When I was doing research on travelling in South America, Ecuador it commonly made mention of how kind and helpful the people are. I'm three days in and I'm completely blown away by the genuine kindness which in all my travels I have yet to experience at this level. Usually if a local stranger wants to help or takes too much interest in me as a traveller I start to smell a scam coming on, unfortunately. Travelling alone you have to put your trust in strangers and so far I have been in very nice hands. I'm finding Ecuadorians very patient and helpful when they realize I don't speak fluent Spanish, they will speak slower or say it a different way to help me and the whole time with a smile on their face, it's really lovely. My accommodations here in Quito is with a couple by the names of Anita and David. I enjoy staying with locals as I find it give a more authentic experience of the country and city, and by far this has been the best homestay I have even had. Anita and David are always making sure I'm ok, did I eat, what can they offer me, what can they help me with? On Saturday they insisted I eat breakfast with them, which was scrambled eggs with a lot of corn in it, something new and tasty! They were curious about Canada and why I chose Ecuador. They have great scenes of humour and especially David makes a lot of jokes and even thought his English is not as strong as Anita's, jokes in any language if done right are funny! Anita and David have two dog who they adore and after breakfast they gave their puppy a bath. After they blow dried the puppy David brought her to my bedroom so I could cuddle the fresh clean puffy puppy, pretty cute! Today I attended church with David and Anita, they thought it was funny that I wanted to come seeing as I wouldn't understand but I explained I knew church is important in Ecuador and I wanted to experience it, I think they appreciated that. Then they took me to the Teleferico, which is an aerial tram up the volcano Pichincha for an amazing view of Quito. This is one of those tourist destinations and activities I had been really looking forward to so it was an excellent day. The pictures of are of Anita, David, the dogs and me on our Teleferico outing. Quito Ecuador is at an altitude of 2850meters, to give you that in perspective Edmonton's altitude is 671meters, so it's advised to take it easy as a Canadian in
Quito as shortness in breath and other illness can develop. Again this has been something my hosts have continually checked in with me to make sure I was feeling and managing well. The Teleferico at the top of the mountain is at 4100meters!! It's distinctly cold up at the top of the volcano, but I explained this cold has nothing on the cold Canada can offer HAHA. David kept making jokes to Anita and I that he needed an ambulance and couldn't breadth, it was comical. Thankfully I have been feeling fine this whole time in Quito and didn't have any issues today as I would have been quite disappointed if I couldn't have gone in the aerial tram. Enjoy the pictures :-)