From New Jersey to Ecuador

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Day 1



Last night, I arrived in Quito, Ecuador. My trip started out with a bit of a rough start. I realized that morning that my glasses were missing somewhere in the Mercedes dealership, perhaps forever. Luckily, they found and I was able to get them on the way to the airport. My first flight was to Miami. The flight was about 2 and a half hours and everything went smoothly.



When I went into the Miami airport, things were already very different than at Newark. Hardly anyone there spoke English. Almost all of the people you passed were speaking Spanish. Even the majority of the announcements were in Spanish which I was not expecting. I had about a five hour layover there but was able to keep myself busy with my laptop and phone, reading, and walking around.



That night, my flight to Quito left around 8 o’clock. The flight was about 3 hours and 45 minutes. It was late so most of the people slept after the unappetizing dinner. Unfortunately, for the second time that day, I had the seat in front of the emergency row so it was unable to recline. I slept in total for about 20 or 30 minutes.



As we prepared to land, I opened the shade on my window. From above at night, the city of Quito looked beautiful. I wanted to take a picture but at that time all electronic devices had to be off so I couldn’t. What was interesting to me is you’d see a lit up city but then at some parts it would abruptly stop. There would not be a single light because that’s where the larger mountains were.



We arrived at the Quito airport around 11 o’clock their time. Quito is an hour behind the east coast. The line for immigration was very long but once you got to a counter it only took about two minutes. All of the airport employees only spoke Spanish. Fortunately, it was easy to answer the easy questions there about my name, birthday, etc. After that, I had to find my suitcase which took a good ten minutes. Finally, my suitcase was x-rayed one last time and I was free to leave.



My host family was waiting for me at the airport. There was Ingrid, the mom, Ruben, the dad, and Sebastian, the son. Ingrid welcomed me with lots of hugs and a friendly smile. She immediately started conversing with me only in Spanish which I definitely was not prepared for. After a long day of traveling, I was eager to go home and sleep instead of trying to think of the correct Spanish terms to use. We talked in simply Spanish phrases on the way home.



The family lives very close to the airport. At their house, I have my own room with the basics: bed, dresser, desk, night table, and closet. I also have my own bathroom which to me is a luxury. I brought my suitcase in, put my pajamas, and went right to sleep for the night. It took me a little while to sleep because I kept trying to think of more Spanish phrases that I knew. Eventually, I was able to fall asleep and I slept well.

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