Ah the first day in Quito ! It was a pretty uneventful day. I slept until about 9 still feeling exhausted from the trip yesterday (and the crazy high elevation here doesn't help either) My host mom, Irma, made me breakfast and we got acquainted. She is the world's nicest lady! She takes in a lot of volunteers and thinks of them as her foster children. She spent a solid half hour showing me pictures of the volunteers who have stayed with her. Her husband, angel and her two sons (both in their 30's) also live in the house. They also have an adorable dog named asha. Their house is very quaint and homely. My room is a little oddly decorated as I had mentioned in my previous post with the picture of the little boy and Jesus staring at me as I sleep (pictures to come) I am going to have a roommate who is set to arrive Monday night. I hope she's cool because it's pretty close quarters in here! The roof is my favorite part of the house... There is a great view of the whole city. There is also a cement soccer field behind the house and I actually woke up from the whistles and yelling (could've done without that)
I went to the centro commercial today which is their giant mall and supermarket. I wasnt too impressed. I picked up a few items that I needed as well as a really strange cafe con leche and headed home. It was not easy to get home! Irma sent me off with just her address I really had no concept of where it was, what the major cross streets were or anything. It turned out that I had to ask 5 taxis before anyone actually knew where this place was... Almost got lost on my first day! (I was sure to ask for more thorough directions upon arriving home)
I used the rest of the day to read, nap, unpack, study some Spanish, and map out the trips I am planning on taking. I also found out that I don't have to volunteer on Monday's (they give everybody a long weekend) so just need to go to orientation tomorrow.
I had a late dinner with the family. We ate mote which is a soup made of giant corn kernals and onion along with chuletas (porkchops) it was pretty delicious.
