A day for relaxing

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Today was my second full day in Quito. We had pancakes and fruit salad for breakfast which was quite delicious. Tasha, Lindy, Jens, Katy and I (all of the volunteers) went out to go to a little art display area in a park. There were tons of stalls with all sorts of little goodies. There were scarves for $2.50 and really cheap things. It is amazing since so many of these things would be really expensive in the US.

We then went out to lunch at El Cafecito where I had a cheese sandwich which was really good because there was avocado in it! I also had passion fruit juice. Our waiter was from Austin, Texas and so it was pretty easy to order. Apparently this man named Jose who works at the Simon Bolivar school and who is also the handyman in our house had never been to a restaurant before and he want for the first time a few months ago. It is a completely different world. He is probably in his 30´s or 40´s! It is just crazy since in the US we take it for granted.

We then went back to the house for a little siesta, but I don´t really like to just sit and do nothing, so I went and asked Katy if she wanted to go and walk around and go get a coffee. We went to Supermaxi (the supermarket) and bought chocolate because I was having chocolate withdrawl. Kinder chocolate of course because you just can´t get that type of quality in the US! Then we went to CoffeeTree which is a 24 hour a day coffee shop. I had a mocachina which was fantastic!

Quito is such a wonderful city and even though you have to be careful so that you don´t get pick-pocketed, it is beautiful. I am a little scared to take out my camera because a digital camera is worth more than the average monthly salary in Quito. Right outside the house we can see a volcano which is beautiful. The family is really nice and they are all smiles, which is perfect for me! I gave them a book of pictures from Boston and they all loved it because they had never seen it before.

More later. Eliza.

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