Wednesday, June 17th Our Ecuador Seminar trip is officially under way. We met this morning for breakfast and group introductions, and then hit the ground running. First on our to-do list was head out to the Panecillo, a statue and view point overlooking Ecuador’s capital city, Quito. Surrounded by mountains and sitting at nearly 9,000’, the views were beautiful, including a glimpse at tomorrow’s objective, Volcano Rucu Pichincha. Next up, we toured the streets of colonial Quito. Here we got history lessons from our local guide and visited churches, the presidential palace, independence plaza, and more. Finally we were off to the Equator to simultaneously place a foot in both the northern and southern hemisphere. At the Equator we visited an ethnographic museum and learned about the various cultures of this diverse country. We also saw some simulations explaining the Coriolis Effect and the significance of being at mitad del mundo …literally at the middle of the world. The evening ended with a team dinner with traditional Ecuadorian food. One bold team member ordered the local delicacy, cuy, or guinea pig. With day one in the books, we’re eagerly awaiting our first acclimatization hike tomorrow. We’re headed to the Volcano Rucu Pichincha, one of the major volcanoes forming a geographical boundary of Quito. We’ll be in touch tomorrow! Ciao, RMI Guide Mike Walter