Quito Day 1

I made it to Quito. After a delay in Houston I got in the following day. It's so good to be here. I was greeted by my 'tia dianita' who is like a second mom to me and one of my favorite people in the world, my 'primo juanfer'. It's so refreshing to be with family who love you and are so excited to see you.

My first impressions of Quito after being gone for several years is that everything is so small, quiet and things seem to move so much slower. I'm coming from New York and the pace that things move at there is lighting fast compared to the way things are here.

It didn't take more than a few minutes to get used to it and I just get acclimated to it and move at that pace. Down the road a little ways at our first stop light we got greeted by the guy who sells the days papers, a 7 year old kid selling gum and another young boy juggling some old tennis balls in front of our car asking for some money. The drastic difference between the Us and here hit me fast.

What a different world this is, yet there are also many similarities. I had to stop by the mall cause my cousin had to go to an ATM to grab some cash. walking through the mall I felt like I was transported back into the Palisades Mall in Nyack. All the name brand stores are there and the mall itself puts the Palisades mall to shame for its architecture and perfectly clean and manicured hallways. Third world countries are always places of such high contrasts. Expensive stores and street kids selling trinkets in the street, wealthy businessmen and street vendors looking to earn a few dollars to feed themselves and their families, rich and poor all in the same place. I wish I could say they live in harmony but it's just not the case.

I'm fascinated by this and absolutely love being here. so good for my soul.

Quito is a beautiful city and I hope to get some pictures to showcase this later on this trip. For now here's the view from my tia's apartment. This is what I woke up to this morning!