And He’s Off!

Well. Today was my first day in Ecuador, and I am happy to say I feel like I have started things off on the right foot. The situation ended up being not nearly as terrible as I feared, although my lack of Spanish ability caused me a few problems. I have a feeling this is going to be a recurring issue. While I wish I could say that my own wit and charm rescued me, it was more a case of “It’s never as bad as it seems.”

Anyway, I stayed up a little last night and talked to my host parents. I showed them the book Sophia and I made for them, which ended up being a pretty great ice breaker, as I had carefully translated the words the day before, and thus was spared the insurmountable task of trying to communicate anything in Spanish. I did find a way around using their names, which consisted mostly of hoping like a hell a situation wouldn’t come up where I was forced to use one of their names.

Anyway, I read a bit and went to bed feeling a bit nervous and home sick, but over all pretty happy with how things are looking to be. My host parents were incredibly nice, but I was a bit worried about how my siblings would take to me. I just remembered what an awkward addition Quenton (French kid who stayed at my house this summer…I don’t know if that’s how his name is actually spelled, but its close.) was to our family, for me at least, and I didn’t really want to become a burden.

Fortunately, it seems like I have got nothing to worry about. I had breakfast (probably the biggest of my life) with my host mom and older brother and instantly hit it off with him. He’s extremely into this freaky hardcore metal stuff, but he is a really nice guy. I just wouldn’t really want to get on his bad side. He even invited me to go rock climbing with him and his friends that morning, which was nice because I was keen to make some Ecuadorian friends as quickly as possible.

We walked about a half a mile up hill to some national monument to the border war between Ecuador and Peru. The national monument was a giant rock with big steel star sticking out of it sitting in the middle of a pretty busy intersection. A bit random, but apparently perfect for bouldering. Cars kept driving by and honking their horns, and I was a little concerned they were vexed by the lack of respect we were showing by using a national monument as a climbing wall, so I asked my host brother, “So…do the cars here always honk that much?“ He gave me a slightly puzzled stare and said “yeah” in an uncertain tone, as if he was quite sure he had misunderstood what I was trying to say. In retrospect, it most surely sounded like a pretty moronic question. Anyway, we met two of his friends there, a guy who looked to be about my age and a really gorgeous girl. At first I thought they were boyfriend and girl friend because they came together and he kept on flirting with her in the early going, but then my host brother started doing the same thing a few minutes later. Apparently, the culture here is a lot more openly flirtatious. I don’t know how I’m going to react to that. It’s always been pretty hard for me to go out of my way to touch anyone, but maybe I will adapt.

I am apparently a pretty terrible climber; I could only get half way though what he deemed to be the warm up route. But it was still pretty enjoyable to just hang out with everyone and take in the various magnificent views that seemed to meet your eyes wherever your looked. In one direction there was the city; Quito is only 1.4 million people, give or take, much smaller than some other cities I have visited; but it looks absolutely immense. I think its because the fact that its situated in a mountain valley kind of precludes the existence of suburbs, so everything is compacted giving it an astounding appearance. In the other direction, or in almost any direction you looked for that matter, were the mountains. I am pretty sure these are the first mountains I have ever seen, besides Mount Rushmore during an ill-conceived trip to South Dakota (not sure this counts), and perhaps the time when I drove through Virginia with Stephen’s family. Needless to say, they are incredibly impressive. It really is a picturesque city and I am already regretting that I decided not to bring a camera with me.

After about an hour and a half of climbing, my host brother (Fabian Andres) and I started walking back to the house. He told me that that girl that we had met was probably going to be his next girl friend, as soon as they found a way around the problem presented by the fact that she already has a boyfriend. Apparently, the first time he looked into her eyes, he knew she was the one, so…it sounds like he’s pretty serious about her, which definitely makes her off limits for me.

Anyway, the rest of the day I hung out in the house, read a bit, and took a small walk around the neighborhood. I also met my other two host siblings, (George, 19 and Renata, 16) who were equally nice to me. It really is comforting to feel so welcomed and warmly received by everyone.

Overall, it has been a really positive start to my four months here, and it has really helped allay some of my fears and ease my nerves. I still do feel a bit homesick, and I miss my friends and family and life back home terribly, but I think this will be a good experience. I’ve always had a habit of staying solely in my comfort zone, but if you never leave your comfort zone, if you never face down any fears, or overcome struggles, or navigate foreign situations, then you never grow. You never find out who you really are, or what you really want from life. You just kind of lead an dull, monotonous, unfulfilling life. Now, I am not advising you to all throw yourselves into excruciating situations, make yourselves miserable, or stress yourselves to the breaking point. I am just letting myself acknowledge that a little potentially painful and demanding searching is necessary to really appreciate the world around you.