After sleeping off our long travel day, we started our first morning in Ecuador on a beautiful terrace overlooking the city of Quito. We spent the morning sharing our hopes for the trip and setting good intentions for our group, followed by a delicious lunch and watching a World Cup match! Afterwards we took a gondola ride up to almost 4,000 meters to catch some breathtaking views, and caught a glimpse of snow-capped Cotopaxi, the volcano that we will be visiting in a few weeks. Just when we thought the day couldn’t get any better, we took a fabulous guided walk through the old city that focused on the experience of indigenous Ecuadorians under Spanish rule. Our guide taught us words in Quechua, described some interesting traditional dishes (fried grubs!), and demonstrated the proper way to wrap a baby, using one of our students as a volunteer! We ended our day on a rooftop restaurant under the stars. Tomorrow we will head out to our village, Iltaqui, where our community is preparing a bienvenidos party! We will have limited access to internet for the next few days, so it will be harder to text, but we will update the blog as often as we can!

— Julia & Gregorio