The
day started with a buffet style breakfast. What a spread? We had a
team breakfast and planned out the day. Talk about all you can eat.
The Marriott in Quito is a top of the line hotel. As you enter the
luxurious lobby and find yourself in awe of how great this place
really is. "No one would ever have thought that this is the place
we'd be staying," said Jen Chico Ithier (Hunter College). Let' s now
talk about the rooms, huge, beautiful and ... you can fill in the
blanks.
Upon completing breakfast we set out for the Equator on a luxury bus. Two
special guests joined us for our tour Coach Grace Yepez from Los Colorados and
Coach Marcelo Mirando from Quito. Going through downtown Quito was quite an
experience in itself as their form of rush hour traffic can be greatly compared
to NYC. The arrival to the Equator was near. Our student-athletes began their
version of American Idol singing every song they could think of. It's a good
thing that the trip was quick, all of 39 minutes to get from our hotel to the
center of the world (Mitad del Mundo).
At the equator, talk about being inexpensive, 1 US Dollar per ticket. You could
never get a bargain like that in the States. We started our tour and people were
asking us, where are we from and why are we here? So we told them, we are the
CUNY Goodwill Basketball team and come join us at our games. The monument which
stood at the equator was beautiful. Standing ten stories high and with the
letters N;S;E;W on it. Signifying the direction in which you may be at. Standing
atop this monument looking at the many volcanoes and mountains surrounding us.
Morgana Green(Hostos CC) said," Having an opportunity like this is once in a
lifetime." There are lots of gift shops and restaurants, definitely a tourist
attraction, like our South Street Seaport. We stopped in the post office to get
out post cards and to pick up stamps for future mailings. As we rounded up the
troops there was a stage where our team put on a show. A great display of
camradrie combined with a very creative imagination.
Getting back to Quito was very quick (25 minutes). We had lunch at a local
burger joint, no not McDonalds but Tropi Burgers. The gym in which we were
practicing in is across the street.
At last it was time for our first practice. We walked in to the gym and started
stretching and running, getting ready. As our players ran transition drills and
Coach Bostic shouting out instructions to her players it was great to get the
first day jitters out of the way. We reviewed our plays and breakdown of
fundamentals. The play was good as though there was no altitude change and we
are acclimating ourselves rather quickly. As practice concluded a team of eight
11 year olds came over for autographs making our players look like stars.
Kandyce Gunning (Queensborough CC) stated,"I felt like I was a famous athlete
with the way these children would walk over for our autograph."
We had dinner and took a tour of Centro Historico which is the Historical
Center. Our student-athletes walked past the homes of the mayor of Quito and the
President of Ecuador. There were many beautiful churches on every other corner
with bright shining illuminating lights. A statue perched up on the mountain lit
up the sky. Virgen de Panecillos resembled what we would call the Virgin Mary.
We should be getting around to that mountain very soon. For being a Tuesday the
plaza was packed with people. There roads were very hilly and narrow to navigate
their vehicles. The crew broke up into groups of 5 and off we went to the hotel
arriving 10 minutes to eleven.
Lights out at 11:00pm. Definitely a day to remember.
