Getting from Pittsburgh to Atlanta was great but then I had to go to the international wing of the airport and wait for my flight to Quito Ecuador. I have never left the country and I was sitting there with a bunch of people who were all speaking spanish. It hit me all of a sudden that I could get really lost and have no idea where to go or how to ask for help. What the heck am I doing!? Then everyone around me on the plane was the same way. The man beside me was Rafael and he was pretty cool. He spoke some English so we had like one interesting conversation. He is a guide for jungles and mountains all over the world. He was just returning home after doing some tours through Nepal, no big deal or anything! He gave me a flier to look at if I was interested and I told him that I definitely was but I don´t know if I would ever be able to go and do it. Anyway that was about all the conversation I had for quite awhile!
Then I got into the Quito airport after 5.5 long hours on the plane, oh and my tv didnt work :( I got in around 10 pm and I was just exhausted but the most stressful apart for me was know wondering if someone was really there to pick me up! I made it through migration, baggage, and customs with relatively no problems just some of the workers laughing at me and pointing out multiple times that I was new at this! Well thanks no duh! I walked out of customs which was peaceful and quiet and then through these huge sliding doors and it was like an explosion! There were hundreds of people smashed in this rather small room, at least for an airport. They were all screaming and shouting, waving signs in my face! Finally I see this tall white guy standing with a tiny white paper that says Megan on it and OSSO. And no Nick he did not have a fancy suit on or anything but it was still sweet :) I wanted to run and hug him but I refrained. There was another guy with a sign at the beginning but I missed him in the crowd. Then the 3 of us took a taxi to the OSSO house. Yes thats right, my first taxi ride! It was amazing, I am pretty sure that is on my bucket list to ride in a cab WOOHOO check! WE got to the house around 1130, I got a bed and wanted to go right to sleep, but there was a problem. I turned my phone on to use for an alarm clock because I had to be up at 6 for my next flight, but I couldnt figure out if my phone had changed time zones or not! Everyone was already asleep and there were no clocks around. So I set my alarm for 3 different times to figure out when I needed to get up. I was so stressed out about it that I barley slept all night!
I did get up on time if you were wondering after my second alarm went off. And went back to the airport for my flight to Cuenca. The flight was at 745 and I was in line trying to figure out where to go and what to do. Luckily most of the signs have English subtitles and then they also number the signs in the order you need to go through them! That was a huge relief. So I was in line t check in and they started boarding and I started freaking out a little. I dropped off my bag and ran. I was going though security when this man taps me on the shoulder and starts speaking spanish really fast to me. I just gave my most confused look and shook my head. He didnt know English so it took a few minutes before I understood that I needed to go back to baggage for something. I was for sure I was going to miss my flight. I forgot my ticket as I was rushing, oh dear! But I made it on and was able to relax for a it. Good thing I have flown many times because all the instructions were in spanish and there was no way I was ale to keep up with what she was saying.
The language is the most stressful part so far but I have mostly been by myself the whole time so far. I knew once I got to OSSO that it would probably be better. And it was.
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