Although my sense of smell is assaulted by the exhaust in Quito, it hasnt been attacked by cigarette smoke. There just arent a lot of smokers. In my guidebook I read that internet cafés were plentiful but often smoke-filled. That hasnt been the case. I was in an internet place today and it was smoke free. For 30 minutes online
Im a word person and its been fun and interesting to figure out Spanish words and meanings and see how they relate (or dont) to English words. I love the sound of some Spanish words and just the look of others. After a couple of weeks of Spanish class, here are some of my favorites. Ballena I first ran
Today is the last day of Spanish class. The lessons have been one on one, first with Martha for a week and then with Adreana. Martha covered some basics with me and Adreana has built on that, included a lot more conversation, of which she does most of the talking. Theres been homework every night, which is quite helpful, and
At Thanksgiving time my friend and former co-worker Charlie asked me to check which way the water rotated in the toilet south of the equator. My observations say (drum roll please) clockwise. Which way does it rotate in your bathroom?
Dogs run wild here in Ecuador, although there are some on leashes, most seem to belong to no one and everyone at the same time. Today I saw a dog resting in the middle of the street. While in Parque La Carolina I saw a dog chasing, snapping, and barking after a four wheeler on which two police officers were
In a city thats 22 miles long, there seems to be common threads from one end to the other and some unique characteristics in each barrio. The neighborhood Im staying in, La Mariscal, is home to La Floresta, so named because of the many flower stores. On our walk to school, the bins are full of flowers and it is
Nearly everyone at the school is cold. Mucho Frio! they exclaim. It seems really nice here to me. The weather never stays the same – except it’s always about 60 degrees. From dawn to dusk theres sunshine, clouds (sometimes low enough to envelope the building) and rain. For the third day in a row an afternoon thunderstorm rolled in. The
It seems like the bathrooms here are all a result of the lack of resources. Water, electricity and ability/system to process. Water: In Puerto Lopez water is trucked in from an hour away and thats the water for showers, toilets, sinks. Bottled water is cheap. One of the places in Puerto Lopez I bought water charged a quarter for
I’ve done a lot of walking in Quito. Like any big city, there’s a lot of distance between you and your destination. After a couple of weeks of walking the hills in the city, my calves and feet ache. Most of the yoga I’m doing is to relieve some of the aches of walking, sitting, and travel in general. I’m
My trip TO the basilica yesterday went off without a hitch. RETURNING I got mixed up and got off the trolly one stop too soon, got on the bus going the wrong way and then got on the bus going the right way but the wrong bus. Its all part of the experience and I got where I was going,