Today was our first full day in Ecuador—hooray!

We arrived safe and sound last night and, since we were all pretty exhausted from the travel day, we basically just collapsed in bed upon our arrival to our hotel. Doña Elena, the owner, received us with welcoming hugs for all. We immediately felt at home with her warmth.

Today was a packed, but wonderful day. After breakfast we headed to Itchimbia Park, where we held our in-country orientation. We got to know each other a bit, we talked about expectations and plans for the trip, and we shared our fears and our goals for the next month. The students are very excited and motivated to improve their Spanish, make new friends, and explore this new culture and country.

After orientation the real fun began. We got lunch in the neighborhood known as La Mariscal. The students loved the food, although they were shocked at how much was served at lunchtime! We each got an appetizer, soup, an entrée and dessert! We probably all would have succumbed to a Thanksgiving-style food coma if we hadn’t hurried right along to the next activities.

After lunch we went to the artisan market, then the Basilica (a Gothic style cathedral), then had a brief coffee break, and then explored with a guide Quito’s historic downtown. This was a highly dynamic and informative activity that the students enjoyed—and it was, of course all in Spanish! From here we went to a nice dinner overlooking the city before returning to our hotel for the night.

Tomorrow we leave for Las Tolas, the village where we will be doing our service project for the next few weeks. Please note that due to limited access to WiFi the students will not necessarily be able to communicate with family and friends on a daily basis. We will do our best to keep you updated with blogs, so stay tuned!

Abrazos,

– Claire, Nicolás, & the Language Learning Ecuador 2017 crew