And So It Began...

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Before I can even begin to tell you about the current journey I'm on I feel it necessary to give you some background into how I got where I am now.

In the summer of 2009 my father was offered early retirement (he worked for the U.S. Postal service). This required a pay cut and we could no longer afford to live in the U.S. I was 17 at the time, and my parents told me we were moving to either Ecuador or Uruguay. Well, the President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, had recently made it easier for retirees to get a visa to live in Ecuador and the cost of living was cheap, so Ecuador was the country my parents chose. (Let me take a brief intermission here to tell you that I was absolutely not excited about this. I was terrified, and partially excited, but mostly terrified. All my life I wanted to travel but I had never expanded my mind so much that I thought about actually living in a different country; especially a country so different from my own. When my parents first told me the news I pictured my jaw hitting the floor like a cartoon man's jaw would if a pretty girl walked by. I was absolutely livid at this new development in my life, especially because I felt I was losing all control and had no choice in the matter, as most teenagers would.)

When we first got to Quito it was quiet the shock. I had taken a month long trip around Europe with the Student Ambassador Program when I was 15, but moving to South America was clearly a different beast entirely.

When we first arrived to the airport and walked out the exit doors, there were people screaming at us from little windows, asking if we wanted a taxi. I remember it as a lot louder than I'm sure it was, and I think the blood pounding in my ears probably had something to do with it. We walked outside, found a big white van that was way too expensive and we were on our way to the Hotel Quito. It was the middle of the night, and we were driving through extremely foggy streets, not knowing where we were.

The apartment we found online was 500$ a month, and it was in an area called Guapalo. We walked down a hill to this apartment that was built into the side of a cliff and clearly it was a rip-off. Looking back now, and with the knowledge I now have of Quito, the apartment should have been around 100$ a month.

We rented a taxi for a day and went apartment hunting all over the city. Everything was way too expensive and none of the apartments were furnished. Eventually we rented a furnished place in one of the most expensive areas in Quito called "Bellavista." At the time, we didn't realize that the whole of Quito wasn't priced like this, and we were also quiet pressed for time.

While living in Bellavista I became extremely lonely. I wasn't in high school anymore (I had graduated online) and I didn't speak Spanish. I had no way of meeting people and I wasn't sure where I should go. I found a Facebook page called "People who Love Quito" or something like that, and looked at the names of the people on the page. I was desperate for some sort of social life, and I created a message that said something along the lines of this:

Hi,

My name is Sarah Daggett and I just moved to Quito from the United States. I don't really have a way of meeting people here and I don't speak the language, so if you speak English, I would greatly appreciate it of you could send me a message back. I would love to meet up!

Talk about putting yourself out there!

Surprisingly, I received quiet a few responses and a few actually worked out. I met a friend named Jen who lives in Canada but she was in Quito working on her thesis. We met up for lunch a few times and I went to her house warming party. I also met a friend named Pame, who was a little too extroverted for my personality, but her family did take me and my parents to some hot springs in Ecuador called "Papallacta." She also took me to my first nightclub. It was called "The Room" and I had my first shot of Tequila and learned how to salsa.

The best person I ended up meeting though is my fiance. When he responded to my message he was in Argentina en route to Quito. He had spent 6 months in Cape Town, South Africa visiting his sister and doing an internship. He is Ecuadorian and has lived in Quito all his life. We met up at a park called "Parque Itchimbia" and the first thing he ever said to me was "Sarah? Wow! You are really beautiful." He took me to a cafe called "Cafe Mosaico." It has a spectacular view of the city and we drank hot chocolate and watched the sunset. During the first few weeks of our relationship he took me around the city and showed me all the sights. We visited the "Teleferico" and the "Panecillo." We had a great time, and he made me feel so comfortable in the city, making sure I really got to know my new home.

After living in Quito for about 6 months we realized our apartment was way too expensive and we could get something cheaper so we moved to a street called "Manosca." The apartment was nothing fancy but it was closer to the standard of what apartments should actually be in the city. We bought a little bulldog and named her "Phoebe."

My parents eventually moved to another city in Ecuador; Cuenca. My boyfriend and I lived with them there for a couple months, but eventually for his work commitments we moved back to Quito.

Shortly after, my parents decided they wanted to keep traveling. They decided to go to Europe and now they travel to a different country in Europe every 2-3 months!

I am still currently living in Quito, Ecuador!

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Photos

View of the "Panecillo"
I visited the water museum and got a grew view of the "Panecilla." Below the wall you can see the infamous Quito prison.