Long day, really long day. Getting to Ecuador might have been the longest day I’ve ever had, from not sleeping because of a 3am flight to then swimming at a beach in Miami, and finally getting on the flight to Ecuador, it has been one long and tiring journey. Though after getting to Ecuador late at night yesterday, waking up early, a little too early after all that traveling, it made it completely worth it.

The first full day in Quito has been a flood of new experiences and activities, only 1 day in and I have enough stories for the rest of my life. We started with breakfast at 8am, brutal after the travelling, but it was great since it gave us plenty of time to do what we had planned and also free time to explore afterwards. We went to the Cathedral of San Francisco during mass, and after we toured the building around the church, giving great views of Quito. After that, I bought some donut street ball things which were amazing, then we went to lunch with the whole group but after being told it was a 40 minute wait some of us ditched it.

After looking around for a place to eat, we stumbled across what might have been the most authentic Ecuadorian empanada and soup kitchen/restaurant. We sat on the second floor on some wooden benches in a room extremely hot, and with our limited Spanish skills, managed to order empanadas for the table, which we later found out we might have messed up our order after receiving another 4 empanadas when we already had our food. Nonetheless, it felt like the true Ecuadorian experience, and I did in fact feel like Anthony Bourdain for a little.