The First Morning

Well, we made it!

Flew into Quito last night around 11:30p.m. without any major incidents. Customs here was smooth and all our bags made it without a problem. We hit some MAJOR turbulence flying into Quito which the rookie among us, Christian, really enjoyed.

One funny story of the journey down happened on our flight from Detroit to Houston. Because of prevailing headwinds of 150 MPH the pilot informed us that out flight would be longer than normal. Once underway we kept looking at our watch concerned we would miss our connection to Quito at 3:55 p.m. We inquired and the stewardess assured us that we would be arriving at 2:15 p.m. As the time came and went we began to get quite concerned. Around 2:45 p.m. we asked the stewardess again to check our arrival time because we were all very worried. When she came back she looked confused and asked us, "You guys know it's only 1:45 p.m. right?" Oops, no we didn't realize that. The time had changed and rolled back an hour! She then proceeded, in a very joking manner, to call us losers. We were able to relax much more after that.

So here we are on our first day in Quito. The elevation is affecting us a little with headaches and sore stomachs but we will not be here long. (FYI Ottawa sits at about 180M above sea level while Quito is around 2900M so it is a bit of a difference!) After breakfast we are going to be heading to the Quito dump ministry that Extreme Response helps run. Then we are off to Manta, a brief stop at the orphanage (I cannot wait to see these little kids again) and to settle in at La Cueve, our home for the next 2 1/2 weeks.

Paul, our host, assures me that we'll be able to get internet access at the orphanage so I should be able to update pretty frequently.

Take Care and God Bless,

J