Recap Ecuador Day #1

After close to 24 hours of traveling, due to a long delay between Miami and Guayaquil, we stepped into the humid and hot air of Ecuador. After going through customs and filling out all of our paperwork to enter the country, we found our volunteers from Rostro de Cristo waiting for us right outside. I found it already hard to comprehend being in a different country when I didn't feel like I was... like I had just flown for over 8 hours and traveled all day, and was still in the country. We went out to the truck, put our bags in the back, and hopped into the van. We were asked to have a silent ride to the house, to use to observe everything that was outside and that we were passing. It really helped my head to slow down and I wasn't worried about what other people were thinking but just was able to reflect on the environment that was passing me by.

Although this was nice a full day in Ecuador, and didn't land in our new country until 2 a.m., it was our first glimpse into how we would be living for the next week. It is funny to look back on now and thinking about what I now known about the community and the neighborhood that we silently drove by on that first night. My perceptions were changed drastically... from being nervous about the week, to passing by the same exact places on the way back to the airport and being so content, but sad to be leaving a place that I had grown to love. I'm sure during that ride I thought lots of about the week to come and now that I have been through it, I can't wait to share my experiences with everyone (especially you all!)

 Where we ate, slept, and lived for the week!

The group with Aide, on one of our first days!

Ciao!