Catch up número dos

Going back to my flight and first day in Ecuador.  My flight went surprisingly well and I had two friends on my flight to Atlanta and my long layover before my second flight which was really nice.  Sitting by myself for six hours would have been rough otherwise.  I was walking to the gate and all of a sudden Sydney called out my name.  Amazing coincidence :) I sat next to a really nice couple on my flight to Quito - they are both professors at Georgia Southern University and this was their 17th time to Ecuador.  They had so many facts and interesting places to visit and helped me fill out the customs paperwork.  Since the flight was fairly long it made the time go faster to have conversation and it was also comforting.  He was telling me all about his research and it was really intriguing - during this specific trip he is going to be teaching a class about conservation.  So jealous!  I lost them at baggage claim but I'm in email contact which I think is really cute hah.  Baggage took forever and a half and then I was unsure of where to go, but I saw Señora Lema, possibly the cutest lady ever.

The other flight was really delayed due to the horrible fog that came in over Quito (their flight went to Guayaquil and just hung out) so I just chilled in their nissan car for several hours.  They didn't know any english, so it was really good practice at communicating (she told me my spanish was pretty good :D highlight of my day) so spanglish wouldn't fly.  At points you just have to stop and figure out how to go around a word to give the same connotation, but they were really patient.  The airport was just filled with people sleeping and waiting for the flights.  We all survived though and we got to ride to our house in Señor Lema's mariachi van (the second night he was actually decked out in his uniform).  The ride was fairly scary.  Especially at night they don't recognize that lanes or red lights or stop signs exist.  At one point Sam and I just looked at each other in a mixture of awe and terror, but we made it to the house safely and even though it was four in the morning we made food and spent another hour talking before we passed out.

And then Sofía called us at 10:40 in the morning. Sweet.  We picked up and she said, "oh you're sleeping? talk to you later".  Well now we were up...  That started our trends of taking daily naps in the afternoon.  Pretty much every day.  The altitude and just being out and about all day is really taxing.  The first two days we only ventured to the mall, but on Tuesday we went to the Basilica in the historic district and Wednesday we made it to La Mariscal and the market to buy fresh produce, grains and meat.  Oh and so we have five people in our room - straight mattresses and luggage, literally a "bed"room, but I really like it so far.  We have a courtyard and we can access the roof - we eat lunch and dinner on the roof sometimes.  Since we are on the equator, we have sunlight from  six am to six pm and we eat dinner while watching the sunset over the mountains.  My favorite thing ever :)  Oh and random but the majority houses and stores have clusters of metal poles sticking out on the roof, which means that the house is unfinished and they don't have to pay taxes (our second floor is unfinished).  We are all bonding and I am so excited for the weeks to come!!