GoodBYE concrete jungle.. Hello rainforest!

It’s my last night in Quito and tomorrow morning I’ll be off to the jungle! Me and 3 of the other 4 volunteers, Chris, Megan and Ryan, will pile into Daniel’s car, tie our luggage to the roof with rope, and make the 6 hour trip to Mondaña where we will be working for at least the next 3 weeks. The first 3 weeks is what we are calling module #1 (aka: test run). It’s a test run because we don’t actually know what the hell we are doing when we get there. For example we don’t yet know what our schedule will look like, what materials we will be using to teach, or exactly WHAT we will be teaching. Therefore, we will use the first 2 or 3 days to develop a Plan of Action. Basically we are all a bit bewildered, but excited and enthusiastic about getting things put together.

So here’s what I’ve learned since I’ve been in Quito: First of all, never walk from New town to Old town wearing Keen’s, an Ospray backpack and a white tee-shirt – you might get shit thrown on you. If this actually does happen to you, wait for the person who conveniently shows up with a package of tissues and tell them to go to hell. Then get in a taxi before they can tell you you smell and offer them more than the cab fare to get home.

Next, if you decide to move to Quito, you might want to buy multiple cars. Just over a year ago, due to the amount of traffic in the city, a law was implemented in which every driver (or every car) has one day out of the week that they are not allowed to drive. The law is called “Pico y Placa.” Pico means “rush hour” and placa means “licence plate.” The day that you are not allowed to drive during rush hour corresponds with the last number on your licence plate. So, people have solved this problem by purchasing more cars with different licence plate numbers so as to avoid such inconvenience.

Finally, 20 dollar bills are BIG bills. Expect to lose friends (or money) if you throw a 20 on the table after dinner, or buying a bottle of water at the corner store.

So technically I don’t have to ever come to Quito again (until I take my flight out of here). For now I’m off to a new place and a new experience. It will be good to have a home base, unpack my bags, and get this show on the road! (dirt road that is)