My entire week has been adding up to this. I've checked my bag's contents at least three times, asked for all the advice more seasoned travelers could muster, and accurately weighed my luggage to plus or minus five pounds. Not even I could have imagined the long process that would eventually plant my feet on foreign soil for the first time in my life. 12 hours of sitting and surviving off of airplane food have put me in a new country (not to mention an exhausted body, mind, & spirit). I don't know if these are the rantings of a tired man, but I felt as if I have been slowly lowered into a whole new culture. The immersion began slowly in Miami, where every message was started in Spanish and then repeated in English. The closer we came to Ecuador the lesser the effort was made to have messages repeated in English. Then in customs the official was exasperated that I could not understand Spanish very well. I could almost hear his thoughts, "How dare this person come to my country and be completely ignorant of my culture and my language." I was now officially a foreigner for the first time in my life. Let the good times roll!!
Since everything was closed when we arrived, we decided to go the local Econo-Mart, lovingly dubbed "the cage" by the members of our group who have been here before. This name is well earned since the front entrance has a prison like door over the front with a small square hole in the middle where the money and goods are exchanged. This is very different from the convenience stores in the States, where you can always walk inside and make your selection, no matter the time (unless I haven't traveled around my own country enough). Security definitely is a big issue here, but instead of closed circuit cameras and shotguns under the counter, they just don't let you in the store, actually quite a novel idea. Well that's it for my first night here in Ecuador; I hope that the next day is a blast.