Quito

I have arrived in Quito.

The flight was very long and boring. The highlight was the full moon. At one time, we were flying over the ocean and there were no clouds. The full moon reflected off the ocean which went on forever. I felt like I was in a science fiction film.

I expected a flight with half Ecuadorians, half norteamericanos. But everyone on the plane was a rich American, Canadian, or European en route to the Galapagos Islands. Needless to say, I was a bit out of place with my backpack and in a tank top and bandana, as they all had ten pieces of designer luggage and more jewels than fingers. And they were all very old.

In the airport, my host father in Quito, Marcos, picked me up in a taxi and took me back to their apartment which is very nice. There are two little boys, 3 and 5 years old. The younger one doesn´t talk; he only grunts. But they are both very cute.

Quito is surrounded by mountains, and you can just barely make out snow on a few of the peaks. The weather is warm and humid in the morning. Then, according to Lorena, my host mother, it starts raining after 4 and becomes colder. Right now it´s 20 Celsius and rather humid.

Many of the people are indistinguishable from people in the Mission district of San Francisco. The young women wear tank tops and jeans, to my relief, though I hear they dress more conservatively in small towns. The music at the internet cafe is the same reggaeton songs they play in San Francisco, which I guess is a testament to how Latinized California has become.

Unfortunately, I have developed altitude sickness. This happened almost as soon as the plane touched down. I have a huge headache and need to drink lots of water. Quito is twice as high as Denver, so this makes sense. I should be better in a few days, just in time to leave the mountains to go to Puyo.

Internet is very fast, and at this cafe it´s a whopping 70 cents per hour. I am less pleased with some of the keyboards, which in addition to being different than those in the US, appear to not always type what they should. Such is life.

The Spanish is extremely easy to understand in Quito, although my host mother told me that it is more difficult in the east because many people speak Quichua as their first language.

I will be in Quito until very early Saturday morning, exactly one week from today.

I miss everyone. And I miss water that doesn´t have to boiled. Already.