I sit looking out a beautiful glass wall watching beads of rain gather into thin streams which then snake to the ground. I look down at my cheap, brightly colored plaid umbrella thinking, yes this is perhaps the best spent $2 yet. Since our arrival on Wednesday, the sprawling Andean city of Quito has greated us with a varied collection of culture shockers and eye openers... including daily torrential downpours and hailstorms which inevitably send waves of people rushing to find shelter. This year as been worse than any other -- global warming poses itself as a likely culprit. Like clockwork, the gods open the heavens each afternoon and the Spanish colonial streets of Quito transform into a colorful flurry of plaid and polka-dotted nylon patterns. This daily event presents the question that perhaps most travelers face, ¨besides not packing rainpants, how else am I surprisingly unprepared?¨
Its been an intense five days at nearly two miles above sea level in a city of over 1.4 million people, the vast majority far below the poverty line. Its hard to gauge the degree of culture shock I´m experiencing after absorbing so much so quickly. Exhausion, disorientation, the maze of Spanish, new friendships and group dynamics, the reindroduction of Latin American poverty, theft, suspicion, loneliness, freezing nights, filthy children venders, cobblestone streets and the breathtaking colonial architecture, the airy tin sound of church bells, the grandeaur of our landscape, the excitement after our first rehearsal and ultimately the blossoming of our theatrical project and purpose here.
But for now, Leslie, Rachel, Jeremy and I sit in silence, accompanied by our amazingly festive and fancy vodka martinis, letting the smooth warm sensation of an approaching buzz wrap around us. I can see across the valley to the misted hillsides of Volcan Pinchincha and Loma Cruz, the massive volcanos that flank the western edge of Quito, and watch as they spark to life with the orange glow of tiny street lamps. Indeed we will soon be venturing back into the storm and slowly desend into the flooded chilly streets of Quito. But for the moment, we allow ourselves to feel cozy and protected from our magnificant panoramic perch atop Ichimbia, the eastern foothill overlooking the city -- our dry little tourist bubble. Our adventure has begun and we are all to aware of the few dry spells we´re alotted in which our culture shock subsides long enough to enjoy an overpriced cocktail.
Its been an intense five days at nearly two miles above sea level in a city of over 1.4 million people, the vast majority far below the poverty line. Its hard to gauge the degree of culture shock I´m experiencing after absorbing so much so quickly. Exhausion, disorientation, the maze of Spanish, new friendships and group dynamics, the reindroduction of Latin American poverty, theft, suspicion, loneliness, freezing nights, filthy children venders, cobblestone streets and the breathtaking colonial architecture, the airy tin sound of church bells, the grandeaur of our landscape, the excitement after our first rehearsal and ultimately the blossoming of our theatrical project and purpose here.
But for now, Leslie, Rachel, Jeremy and I sit in silence, accompanied by our amazingly festive and fancy vodka martinis, letting the smooth warm sensation of an approaching buzz wrap around us. I can see across the valley to the misted hillsides of Volcan Pinchincha and Loma Cruz, the massive volcanos that flank the western edge of Quito, and watch as they spark to life with the orange glow of tiny street lamps. Indeed we will soon be venturing back into the storm and slowly desend into the flooded chilly streets of Quito. But for the moment, we allow ourselves to feel cozy and protected from our magnificant panoramic perch atop Ichimbia, the eastern foothill overlooking the city -- our dry little tourist bubble. Our adventure has begun and we are all to aware of the few dry spells we´re alotted in which our culture shock subsides long enough to enjoy an overpriced cocktail.
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