Dia Uno.

We are alive and jet lagged. Upon arrival into Quito last night it was too foggy to land the plane, so the pilot flew us to a different airport where we sat for an hour and a half (on the plane), and then they finally departed again and landed us in Quito. We arrived at about 1am and got to our hotel a little after that. Our hotel was really nice and clean. Quito was pretty unbelievable. If there was a square inch of land available, there was some sort of shack built on it. I can't wait to go back and spend some more time there. I took some photos from our hotel window, but I have not had time to download them.

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We woke up, ate breakfast (eggs and fruit) and then Rolando (our new co-worker) picked us up from the hotel at 9 am wearing a BYU hat. He is LDS, and is the nicest man in the entire world. We took a bus for 5 hours to Riobamba; the drive was absolutely gorgeous. Although it was kind of like being on the subway in NYC, meaning there is always somebody trying to sell you something or some random guy singing as loud as possible. Rolando kept on giggling and telling us that we were getting the true "Ecuadorian Experience." In the middle of the bus ride Oliver woke up and he was sweating profusely (I have never seen him sweat so bad in my entire life), he said that he was going to vomit and planned to do so in his coat pocket (totally Oliver). I gave him my bottle of water and luckily that cured it. My guess is that it was because he drank orange juice for breakfast and it probably had tap water in it.

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Upon arrival in Riobamba we went to our apartment. Our apartment is a lot nicer than I expected and really could feel like home once we bleach everything. After dumping all of our stuff, Rolando took us out for Chinese food...you know, to get the true "Ecuadorian Experience." They call Chinese food Chifa. Chifa is to Ecuador as Pizza is to Costa Rica...it is everywhere. There is a Chinese restaurant on every single block. It really wasn't as bad as I expected it to be, and the portions were enormous. For 3 people to eat and have drinks it rang up to a grand total of $7. After lunch we went to the "Centro Mall," which actually was just one store, but Rolando was really excited to show it to us...so we had to act impressed. After shopping we went back to the apartment and took a siesta. I love siestas.

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They haven't made us copies of the keys for our apartment yet, so we can't leave or else we will get locked out. Luckily we packed plenty of fruit snacks, so that is what we will be eating for dinner tonight.

*****

The good news:

We have HOT water.

Siestas.

No signs of fleas.

*****

The bad news:

Oliver and I are currently sharing a twin bed.