Departure Day and A Revisit to Some Old Friends

         It was an early start to the day, having to get to the airport by 5:30 to meet the group of students flying out of Boston with Eric. Jess met the New York group a few hours after Boston met. Getting through customs and security was easy and we made our flight with no problem. However, when we landed in Houston, I had a text message saying that one person out of the group of Newark hadn't been able to make it on the plane. The airline had overbooked the flight by 25 people, and therefore Katelyn couldn't get on the plane. Then due to the snow storm, thousands of flights had been canceled and it wasn't looking as though she would get to Ecuador for a couple days. So between myself, Eric and Kaytee back at PC; we were all trying to contact her and the airlines to make sure she knew we were figuring it out with her. In the entirety of the flight from Newark to Houston, Katelyn stood in the customer service line. It got to the point that there was nothing left we could do, and Kaytee would have to take care of it, as our flight to Quito was leaving. This flight was also pretty uneventful, and when we landed we found out she would be landing the next day, Monday evening.
     The hotel is about an hour from the new airport, so by the time we get in, it's about 1:30am, so we had been traveling for close to twenty-four hours at this point. Needless to say, we all slept pretty quickly and took the morning slow. A small group of us went to the Parque Carolina again, which I had visited last time as well:

After that we ventured to the historical center of Quito, and Omar's sister Julia was our tour guide again. We went to this old and impressive Basilica that was quite impressive. You could basically climb all the way up the top of the spires. 

Not quite the tip top:

I didn't want to climb up that.....for whatever reason I didn't want to rely on the chicken wire to catch me if I slipped...

We then ventured further into the city center to walk around some of the main squares, their government center and some other very impressive churches. It was a great way to spend the first day, doing touristy things. 

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After lunch, we headed to Casa De La Danza, which we worked with before as well. This time we would be holding a photo exhibit. The welcomed us warmly as usual and we even got to see one of the women from previously. A photo of her was taken and used in the exhibit in 2012. We got a tour of their latest exhibits, some traditional dances from surrounding areas, and a performance from an Iranian singer. Casa de la Danza is truly a safe place of tranquility and art. It was phenomenal to be back interacting with such wonderful people again.

I was and am still, excited that we got to work with them again and continue the relationship. They truly are a great place and wonderful people to work with. So although it was a long and exhausting day, it was a fabulous way to quick off the trip. 

Katelyn arrived on time, unfortunately with another bump in the road. Her bag was not at the airport when she got off the plane. The travel insurance gave her enough money to buy necessities, but given that we were leaving for Pijal on Wednesday, it was a bit stressful. Her bag came the next evening. The rest of the trip had to go smoothly for her after the pretty awful start.