Well, I've been down in Guayaquil, Ecuador for a few days now. It's been a really overwhelming first week, filled with some good and some not-great.
And because I'm a bad blogger, it's far too much to reasonably fit in a single post. So I'll be playing catchup with more posts to come.
Anyway, enough blathering and on to the trip:
After parting from Linds, I managed to get to Newark airport with plenty of minutes to spare. I even made my connection in Miami with perfect time. Saw the gate just as they announced the final boarding call.
It was like magical sleep-deprivation pixie dust.
Unfortunately, it turns out that there were also some gremlins hanging around.
The plane sat on the tarmac in Miami for an hour and a half. It's fuel and weight computers had decided they weren't going to be friends anymore. The pilot kept announcing in a rather uncertain voice that we'd only be ten more minutes. And that the technicians knew exactly what they needed to do. But after our eventual takeoff, there were no further problems.
It's the first time I've ever really flown south, and it was a little odd. About half the flight was over the Caribbean Sea and then the rest kind of followed the mountains down. I'm much more accustomed to east-west flights where you seem to be cutting across things instead of flying along them (the Prairies and Great Plains get a by).
The plane finally landed about 2 1/2 hours behind schedule, and then it was to the customs/immigration queues. They weren't bad, but the sleep-deprivation, anxiety about official questions en español, and a bit of guilt regarding the folks waiting to pick me came together to make it a little nervewracking. But it was painless. And there was a rather cool infrared camera setup at the airport that the police/health agency were using to scan people for "la gripe porcina"; yep, swine flu mania has taken over the entire world.
Los Campoverdes--Pati y Ernesto--were waiting for me with a little sign and greetings and questions for me in spanish that I could only understand or respond to in the most rudimentary way. On the drive to their (my/our?) house, two things quickly became apparent:
1. It is bloody well hot and humid.
2. The roads and drivers here are insane. Completely. No sense of self-preservation and no belief in lane markings.
Those two observations were based on conditions at 1am. In the middle of the day, it is sweating, speeding, shouting chaos. Yet somehow it works. More on that in later entries.
Upon arrival at the house I discovered there were other interns staying there (huzzah!). Two American girls, both pretty cool, one of whom is fluent in Spanish. They're definitely helping mute the culture shock. :) And after some chatting (which I was too braindead to contribute much to) it was finally time for sleep (Yay! That's where I'm an Inca!).
Next time: The terrors of driving! The terrors of buses! The confusions of working! Also cheese, sugar, rice and frying it all.
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