Team Gringo

We have been staying with a family in a fairly posh apartment in Quito for the last week. Señora AnnaLucia and her husband Alfonzo are taking care of us. Anna cooks us dinner, and they both speak slowly and simply for us. We are able to converse about simple things like agriculture and tourist spots. They are very nice people, but it is a bit expensive to do homestays, so we are waiting to hear back from some people we met in language school who are renting a 3 bedroom house for $300US per month. We hope to rent a cheap room from them next week, to complete our last week of language school in Quito.

Last Thursday we went on a fieldtrip to a market outside of a major volcano called Cotopaxi. The bus rides to destinations outside of Quito are my favorite (though I am always slightly ill in buses). The farmscapes are amazing because the volcanic mountain ranges boarder the agriculture. Our spanish teachers walked us around like puppies pointing out the various tropical fruits and such. We are such gringos. I can´t wait until we can speak a little better so people don´t look at us with such suspicion. Most of the time, however, people are very nice and helpful. They are very used to US and E.U. tourists here. The ¨newtown¨ nightlife reminds me of the nightlife in any other major US city, except you can drink on the streets at any age. If you try, you can even find an $8 cocktail. Otherwise 24 oz bottles of beer are only $1, though we have been a little too nauseas to drink very much beer. They have english language bookstores in this area as well.

Old town Quito is much less touristy. Sunday in Old Town is quite lively. There are enormous Spanish colonial churches, studded with gold on the entire interior on every other block. We even caught a University jazz festival there today. Quito really is beautiful, with the surrounding volcano range and the impressive architecture. However, it is very crowded with street vendors and with taxis and buses the stop for no one. We look forward to getting out of the city for good next weekend. We plan on heading to the jungle and to the coast before our first farm in Loja, southern Ecuador (5 hours from Peru by bus).

Not too much else to say. We are getting over stomach aches every other day, and dodging traffic while we are out, but we are having fun. Andy is about to post some pictures... stay on the edge of your seat.

Love.