Safe and Sound

(This was really written on June 18th, 2009)

Oh boy, so I’m here! Made it safely and soundly to Quito, Ecuador!

My adventure started yesterday at 5 am. As the “seasoned” traveler that I like to think of myself, I decided to double check the luggage requirements the night before leaving my brother’s house in LA. As I read the fine print that I had missed the first time, I realized that in my special case, I could only have 2 50 lb bags, rather than the 2 70 lb bags that nearly every other flight was allowed. So I did some arranging, but to no avail, arrived at the airport, had to pay for my second bag (where was that written?!) and my other bag was still 12 lbs over. What?! After an hour of rearranging and reweighing, I met the requirements and made it on the flight in time.
I ended up sitting next to a man who spoke no English. Here we go! He asked me, “hables espanol?” “Mas o menos” I replied, only to think quickly back to myself shit, I speak much more “menos” than I do “mas”! What am I getting myself into? He started babbling to me, asking me questions, asking me to repeat every single announcement that came over the loud speaker… until I started wishing to myself that I had replied with a simple “nada”.

But I started to understand, and by the time we were up in the air, we were best friends, babbling back and forth, I teaching him, he teaching me, and by the end of the trip, we parted ways grateful for each other’s patience and kindness, and I was quite proud to have been given the exaggerated but thoughtful spanglish title, “the best teacher del mundo!” I guess it’s in my genes.

I made it through Houston, Panama City, and into Quito, greeted by the most intense swine flu precautions ever! After customs, I had to go into a quarantined area, and stand on two “x”s while they used a laser to check my temperature. I later asked the man who picked me up from the airport if there was much of a swine flu presence here- he said none. Well its good to know they’re careful!

Last night I stayed at a very cute hotel/hostel in the area of town called “gringo-landia” I hear it’s just like Des-landia, but minus the Hungarian/Irish influence ☺ But the city is beautiful, as is the weather, as are the surrounding mountains, and I can’t wait to explore more.
Today, I ventured into an internet café, to touch base with folks, and ended up Skyping a friend for a few minutes, only to be interrupted by an envious man babbling at me in Creole. I quickly jumped off the computer, thinking that I may have been on too long. He then asked me in incredibly broken English to help him get on Skype so he could call his family. My two comrades were already waiting for me, so I said I could quickly help him set up an account and he could call his family to have them set up an account. Well, it turns out he’s from Haiti, and I assumed he was trying to tell me that his family wouldn’t be able to use a computer. So I tried to set him up with putting money on his account, so he could just call their phones using Skype. Well, by the time we made it to the billing information (all of this on the spanish computer mind you) he told me his address was 8-6. I asked him what street, confused expression, and then asked him if he lived in Port au Prince. His face lit up… “You know Haiti?!”. Damnit, is this what I get for being a semi-worldly individual? From there, I realized it was doubtful that he had a credit card, since he had no billing address, and just decided I would put money on my account, and let him use it to make his “one minute” phone call. Is this because I just watched “Yes Man” the night before I left? Thirty minutes later, I had to cut the cord. He asked me when I could meet him there again to help him, and not knowing where I’ll be living, I told him good luck and went on my way. I didn’t really have anything else to do, and sure, it was kind of sweet to listen to him babble in Creole for 30 minutes, but a little part of me felt like “the biggest pushover del mundo!” ☺

Despite having consumed only one meal and drinking only “agua mineral natural sin gas” all day, I’ve already had my first bout of diarrhea. Next time I’ll be sure to ask for everything “sin gas y diarrhea”. That’s something Lonely Planet doesn’t tell ya!

I have decided, however, that I really like these “Yogur y Pan Yuca” shops that are all over. There’s all sorts of yogurt smoothies and parfaits and such, and all of it comes with a couple of sort-of yucca donuts all for about $1.50. What is a yucca donut? Certainly not yucky. I think I will be frequenting these puppies the whole time I’m here.

Well, I think I’ve told you about the most exciting parts of my day… Haitian, diarrhea, yogur y yuca, yup, that’s about it! I promise these blogs will get more exciting, but in the meantime, I quite enjoy the quiet life of Quito. In the words of my mother, hasta largo (until we get large?! Hasta gordo?) y muchos abrazos. ~Maura