Day 1

7.17.2011

We have barely left Houston, and it has already been a long day, but a good day. I woke up, excited about the trip, or course, but more preoccupied thinking how blessed I am. Not only am I grateful that I get to go on this trip, but also for all the people that love me, that love my dog enough to put up with him for 2 and a half weeks before he takes his first airplane flight ever to scenic Greenville, North Carolina, for all the people who are generous enough to lend me their towels, bags, tents, water bottles, so I don't go broke going on this trip, for the people (Erica here's your shout out!) who love me enough to wake up at 4:55 and drive me and Arturo to the airport...and pretend like they like it. And as we fly, I continue to find kind people to be grateful for--the 3 people who played musical airplane seats so that I could sit next to mi novio, who pretended like they didn't mind. And really, everybody got a better seat in the end, parents now have their son and daughter in the same row, a nice woman who is on her way to volunteer in Quito gets her favorite, a window seat, Arturo gets a shoulder to sleep on, and I get someone to switch meals with when mine has cheese.

So, 12 hours after we woke up, we are 2 hours beyond Houston, and thanks to our late night half-price-books run, deeply engrossed in our books (Me - "Push", Arturo - "Onward", by Howard schultz, the founder and CEO of Starbucks).

I know you may have been hoping to hear something about an exotic foreign country, but be patient; we'll get there when we get there. For now, we are content with a lazy day of in the airport with a good cup of coffee. Hope you can wait until we get to Ecuador to hear more; we barely can. For now, all the excitement I can give you is a story that I heard for the first time today about when Arturo's dad put in a new water pump when he was a kid. He was so excited that he made up a song about all the parts of the system. I am hoping he gets bored and doesn't read this far, like several of you may have done.

Well, adios amigos. Hasta manana.

Don't forget to check out the amazing song we came across while researching for our trip. Imagine us singing it in every new town we arrive in; now, that's exciting.