Hello everyone!  This is John writing from Riobamba, Ecuador at the end of our first day here!

Our day started with waking up at 7:30am and taking a 4-hour bus ride from Quito, through the Andes Mountains, to the beautiful city of Riobamba.

We arrived at our accommodation, and got a chance to unpack and wash up in our rooms.  The hotel is BEAUTIFUL, and has so many awesome spaces to meet and chat with friends, and to get to know one another.  Then, we all got to meet the owners of our Hotel, Pablo, Nelly, and Raul, who told us important rules for our stay.  Then we went to Roma Santa and met Isabel and her son Nelson, who are responsible for making our meals everyday.  She told us she would be our “Mom” and we should treat her restaurant like our home…

…and then we tried her food! WOW.  Marinated beef, pasta salad, rice, popcorn, fresh raspberry juice, and we were all so completely full!

After dinner, we had an important seminar on health and safety, and then we were treated to a surprise…a dance class of authentic Ecuadorian dances!

We got to see traditional dress for different native peoples of Ecuador, learn some of the basic steps, and the highlight was definitely trying on some of the clothes, and then watching the “Devil” dance for us!  We made new friends and J.C. showed them some of our moves from NYC!

We then had some free time, and some of us went to the store and bought some yummy snacks.  Then before long it was time for dinner, and we were treated to delicious fried chicken, potatoes with pesto, and fresh vegetables – oh, and CAKE!  It’s already been quite the feast!

When we came home, we had our first nightly meeting, and sent lots of Big Love to Ana, Jerry, and Javier for helping us today.  Tomorrow our Leaders of the Day will be myself and Chrissy, our other Global Glimpse Leader, and we will be learning more about the geography of Riobamba and doing a walking tour.