Ecuador - Day 1

A month ago today I left for Ecuador with the organization Compassion.  There were 30 of us travelling from all across Canada and we met up in Miami, Florida before flying to Quito, Ecuador together.  My last big trip was in 2009 and that was about 9 months - this trip was only 9 days.  I really didn't know what to expect from this Compassion Exposure trip, other than that I would have the chance to meet my sponsor child, Evelyn.

The last month or so of the school year was a difficult time for me.  I had such great classes and students, but was not able to secure a position for September and I found it very disheartening.  One of my personal hopes for the trip was to gain some renewed perspective in life.

As you can see, my view was very much the same all day long.  I had an EARLY flight out of Winnipeg just to make sure that I caught my connection in Toronto.  Most of the group met up in Toronto (some of the group flew out of Calgary).

As we made our descent into Miami, I was reminded of the thing I hate most about travelling. . .it's the travelling!  It was a bumpy 1/2 hour descent before we finally landed on solid ground again.  Thankfully, that was the only issue on all of the flights, both to Ecuador and back (so I really shouldn't complain, but when the plane is bumping around and dropping mid-air, it's just not that much fun!).

It was late by the time we landed in Quito.  Once we collected our luggage and got on the bus, we found out it would be another hour until we got to the hotel.  Not great news for me because I had been up since the wee hours, leaving at 1:15 a.m. to get to the airport (Quito is in the same time zone as home).  By the time my head hit the pillow, after room assignments and the porters delivering our luggage, it was about 24 hours of being awake (with a few little naps on the planes) and I had no problem falling asleep.  With only 8 days left to travel and explore, I knew that I needed my sleep so that I would be ready to go Saturday morning.