Day 2 Welcome orientation!

Good evening families!!

GGLs Mary and Steph here to tell all y’all about our first day here in Riobamba!

Our day started with a delicious breakfast (scrambled eggs, fruit, roll, juice, and cafe con leche) at Hotel Ambassador in Quito. Next, we finally made our long 4-hour journey by bus to Riobamba where we took in the sights of the beautiful mountain landscapes. At the rest stop, we saw some really cute pups frolicking in the grass and it was torture that we couldn’t pet them!!

Upon checking into our hotel, Tren Dorado, we adventured room to room in the courtyard admiring all of the different color themes, plants, and architecture. We even got a perfect view of Volcán Chimborazo from our awesome rooftop balcony! We had worked up a big appetite after our long travel days and our food provider, Mama Isabel, was ready to feed us! Lunch at Restaurante Roma Santa was a filling plate of chicken, potatoes, white and green rice, and salad along with a delicious blackberry juice to quench our thirst.

We digested our meals with a volleyball circle and a walk back to our hotel for our first program seminar, the Accommodation and Welcome orientation.  Our hotel host Maria, and her son Pablo, ensured that they would take the best care of us at our new Ecuadorian home.❤️ After getting to know each other better with some energizer activities, the glimpsers learned more about the roles and responsibilities as Líder Del Día (LDD) in another seminar. The kids loved having some free time to unpack and hang out before we left for dinner. Tonight Isabel fed us lomo saltado, rice and vegetables with fig tea, and for dessert… we had an intense karaoke session!

To close our evening, we had our first official nightly meeting in Riobamba where we recapped and reflected on our day. Our PCs, Paco and Paul, passed the torch (with traditional ponchos) to our first LDDs, Hazel and Sabrina!! They kicked off their new role with a group sing-along to the Weekend.  Let’s just say… we are expecting daily concerts from this group and although there wasn’t an encore, we’re hoping with more practice each performance will get better and better ?

We are rounding up the glimpsers from their “penthouse balcony” for lights out! We are all very tired, but super excited for our Culture day tomorrow, as well as all of the other adventures that Global Glimpse has planned for us the next two weeks. Thank you for trusting us to take care of your kids on this incredible experience- they are all so kind, respectful, funny, and bunches of fun!
Stay tuned for more fun updates from Hazel and Sabrina tomorrow!

Big love,
Steph and Mary, GGLs