I landed in Quito yesterday and met my host family. The people here are all very nice and the city itself is beautiful! I can't wait to see more of it. I can already tell the standard of living in Ecuador is significantly lower than the United States, but the people all seem very happy. An observation I had always made traveling in the U.S. was that whenever my plane is landing, each city looks basically the same. There are a bunch of buildings, with roads, and cars driving around. People just going about their daily lives. Quito is no different. From the air, especially at night when I landed, the city looks like any other city. Like all other cities it was simply filled with people going about their daily lives.
Despite my inadequate spanish, I have already been able to scratch out a conversation about the political and economic situation in Ecuador with my host family. They are supporters of the president, Rafael Correa. I look forward to learning more about the prevailing political and philosophical opinions here.
The food situation is interesting. Their food is less extensive, and yet more natural. For breakfast I had a simple ham in bread that was warmed on a warmer, but the orange juice was delicious, as it had been made fresh from oranges (grown locally I think). My coffee was cafe con leche and was much stronger on the leche than the cafe.
Today I head over to the IES center for the first time. The adventure begins...
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Hi Philip!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you are enjoying Quito so far; your description is incredibly accurate! You will definitely speak to individuals who dislike Correa (especially the wealthier people).
Please eat tons of fruit for me, try the fruits that only grow in certain regions of South America. Don't you love how cheap the coffee is? And it tastes so much better than the States!
I am already enjoying your blog, please keep updating!
Hasta luego,
Sasha