different

I climbed that steep street to get this view and realized that 9,000 feet is tough...and that I am extremely out of shape! :)

Quito is huge, that pic is just a fraction of the view, but hopefully I will climb something a bit more formidable than a hilly street to get a better view of the city.

Here are some funny things I've seen/experienced so far:

- people put broken glass straight up and down on the ledges of their walls to keep birds from perching and pooping



- i definitely need to wear sunblock every day (got burned on my nose, cheeks, and chest yesterday...then again i did walk around for like 4 hours!)

- there were honestly at least 500 people (probably more) in a huge park playing soccer yesterday (even men in their sixties!)



- the parks aren't quite like ours...tall fake rock formations for kids to climb on with cement below to break their fall...anti-aircraft gun and cannon for kids to play with...actual airplane with a face painted on it, but was so decrepit they had to put a fence around it..but lots of areas designated for futbol...a noteworthy botanic garden (where i became some woman's personal photographer, but at least she took one of me :) )



- no recycling...NO RECYCLING!!! i don't know how i'm going to cope since i have to drink bottled water here

- more people drank and talked with friends in the streets than inside bars and clubs last night

- pablo lives next to two all girl schools...at lunchtime, they flood the streets with their red or blue track suits or sweaters with plaid skirts (scary memories of catholic school surfacing here ;))





- i have to get re-accustomed to strange people kissing me on the cheek whenever i am introduced to someone (my personal bubble is deflating rapidly!)

- taxis honk whenever they see a potential fare...it doesn't mean i'm looking foxy that day

- the psuedo-official ecuadorian alcoholic beverage is canelazo...i still don't know what's in it, but it was served hot (i, of course, had to wait till it became luke-warm because hot + alcohol = gross)

- i have to swap several of my castellano and mexican spanish words for ecuadorian ones (i.e. sorbete = straw, saco = sweater, and many more)

- more interesting observations and experiences to come... :)