenzo (yes Chip, the mythical dream of San Lorenzo!). Hey Chino, remember Songkron in Thailand!? Well, here the kids spend the week leading to Carnival in a simialr fashion, soaking passersby with water balloons, powder, etc., and their favorite targets are gringos. On my own on the street as dusk fell, I expected to find faces that stared right through my gringo eyes as I walked towards the supermarket. I clutched my pockets close and felt comforted that my passport and credit cards were strapped to my right calf. But for a brief moment I felt my pocket vibrate - a moment of panic not about pickpocketers but brought about by the realization that I actually had no cell phone, no keys, no communication. This was my favorite moment of the day; where I experienced the American traveler´s paranoia and shook it off. I felt immediately relieved and then a sense of familiarity- disconnected and back in the saddle again?

Of course I found only friendly street venders selling hot dogs, hamberguesas, and red balloons and flowers for the holidays; equally impressive were the hordes of students lounging on benches and in alleyways, putting on obnoxious displays of PDA with their teen lovers. Get a room?!

Escuela, Collegio, y Universidad
This city, as I have seen it so far, is made up of universities. Whether you walk or drive, you pass a school. everyone appears to be working toward some kind of degree, whether it is Lucie´s Masters in planning and economics or Titi´s PhD in environmental science, the uniformed kids heading to the Gilvani primary school or the sophisticated folk entering the Faculdad buildings of the Polytechnical Intitute. 92% literacy sounds low to me from where I´m standing.

Lucie drove me around all day, and I believe she found me my spanish course! At the Catholic University a short bus ride from my home here I can study 3 horas per dia, M-F, por seis semanas. (I know I´m butchering, I just thought it´d be fun to look back on later). Lucie passed out flyers for a music festival coming up at a beach five hours away her other sister Nene is promoting. We came back for a family lunch, where I enjoyed supa con verduras and a rice and shrimp dish, followed by helato. But the best part of the food so far is the juice. They have all kinds of juices, and fruits like tomate that I thought was a tomato but actually makes a delectable nectar that tastes more like naranja. Sorry, I like fruit. I´m being old that the coast is more fish and inland is all meat, yet the ladies surrounding me don´t eat much carne. I´ll eat anything, so I guess it is nice to have some healthy infuences.

Prices here are strange to me. Ecuador is officially on the American dollar since 2001. Any bus you hop on is 25 cents. A 9 hour bus ride might cost $10. On the other hand, while your onion costs 7 cents at the grocery store you might pay $3 for an avocado or $7.50 for Florida orange juice. Why buy groceries when you go across the street for a 3 course meal for 2-3 dollares? At least a box of Chips a´Hoy or a 3 liter of coca cola classic are only about 80 cents.

So these are some first impressions. I have released myself into the wild again, if in a bit more structured environment, and it feels fantastic. I´m literally up early, hungrier, more active, and wide-eyed with enthusiasm. Down here I find myself talking about mangroves and volcanic eruptions, exotic fruits and unpaved roads towards amazonian destinations. The world is so damn big.