Hello All,
I have to admit, this is my first blog so you will have to hang in there as I figure it all out from Ecuador. I have been sending out a lot of emails in the last few days and decided this is the best way for me to keep everyone up to date and informed without having to spend my whole day answering emails so here we go.
After a nice weekend with the family and a some good Chinese food with my lovely girlfriend Hillarie on Monday night, I flew out of Seatac Tuesday, February 1st 2011 just after sunrise. The weather was beautiful and the flight to Washington D.C. for staging was painless. My only note here was the abundance of snow in the states which lasted from Eastern Washington all the way out to Regan International in D.C. The Peace Corps staging event was fairly quick and covered some ice breakers for getting the group together. I actually had the chance to walk the Mall from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capital building (a nice U.S. send off for my Peace Corps experience).
Following 2 hours of sleep and a 3 am wake up, we checked out of the hotel and headed for the airport. Everyone was exhausted to say the least and I must say you can learn a lot about people in that state. After a layover in Miami we arrived in Quito Ecuador just after sunset on Thursday. We were met at the gate and escorted in groups of 5 to the bus as to not get our stuff stolen. The last few days have been more a less a blur of settling into the climate and a welcome to the training center. Everyone is great and they all seem very excited to have us here. The valley here in Tumbaco (the suburb we are staying in just outside of Quito) is surrounded by hills and volcanos and the plants are very similar to those in Costa Rica. It has been about 70 degrees the last three days and partly cloudy.
Today we finally met our host families after 3 hours of class in the morning. For the next 11 weeks of training I will be living with a family in downtown Tumbaco in a three story house overlooking Quito and the Pinchincha Volcano. My host parents have 3 children, a 10 yr old girl, a 14 yr old boy and a 17 yr old girl. After a warm welcome and some time to settle into my room, which happens to be the youngest daughters room normally and is painted a nice pink with Barbies and Snow White scattered about, I had some time to relax on the patio. As I sat in the sun in front of our 4 sliding glass doors that open up to a full view of Pinchincha, listening to quiet spanish conversation and a heavy reggaetone beat off in the distance, it started to hit me that this is home for the time being.
I am looking forward to spending a lot of time here in Tumbaco both with my host family and the great group of volunteers that we have down here. I can already see why this is said to be one of the best places on earth, let alone have the highest bio-diversity in the world (Ecuador holds 10% of the worlds plants and animal species in a space the size of Colorado). To all you who have the ability it is worth a visit!
I have to admit, this is my first blog so you will have to hang in there as I figure it all out from Ecuador. I have been sending out a lot of emails in the last few days and decided this is the best way for me to keep everyone up to date and informed without having to spend my whole day answering emails so here we go.
After a nice weekend with the family and a some good Chinese food with my lovely girlfriend Hillarie on Monday night, I flew out of Seatac Tuesday, February 1st 2011 just after sunrise. The weather was beautiful and the flight to Washington D.C. for staging was painless. My only note here was the abundance of snow in the states which lasted from Eastern Washington all the way out to Regan International in D.C. The Peace Corps staging event was fairly quick and covered some ice breakers for getting the group together. I actually had the chance to walk the Mall from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capital building (a nice U.S. send off for my Peace Corps experience).
Following 2 hours of sleep and a 3 am wake up, we checked out of the hotel and headed for the airport. Everyone was exhausted to say the least and I must say you can learn a lot about people in that state. After a layover in Miami we arrived in Quito Ecuador just after sunset on Thursday. We were met at the gate and escorted in groups of 5 to the bus as to not get our stuff stolen. The last few days have been more a less a blur of settling into the climate and a welcome to the training center. Everyone is great and they all seem very excited to have us here. The valley here in Tumbaco (the suburb we are staying in just outside of Quito) is surrounded by hills and volcanos and the plants are very similar to those in Costa Rica. It has been about 70 degrees the last three days and partly cloudy.
Today we finally met our host families after 3 hours of class in the morning. For the next 11 weeks of training I will be living with a family in downtown Tumbaco in a three story house overlooking Quito and the Pinchincha Volcano. My host parents have 3 children, a 10 yr old girl, a 14 yr old boy and a 17 yr old girl. After a warm welcome and some time to settle into my room, which happens to be the youngest daughters room normally and is painted a nice pink with Barbies and Snow White scattered about, I had some time to relax on the patio. As I sat in the sun in front of our 4 sliding glass doors that open up to a full view of Pinchincha, listening to quiet spanish conversation and a heavy reggaetone beat off in the distance, it started to hit me that this is home for the time being.
I am looking forward to spending a lot of time here in Tumbaco both with my host family and the great group of volunteers that we have down here. I can already see why this is said to be one of the best places on earth, let alone have the highest bio-diversity in the world (Ecuador holds 10% of the worlds plants and animal species in a space the size of Colorado). To all you who have the ability it is worth a visit!
Alex really good to hear from you! Sounds amazing so far, even your pink barbie room sounds sweet. Look forward to keeping up with you via the blog! Be safe homie and have a ball.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to hearing about all the new critters you encounter down there. Please send us a photo with you in your new room. We'll toast your success at RACM tomorrow night at Tim and Becky's.
ReplyDeleteKevin