I arrived safe and sound in Quito last Sunday night. Sunday morning when I returned to the airport in Cabo San Lucas at 6am I was advised that the Houston airport was still closed. After much deliberation they put me on a flight to Dallas and told me I´d have to figure it out from there. Fortunately when I arrived in Dallas and hiked over to the Continental terminal they were able to put me on an American Airlines flight to Miami and then on to Quito. Thanks to a number of phone calls placed by my family, there was someone waiting for me at the airport when I arrived.
I have to admit, arriving at an airport and seeing someone with a little sign that has my name on it is one my favorite things. The idea of having a personal driver for just a few minuets makes me ridiculously happy. I think this was one of the best things about traveling on business. One time when I arrived in Vietnam, the driver, complete with cap and gloves, after getting me settled in the back of the car, made a phone call, nodded his head a few times, hung up the phone and then handed me a plain brown envelope. I felt like Jane Bond! Turns out my boss was treating me to a spa day (one of my top 5 favorite gifts ever) but in that moment some of my spy fantasies were fulfilled.
But back to Ecuador.... My host family is great. They are an older couple with three grown children (28,26 and 24) who also live in the house. I have the garden room which is actually part of the garage converted into a nice room with a bathroom. Most of my interaction is with my Ecuadorian madre Carmen. She prepares my breakfast and dinner, and I wash the dishes. (Dad, you´d be so proud.)
My room, standing in the bathroom. Door in/out of the room on the left.
The other half of my room, standing on the bed. There´s a shower in the bathroom to the left. Door in/out of the room on the right.
It´s about a 20-25 minute walk to school in the morning depending on traffic. The elevation of Quito is at 9200 feet and in a great big valley. The city is long and skinny running north and south. I live on the west side in about the center and the school is on the east side in roughly the center as well. After 4 hours of intensive Spanish lessons in the morning (just me and my profesora) I have an hour break for lunch and then I meet up with Christian, who is my cultural guide in Quito for two weeks. We spend about 3 hours each afternoon going to churches, parks, museums, botanical gardens and other places of interest in Quito... all the while speaking in Spanish. I return home around 7 to have dinner with my family and then do my home work. I am asleep between 10 and 11 each night because I am absolutely exhausted from thinking in Spanish. I don´t believe there has ever been a time in my life where I´ve had such a regular bed time.
Some of the places I visited on my cultural tours:
View of Quito to the south taken from the top of the BasÃlica del Sagrado Voto. The hill in the middle is El Panecillo, a monument to Virgin Mary.
Taken at the Oswaldo GuayasamÃn museum: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oswaldo_Guayasam%C3%ADn 
From the top of the TeleferiQo which is a tram ride you can take up the mountain just on the edge of town. This is at 13,123 ft.
The politics in Ecuador are very interesting. They are voting in a couple of weeks on a new constitution. Voting is this country is compulsory and it is an all or nothing, yes/no vote. While then new constitution has some wonderful advancements in terms of social programs, education, equality and the like, it also puts a lot more power in the hands of the president. It has been interesting talking to people about the coming vote and what they are going to do. People are very opening about discussing which way they are going to vote and why.
In 2000 Ecuador switch its currency to the US dollar in an effort to stop the out of control inflation they were experiencing throughout the 90´s. I believe they chose the US dollar because their main export is oil and oil prices are published in US dollars. The conversion from the sucre to the dollar was a significant change for people, particularly the middle class. Those who had a lot of sucre suddenly found it worth nothing. I asked my host mother about this time and she suddenly became very serious telling me that life has been much harder since then. Before the conversion they had two cars, now they can¨t afford to have any. They depend on their daughter (a lawyer) who has a car, when they need to drive somewhere. Before the conversion she owned a big store selling linens with 5 employees. Now she has a very small store with only one employee that she has to have worked in her house part time because there is not enough work at the store, "People don´t have the money to buy nice things anymore." This is evident as I look around her kitchen. Everything is well taken care of, but old and worn. She rents out two rooms to students like me for extra money. I am one of three foreign students at their house at the moment (the other room is a double). Ecuador in general is also a lot more expensive now ranking around the third most expensive South American country. My host mother told me that she use to be able to buy a bag of beans for the equivalent of 50 cents. Now, 8 years later, the same bag of beans is 2 dollars. This puts things in perspective for me as I enjoy my large $1.80 sandwich for lunch each day (thinking it was such a deal).
Me and a friendly Boa at the Vivarium in Parke La Carolina.
Hugs,
Dayna
Our water taxi/glass bottom boat took us out to the arch and then to a snorkle cruise on a katamaran (sp?). We had a lovely dinner on the beach and then returned to the beach for parasailing this morning before heading to the airport...had get full use of those free gifts.
This was fortunate timing because our next days march put us up above snow level. On August 30th, it was snowing at Summerland, and we of course were singing Winter Wonderland. My friends were able to do some sledding at one of the saddles we went over the next day. On Labor Day we hiked the entire south side of the mountain arriving back at our car at 5pm, for a total of 10 days on the trail, but 2 days earlier than planned. Thanks to wonderful friends, LOTS of good food and many helpful rangers it was a fantastic trip despite the weather. I´m not sure I´ve ever laughed so much for 10 straight days. 
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