After a gazillion flights (ok, 5) I finally made it to Quito! Everything went smoothly, even going through the most hated Charles de Gaulle airport which has had a bit of a facelift. All of a sudden, the signs there have actually become informative. The Atlanta airport was another interesting experience. Everything was so American, from what I imagined was a megachurch that we flew over during landing, to the soldiers in camouflage uniforms saying goodbye to loved ones at the aiport; from the fingerprint scanning and photo taking at immigration to people constantly telling me to 'have a nice day'. The 10 hours spent at the airport in Mexico City were less fun, as more than half of them were spent sleeping on a cold stone floor. I survived, however, to meet Alex and Charles in San José and - to our big surprise - Monica in Quito. We thought she was going to arrive today, but it turns out she had gotten confused and came to pick us up at the airport after having spent a night in the city already.
We're staying in the old town in Quito, which is a lovely part of the city with lots of old colonial buildings. The tourist season has ended, so most of the time we're the only tourists around. We've already managed to sample some excellent food, see a demonstration, see the president wave at the demonstrators and spoken to some soccer girls, one of whom plays in the national team. It's been easy to start conversations and everyone we've spoken to has been really friendly. Basically, we're having a great time here.
I hope everyone... I can't say 'back home', but everyone not on this trip, I guess, is doing well too.
