La Primera Dia

I am safe, happy, and TERRIFIED in Quito, Ecuador right now! There are over 30 of us staying in La Hostel Carolina, which is really pretty and accomodating! We get a hot breakfast every morning and our rooms are so lovely.
Today we went over safety procedures and for lunch we went to the mall, Supermaxi: El Jardin. I ordered Locra media, which was a half order of a soup comprised of potatoes and cheese. I also got a bolon de verde, which is a fried ball of dough and seasoning filled with cheese. They were pretty decent.
After lunch we went to Parque Carolina where we did team bonding games. I got to paddle boat around the beautiful park with a girl named Megan from North Carolina. She's so nice and funny. The people in Ecuador do not hide their affection! I swear I saw at least 10 couples making out along the canal path like their lives were depending on it hahaha. The city is so breathtaking. There are mountains that surround us and palm trees all over. There are cacti plants and gorgeous, bright flowers. Everyone is so friendly! Family is a huge deal here and there are so many pet dogs running around, too.
For dinner we went to a vegan, all organic, all fair-trade restaurant that usually is only open for breakfast and lunch, but they stayed open just for us. We took up the entire restaurant! They gave us hot ginger tea (SO BOMB), pureed apple juice (everyone said it tasted like baby food, but it just tasted good to me haha), a soup with corn, carrots, potatoes, and cilantro, and for the main meal we got rice with spinach, potatoes with a tahini-like sauce on top, carrots, lima beans, seasoned broccoli, and a tamal with spices and herbs inside (YOU KNOW I LOVE TAMALES!), and for dessert we were given a slice of fig cake with blueberry sauce on top. I almost died from how yummy it was. And I got to eat it all with chopsticks haha.

Day 1 in Quito has been amazing :D.