Adventure at the Equator!: My first day in Ecuador

Hola! :) Although, I know little to no Spanish at all, I have learned a few words and phrases today!

Let's start with getting here--
I got so sick on the flight from Atlanta to Quito. I feel so sorry for the people who had to sit beside me. Once we got off of our flight, we had to wait for other students to land, so I was sick on the bus. Then, still sick once we got back to the hotel... where my room key wouldn't work for my room, because my roommate had already locked it from the inside. Ah! I got into a room at around 1:00 am (2:00 am at home)... and was finally able to sleep at around 2:30 am. Whew.

Today, I woke up feeling a lot better, just very weak. I took it easy in the morning, but we toured Quito, the capital city all day. First, we went to the most awesome Catholic church. There were altars and the most beautiful stained glass windows inside. I loved the gargoyles and animal statues on the outside, used to keep bad spirits away.

I couldn't believe the driving here. It's like a free-for-all. NO STREET LAWS OBSERVED AT ALL. It was so scary, there is no problem with being less than an inch from another car at all times. I couldn't drive here! Also, we're high in the mountains, and I've never been on streets this sloped or seen buildings built on such uneven ground. There are stray dogs all over just laying in the street. It's heart-breaking. I just want to take them home with me... Can you imagine that getting through customs? ;) There were little boys no older than 7 asking to shine my shoes today, by themselves in this huge city. People like push little kids around too, it seems. I cannot even imagine someone younger than Max being out on their own like this.. I might bring one of them home too. Haha. Sorry for the rambling! We then went to the Independence Plaza... there are government buildings there, La Cathedral (a huge church), and the King's Palace. We got to go into the King's Palace some. There are 2 guards protecting the King's Palace, who change every Monday with a sort of ceremony along with it.

There was an awesome statue in the middle of the plaza, representing the freedom from Spain and the people who died for freedom.

We went up one of the mountains to see another statue, and altitude was even worse there.

We saw Volcan Cotopaxi, which is Ecuador's 2nd largest mountain/active volcano. It errupted about a month ago!
We then toured the La Compania de Jesus. This church was made of pretty much gold everywhere. The altars were so immaculate. It was unbelievably gorgeous.

The last place we visited was an art museum of Ecuador's most famous artist, Oswaldo Guayasamin. His works were unlike anything I've ever seen. It was neat; google his stuff!