Finally Here

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January 31^st, 2013

Quito, 7:00 a.m.

We are here. Twenty five years after first thinking about such a trip, about three years since we started planning more realistically, and 26 hours since we made our final packing decisions, we woke up this morning to the unfamiliar sounds and smells of a different home here in Quito. We arrived here at about 9:00 last night after a pleasingly uneventful flight via Miami with all parts of the journey going smoothly –not counting the fact that we almost left our most important carry-on bag (laptop, documents etc.) on the floor by the luggage carousel.

We were greeted at the airport by Danny, who works for UBECI.  They had the van to shuttle us and our six bags (most of this donations for the schools) to our homestay on the south side of the city.  It was dark, so our views were limited to the streets we drove through, but did include a glimpse of a fire juggler entertaining people in cars waiting at a traffic light.  You don’t get that in Maynard!

Our host family is very welcoming and provided our first real opportunity to practice Spanish. They are Orlando, Marlena (currently expecting another child in March)and Anita who is sixteen – hopefully good company for Emma.  We sat up talking for a while.  Fortunately, while Orlando and Marlena speak very little English, Anita speaks enough to get us out of trouble.

Today is assigned to acclimatizing ourselves to the neighborhood, organizing our stuff, and, most importantly of all right now, NOT packing or preparing our house for departure.

8:30 p.m.

If you have travelled, you are no doubt familiar with the feeling of surprise at the end of the first day when you realize that it really has only been one day away from home. Already we have become settled in to some of the new routine here.  Our phones that we bought, unlocked, in the US, now have chips and numbers stored.  The beauty of this however is that we really only plan to use them for local business and emergencies – say, if Emma gets left behind on abus somewhere.  Much as I use my phone a lot at home, I am very much looking forwards to this not being a part of my regular day. It felt a bit crazy going to a mall to get the chips, but I don’t plan to return there too often.

The area around us is characterized mostly by 3-4 story apartment buildings, most with balconies and flat roofs, and many with the tell-tale signs of rebar protruding from various corners indicating an ongoing desire to add to the structures. The roof of our building provides a spectacular view looking both north and south along the Quito valley, with high mountains, especially on the west side. The great Basillica can be seen a couple of miles to the north, and the only other outstanding landmark we can see from here is a substantial angel statue on top of a hill close by. 

View from the roof of our home - you can just make out the winged version of the Madonna on
 El Panecillo (the hill)  to the right.

Pedestrians must be constantly on their guard here.  Unlike Maynard where a car will stop if you so much as look across to the other side of the street, the general rule here appears to be speed up first, ask questions later. Buses and taxis dominate the traffic, though there are still many trucks and, by US standards, undersized vans that maneuver briskly through the crowded streets.  For all that, it does not seem overly aggressive so much as a mutual polite agreement that everybody has the right to get to the end of the street first. 

Our Spanish is already improving. Visits to a general store,the phone place, a fish market, a health clinic (Anita fell ill today), and abarber shop (for Orlando) will do that. On Tuesday (Martes) we start three hours of lessons each afternoon.  Bueno!