Quito part 1

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Only three weeks in my four-month journey and already full of stories and on my way to feeling at home in this incredible country.

I am staying in a small apartment in the north side of Quito with a wonderful woman named Mercedes. Mercedes is a widow, with three grown children and small dog name Chiquito. From the moment I got off the plane I have been nothing but spoiled with hugs, meals, patience and acceptance. Mercedes lives in a small apartment decorated with random figurines and a few remaining Christmas decorations. Her mother lives in the apartment in front and her sister next door, all sharing the courtyard used to hang drying clothes. Mercedes speaks no English; so right from the beginning I was thrown into a total immersion situation. But I could not have asked for a more comfortable place to land for my first stop.

My room is small but cozy, painted bright pink with framed pictures of old Quito hung on the walls. I feel safe and comfortable. Everyday I have breakfast and lunch with Mercedes. Breakfast consists of fresh fruit, fresh juices, and instant coffee with milk, scrambled eggs and fresh rolls with jam. Mercedes sits with me sipping her tea equipped with her Spanish/English dictionary, tattered from all the years of previous guests needing a little bit of assistance.

As I eat we engage in a conversation filled with my mispronunciations and basic slaughtering of the Spanish language. However with each day I get better and the topics seem to have moved from the weather to events from the day and our personal histories. Mercedes is super patient and I have never felt like a burden, she has been doing this for 15 years and seems to love the experience. She has shared pictures and stories of her past guests from around the world. I find her nothing but loving and open-minded. I will miss our daily conversations over breakfast and lunch.

After breakfast I head to the corner to meet Olivia, a 21 year-old British girl who is staying with our head program coordinator, Marianna. Olivia is incredibly intelligent and fluent in Spanish! She is a great friend and a patient teacher. I am so grateful to have met her and to have shared this experience with her. After her month stay here in Quito she journeys off to Brazil to meet up with friends for Carnival, then to Argentina, Chile, and Peru.

Once we meet at the corner we make the short trek to Remar Orphanage. Where we help with the younger kids, ages 0-3. We play, feed, change, break up fights, kiss their scrapes and bruises and just shower them with love until 1pm. Then back up a very, very ...very steep hill to our host homes to enjoy the most important meal of the day…lunch.

Lunch at Mercedes is always an adventure, though a good cook, I have had to adjust to the various flavors of Ecuador. Some of the dishes served I have promised myself not to ask what I am eating. The Lunch begins with soup, followed by a VERY full plate of rice, potatoes, some sort of meat and a vegetable. This is a difficult part of the day for me since usually I am not a fan of the meal and of the huge quantity, but I want to respect Mercedes so I eat. Once lunch is over I go back to meet Olivia at the corner to walk back down the hill for a 2 hour Spanish lesson, both of us groaning from our full bellies.

After our lessons we either head back up the hill or grab a coffee. Usually by 6:30pm I’m back at Mercedes and totally wiped. The combination of mental exhaustion from learning a language at this pace, the overstimulation of the city and tackling that hill 2-3 times a day makes me ready for bed by 7pm. But I push it to Skype; write emails, post pictures and work. As time passes I feel more acclimated to the schedule and my surroundings, so Olivia and I have begun to explore the city at night.

More on the Orphanage and my weekend adventures to the Amazon and Otavalo to come…

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