ESTOY EN QUITO Y ESTOY SEGURA, CON SALUD Y FELIZ! quito arrival: check. safety: check. healthy: check. happy: check!

Ayyyy que viaje but I am here, I am safe, and I am with una familia! I befriended several people along the way, but my favorite was Sam, age 2 1/2, who pushed his own stroller, played peek-a-boo with me, and who sat on my lap on the plane to see the view when he decided not to wait in the line for the bathroom. Definitely the most precocious 2.5 year old I´ve met, and definitely my favorite amigo. We talked about fire hoses, the color of the airplane´s tail, and about his Blue´s Clues coloring book. Aside from Sam, I befriended Ignacio (say it Ignathio), un español from Spain (obvio). He´s an editor, and left me with a copy of his magazine and a little notebook which will be great for words. He was a bit touchy feely and was weirded out that I was traveling alone, and felt the need to guide me, physically, through the process, so I was led by the arm or small of the back a lot, which was odd. I´m writing it off as Spanish culture. Finally I befriended a kid who just finished his first year at U of Arizona and he´s going down to Quito for his cousin´s graduation and to surf. He was muy amable, but the most boring of the amigos. I was not kidnapped in Bogota, so it was a successful trip to Colmbia.

Once I got past Ecuadorian customs (no live fruit brought into delicate ecosystems this time Dad, but I did sneak in dried fruit without declaring it...are you supposed to?) I met up with Luis, my driver, who was waiting for me WITH A SIGN WITH MY NAME ON IT! Swoon, it´s always been my dream to have a driver awaiting me. He marked the first (and possibly the last) Ecuadorian to ask if I was from Ecuador! And I was asked if I was from Ecuador twice earlier (granted, those were gringos in L.A...). He dropped me off at Lorene´s house where I was like, what am I doing here? and Lorene was like, um, I´m your new Ecuadorian mom, and it was sweet! She´s super nice, and has a 13 year old daughter, Mabele, and has been taking care of her nephew Isaac who is a year and nine months since he was six weeks old and his mom left for NY. Also staying with her are two other students, Nathan who is older but quite amable and from Milwaukie, and Aisha who is from Londres. I haven´t decided if this is good or bad yet, but my Spanish is definitely better than theirs.

After lunch (which was not bad- huuuuuge bowl of potato soup, TONS of white rice and veggies stir fried in a tomato sauce thing) I had to spend a lot of time convincing Lorene that the food really was bien rica and it was just that I guess I don´t eat much and that I couldn´t possibly stuff anything else into my stomach. The other kids finished their meals- I have no idea how. Then Lorene directed me to the office of Yanapuma which I found with only minor incidents of being lost. I met with Janneke, with whom I´ve been in contact, and I have a tentative project picked out! I´ve always been interested in fair trade and organic certification processes, and I saw that another intern had done a project on that. It turns out his research was rather elementary, and that he didn´t apply it to any of the communities, so I´m hoping to do more research and to visit a community, possibly Bua or Estero de los Platanos (both by the coast) which is sweet, because I get to do the fun application process stuff! I´ll get to the office early tomorrow (because the household breakfast is served at 7:30 am...WHAT?!?!?¿! it´s summer, people!) because apparently, I will be awake early, so I´ll research and meet with Andy, the president.

It´s kind of cool- I feel like I´m home again now that there are car alarms going off constantly, buses polluting the cities, walking people everywhere and way too much food at all times with not enough flavor. I like that it´s easier for me to immediately start thinking in Spanish again, and I like that it´s not as exhausting to have to get to know a new city. I think I´m going home to take perhaps yet another nap (I didn´t sleep at all last night!) and to get to know my familia nueva. But my main nervous, anxious feelings have disappeared now that my fears of Yanapuma not actually remembering I was coming have disappeared. much love and excitement being sent home-

M