And so it begins....

The adventure began this morning at 5 am with a hair raising ride to the airport! We had a severe storm with lots of thunder and lightning - can't remember the last time it thundered here. The drive to the airport was made at no more than 40 mph on the freeway in a downpour with huge waves of water washing over the car and gusts of wind blowing the car from side to side. I dropped Wes off at 5:30 am and away he went! Even though the weather was really bad the plane actually took off only a few minutes late. Wes said the flight was pretty smooth once they got out of the San Francisco area. He met up with Curtis in Atlanta and they spent about an hour and a half in the Delta Crown Room having cocktails and peanuts! Their flight to Quito, Ecuador was on time and again a smooth one with only slight bumps toward the end of the flight. They flew over Panama and said it was all lit up. They arrived in Quito at about 11:30 pm local time. Wes said from the air he could tell there were a lot of hills, peaks and valleys with lights of the cities in between. Once they arrived in Quito a guy was there waiting for them with a sign saying "Lamberg." All of their luggage made it with no problem. They had to go through customs and Wes said the machine looked liked a cardboard box with a conveyer belt. Their driver loaded them up in the mini van to take them to their hotel and once they arrived he asked them for a tip! People usually aren't so forward as to directly ask for a tip but I guess he wanted to make sure he got one. The hotel they are staying at is the Sierra Nevada Hotel. Wes said they are very safe at the hotel as there are security bars on the windows below. He said the weather is very pleasant and it is about 55 degrees. Tomorrow is a rest day but they are hoping to do a small hike or something to help acclimate to this higher altitude. They are also planning on checking out Quito. A new thing for this blog is that you can track Wes and Curtis all along the way. Just click on the GPS Tracking link to the right and watch their progress!