Day One in Quito

We are staying in a family run hostel some where in Quito.  This city in enormous. We got up and had freshly cooked eggs for breakfast maid by the hostel owner.  Our leaders Taylor and Sam made us order in Spanish.  The students are way better at that than I am.  Next we had a 2-3 hour orientation session and photo lesson. Then off to lunch. English is not spoken very much here so our lunch and dinners have been interesting. Let's just say I had corn nuts, pork skins and molassas soaked fruit for dinner.  Earlier in the day we took a tram up to 12,000 feet for a panoramic view of the city.  Quito is located at 9,000 elevation so what is 3,000 more feet when you cannot breath anyway. The views were grand and the students took lots of great photos.  There was a horse corral up in the mountains which also made for some interesting shots.  For our night time activity we went on a historical tour of the city with El Diablo as our tour guide. It was well done and very educational.  Now we are in our rooms trying to figure out who is showering when and how soon can we get in bed and get some rest.  The day way typical Nat Geo exhausting.  

So the summer blogging will begin again. I look forward to this  adventure with a new group of great students. We are not sure how often we will have access to upload to our blog. Our leaders, Sam and Taylor flew to Quito today and will meet us at the airport.  Both leaders have led this trip to Ecuador before. I hear the weather is cool and rainy today but better weather coming.