"I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult.
- E. B. White
We flew into Quito, Ecuador and were taken our totally posh accomodations at the Hotel Sebastian. One of the owners of the hotel is a member of the local rotary and was kind enough to house our group at a significant discount. It was so nice to have a clean, fresh smelling room with reliable hot water. Our activities in Quito were mostly arranged through Vista Para Todos, a group which does a wide variety of charity work, primarily in the field of health care. One of the founders, Diego, was kind enough to arrange various volunteer opportunities (and sightseeing) for our group, and frequently came along with us. After getting a chance to drop off luggage, they took a few of us around on a city tour.
The next morning our first service activity was helping distribute gifts to kids on Christmas Eve. We teamed up with El Grand Dia to be with a large group (around 300) of poor kids for a few hours. During that time we did various activities including a modeling contest for the girls, and a lion bashing contest for the boys. It was great seeibg the smiles on all those kids faces!
That evening a few of us attended midnight mass at the San Francisco Church, the oldest in Ecuador. There were tons of folks outside shooting fireworks, and a few kids even lit sparklers inside the old wooden church! It was a packed house, and we stayed until communion, then headed back to the hotel for some rest.
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