Jan. 26 - Headed South

What can you say about a travel day, not much happens. My route down took me from Halifax (at 6:20am which meant getting up at 3:30am to make it to the airport on time) to Newark and then on to Houston before arriving in Quito. The only interesting thing with all the flying was the last flight. I had an exit row with no seat infront of me (more leg room than even I can use), was surrounded by Ecuadorian Nuns (not sure if they were nuns, but in the words of Ian Gordon, don't let the facts get in the way of a good story) all dressed in purple carrying various pink Mary Kay bags. The only problem came when we had to make a quick stop in Panama City due to mechanical problems. This delayed us an hour.

Needless to say, since the stop in Panama was unexpected, I spent the rest of the flight looking up hotels in Quito since what host family would allow somone to arive at 12:30 in the morning? My answer would soon come.

After clearing customs I was met by a driver who took me through the town to my homestay. He didn't speak much English and couldn't understand my Spanish, therefore I had no idea where we were going. So I took my first(of many)leap of faith that he wasn't kidnapping me.

In the end he took me to Susy's house. It took a few minutes before she answered the door (it was 12:30am afterall) and when she did, out came a tiny 50 year old red head that was full of energy. Even at 12:30 in the morning this lady had more than enough energy to tell me her entire life story, give me a tour of the house and get me into bed within 5 minutes. We're talking about a 50 year old Spanish version of a fast talking Californian teenage girl who just chased her triple shot of espresso with a can of Red Bull. I knew I would like her.

Prep Work

I'm packed and ready to go. The prep work was long and included many trips to Halifax to get various items (including trying on shoes in about 30 different stores in three cities across the country....I didn't know it was that hard to find hiking boots). The bag weighs about 46lbs and I'm sure will feel like 100lbs at 3,000 feet. Luckily I'm getting picked up at the airport in Quito.

The only thing I didn't get done while preparing everything was study more Spanish. I had great intentions to study every day, but in the end I didn't do much, and I can only fit my dictionary in my bag. So it's baptism by fire on that front.

All in all I'm ready to go. I'm excited, a little nervous and curious about the adventure before me. I intend to update this blog as I go and keep everyone up to date on what's going on. I look forward to hearing from all of you as I go.

Smile, Life's Great!!

Dave