The trip to Quito

The first time I had to cry was in the morning when I said goodbye to Nala the cat. Probably, as a matter of fact, that was a goodbye forever. She is sick, has adhesions in the area of her ears. If she has to go to the vet next time and he has to remove these adhesions again, we will have her put to sleep. So 'Goodbye Nala', a kiss on the head and the tears ran down.

Tears at the airport for the second time. Not a goodbye forever, but a goodbye anyway. Unlike Aline, who doesn't look back after the passage only for airline passengers, I took one more look back at Andi and Vivi. Adios! Hasta luego to Miami!

The flight to Amsterdam was slightly delayed, but still it was just enough time for the transfer, although without coffee. I sat in the emergency seat row and had enough legroom because of that. Upstairs it was a bit limited because there was a chubby woman sitting next to me. No chance to get my elbows on the armrest. But for the one and a quarter hour it wasn't a problem.

On the flight from Amsterdam to Quito I sat in row 31, right by the window, which was however so slanted behind me that I almost got a stiff neck during the approach. I had ordered the seat in advance for an extra charge and IT WAS GOOD! I don't know how I would have managed the flight in one of the normal seats. Probably standing up. But like this I could stretch out completely and spend a whole time dozing. Really sleeping doesn't work. During the flight I watched two films, Jason Bourne and LaLaLand, listened to music, read the on-board magazine, dozed, ate and drank every glass of water offered. There was a young German woman sitting next to me, who was traveling with an older colleague. I remembered Aline and didn't even try to start a conversation. Normally this is considered annoying. And so the flight was extremely pleasant and arrived in Quito absolutely punctual.

No problems with the passport and customs. The passport officer wanted to know how many times I've been here and how long I'm staying, was very happy that I'm leaving again on July 8th and warmly welcomed me to Ecuadorian soil. Stamp in and continue. I handed in the completed form from the airplane at customs, waved through and out into the arrivals hall.

Someone had to stand somewhere with a sign with my name on it and actually, all the way at the end, a young guy, tall, curly-haired, wearing the football jersey of Chile. He enthusiastically high-fived his colleague next to him. Apparently they had bet on which of the two guests would arrive first. He led me to the car, told me all sorts of things, I'm sure I don't remember more than half of it because I had to concentrate on understanding. But: Understanding is going pretty well. It was a bit more difficult to give him answers to his questions. But somehow it worked too. We communicated. Clear statement. I have to learn a lot during this time in order to really be able to say that I speak Spanish. I learned a lot from him. For example, that Quito got its name from an indigenous people who still live on a hill here. He also showed me the hill. Or that the word "papa" has two meanings: father, when the stress is at the end, or potato, when the stress is at the beginning. The guy is really good. He works for a company that organizes expeditions with tourists. For example, tours to Cotopaxi and such things.

He brought me almost exactly to my address for the next four weeks and wished me a nice time in Ecuador. I wished him success with the tourists.

My host mom is named Paulina, is around 60 years old and I don't really know the rest of the family yet. When I arrived, Dona Paulina introduced me to her, but it was very quick, showed me the room. She also gave me the key, including instructions. After that, she left with the family. They somehow had a celebration or family gathering or whatever. I think she was a bit disappointed that I don't speak Spanish better, and started speaking English. But what can you do. That's why I'm here.

As a conclusion to the day, before it got dark, I quickly picked up a geocache. And the changing between light and dark is quick here. This morning, after a pretty tough night, it suddenly got light. Whish! That changed in five minutes.

Goal for today: taking a photo of Quito so that I can finally replace the Barcelona picture in this blog.