Today has been a very emotional day. We have said our goodbye’s to our fellow Glimpser, Cleiton, our breakfast providers, Carlos and Carmen, our lunch & dinner providers, Isabell, her son Nelson & the rest of her beautiful family, our hostel owner, Maria, also our bus driver Juanito. They have impacted our trip daily and we really appreciate all they have done for us. After we said our goodbye’s, we gathered our things and packed for the 4 hour bus ride to the Quito airport. Our flight from Quito to Guayaquil will be at 8:40 pm-9:30 pm. From Guayaquil to New York is 12:50am- 8:00am.

One of the biggest challenges of becoming leader of the day is trying to lead the group without coming off as too harsh or too nice. Especially on this day, it’s very emotional as opposed to other days because we are saying goodbye to relationships that we’ve built over the past few weeks. Riobamba’s culture has definitely grown on us and we have all grown on each other. Because of all of our different personalities being a leader has been difficult, but we have all learned when to joke and when to be serious. I feel like we have overcome a lot during this trip, and Victoria and I have learned a lot being a leader.

The feeling of leaving Riobamba has been bittersweet; there have been plenty of tears as well as laughs. Overall this trip has been an experience of a lifetime. Despite what you may think, we have become a family and Riobamba will always be our home away from home.

– Tyze and Victoria