First Night

We arrived in Quito on Monday, August 7, around 10:30 pm. We made it through customs without any trouble or much of a wait. Our luggage was already waiting for us after we made it through customs, which was a relief. We were met by our friend Jose Luis Viteri who took us to Casa Victoria. After about a 30 minute drive into the historic old part of Quito, we arrived at our new home on Calle Ambato. We were warmly greeted by Gaston, Bill and Esteban and showed to our room. It was dreamlike to be walking through the open-air corridor, past all the shutter-like doors to our room, where we would be living for the next year. Our room had been furnished with a bed, chair, little bedside table, and desk. On the bedside table was a vase of 2 dozen long-stem red roses, so sweetly purchased by the guys to welcome us to Casa Victoria. Laying on the bed was a hand-drawn flower on white paper from David declaring: "Bienvenidos a Casa Victoria Megan y Juanito" It felt so good to be welcomed so warmly!! It felt strange to plop our luggage down and realize they weren't going to be going anywhere for a while! Almost too tired to sleep well, Jon and I climbed into our full-sized bed, with interesting feeling pillows (mine could best be described as "sack-covered-tapioca-pudding" and Jon's was more like "rock-covered-with-sheet") and began the first of many nights of sleep in our South American abode.