Macro Environment Observation

Community-
The first environment that we explored was Ecuador's capital, Quito. Quito is composed of a crowded atmosphere, which starts from the minute the sun rises to after the sun sets. Every Morning as my partner and I walked to the nearest bus stop, we observed how the streets were filled with cars, taxis and people walking. The large amount of cars that were in the city increased the amount of smog in the air. As the buses drove passed us, we experienced the extreme and profound smell of its dark smog. From a personal perspective, my partner and I found it difficult to breathe, despite the elevation. We experienced symptoms of asthma in the first few days, but after weeks passed by, we noticed that our lungs had adapted to the new environment. Because of the large amount of vehicles within the city, the government passed new regulations, which controlled when car owners are allowed to drive their vehicles. For example according to our host family, individuals cannot utilize their vehicles during certain days of the week. It came to our knowledge that our host family was not able to use the only car they owned on fridays, because of the last digit of their plate number. For that reason, it was common to see individuals walking to their destinations or riding the bus. In comparison to the United States, we were able to see that public …show more content…
As you can see in the photo above, the houses are connected from side to side, not leaving much space in between. When we refer to well gated, we refer to the house we stayed at, which was gated all around with heavy locks that utilized different keys for all. This extra protection did not mean that the city was dangerous, but it was a form of taking extra safety precisions. To our surprise many of the house were not only one or two stories tall, as we commonly see back in California, many of the houses we encountered actually reached a third