First Impressions!

I am in Ecuador! I have internet! I wasn't abducted in transit or stopped by customs or killed by malaria! I am safe, I am happy, and I am HERE!

A quick recap of my journey here: I was picked up by Jorge at the airport, and also by another Otavalian (?) who runs the Radio Bahai here. They were very accommodating and we drove the hour and a half to Otavalo from Quito (passing many trucks on many dimly lit highways at very high speeds. But we arrived in one piece!) and I came home to Jorge's house, where he lives with his wife, Claudia, and two sons. Also here are two youth from Cuencas, a southern city, named Kelly and Andres. Everyone was very nice and so patient with my stammering spanish! I mostly just crashed that night, exhausted from the 24 hours+ of travelling and not sleeping.

I slept so soundly! I was expecting to be awake half the night worrying about whatever, but I guess an advantage of traveling 24 hours straight is that its impossible to stay awake once you have a safe, horizontal surface to sleep on! I am sharing a room with Kelly now, but she leaves tonight to return to Cuencas.

I woke up to music. Ecuador is so very musical. From the neighbor who offered to be the DJ of the morning (it was his latino music that floated across the neighborhood and woke me up) to the car to the beautiful guitar music I hear right now of Andres playing in the next room: its rarely quiet, but the noise is nice. An additional noise that suddenly started was a bunch of rain!

It was brilliantly sunny this morning, warm (upper 60's), when Claudia took us to see the Bahai center, the Radio Bahai, a downtown area, and finally the Raul Pavon School. All of us piled into the little stick shift: Claudia, Jesse and Julio (Jorge's sons), Andres and Kelly! (another thing I've noticed: cars are less of how many seats you have and more of how many bodies you can fit).

The Bahai center is beautiful: a mini-soccer field/greenspace surrounded by classrooms, with a large circular area for large events. I walked up a pathway to the Radio Bahai center, and was able to see the rooms for recording, as well as some Bahai quotes in Spanish. Its a fun game for me to try to see if I am familiar with the quote by translating it from Spanish to English!

We left the Radio Bahai center before 10, when they were broadcasting "en vivo" (live), and drove downtown. We stopped at a pastelería to get some sweetbread for Jesse, before taking him to get his photos taken. The center is truly amazing. It is such a mix of traditional and modern! Many indigenous Otavaleños wear traditional clothing: lovely intricately embriodered blouses and skirts for the women. The men wear their hair long in a braid down their back. I also felt tall; most Otavaleños are very short.

After downtown we went to the school. As Claudia chatted and did something (I'm still not all there with the language) I was able to walk around with Andres. The school is in a very pretty location, surrounded by vegetation and there are many areas for the kids to play. The classrooms are small but quaint. I am very excited to learn more about what I will be doing!

We returned home, ate lunch (quinoa soup, rice, noodles, and tuna fish, with delicious fresh juice!) and since then have just been chilling at home. The TV, at least in this house (but I think it is common in all of Ecuador) is always on. This is kind of annoying, but it is interesting to see all the programmes, especially those in spanish. And I think mi español improves from watching childrens programmes with Jesse :)

I'm not sure what the next few days hold. I'm sure they will be exciting. I am having a wonderful time! Miss everyone, of course, but a lot of my worries about what things will be like have been assuaged. I am very happy! So long!