It's 3:01 pm local time in Dallas, Texas, as I sit facing a large window the day before I turn 17. I'm eating a massive carton of fries that I bought 10 or 15 minutes ago, waiting for the boarding call of my flight. Where am I off to now? To be completely honest I'm not sure, you never really know a place until you go there. And South America is an elusive destination --- clouded in murmurs of drug wars and rioting disasters, (incorrectly) labeled a 3rd world continent filled with slums and half developed industry. I knew close to nothing about Ecuador when I signed up for this trip, actually I knew absolutely nothing about the place. I knew Machu Picchu was in Peru, and the Andes existed in the region, and that's all I needed to know. I tend to go places without researching them because I prefer having no expectations.

Being a minor, it's hard to travel on your own. I have before, usually to visit my sisters in California. I constantly wrestle with the options. To be able to go to a place like Peru (and Ecuador) as a teenager is an incredible opportunity, one that isn't hindered by being in a large group. There are a lot of places better experienced outside of extreme tourism, but again it's really hard to do that when you can't even legally claim responsibility for yourself. So I went with a group of 36-ish people organized by my AP Lang teacher. I was gone for roughly 15 days including travel time and arrived home around 11 am this morning.

I couldn't possibly condense the experiences I had into a single article, but I'm also not quite sure how to organize them. I find it seems sensible to order things chronologically, but then you lose things like foresight and it's hard to explain retrospect and the muddling of memories. So I guess we'll just see what happens. My hope is that the stories flow out in their own way, filled with the minor faults and regrets and tinted a little bit with the golden light of nostalgia. I consider this an introduction, hopefully I've enticed you to read more. Just stay tuned.