"I always wanted to know how bagslashing worked...now I do"

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When we arrived in Quito´s north terminal at like 6pm, Sim wanted to take a taxi to the hostel but they were asking for $10! I wanted to take public transport and luckily Brigetter and Elisa were taking the trolleys, so I guess that made Sim more comfortable even though we were going in different directions than them because they were couchsurfing with someone in Quito. So in the end we only paid 25 cents on a really impressive trolley system.

Sim hauled ass when we got off at our stop at Plaza Santo Domingo because it was dark at that point and everyone tells us not to walk at night. Nonetheless, we made it Hostel Residencia Sucre next to Plaza San Francisco safely in like 5 minutes.

When we got into the hostel we found out it was technically full. However, the owner, Jose Miguel, is the cutest viejo and let us stay in his little closet of a room for the first night for free so we could get a room the next day when someone left. This room was literally the size of a closet where there´s just enough room to open the door up to the twin bed inside to walk in and close the door. There was some serious spoon action going on... even if I were to fall off the bed, I wouldn´t have hit the floor because I would have just gotten stuck in the crack between the bed and the wall. Ridiculous!

The next day we spent exploring the city with Brigette and Elisa, which you can see via the pictures that I will hopefully be able to put up soon....The historic center had some really great colonial architecture again and the market where we had our Almuerzo Don Jimmy was quite an experience. Along the right side upstairs there were little corners of cooks and servers serving pretty much the same thing: jugos, fried chicken/fish with rice, ceviche with canguil(popcorn), etc..one of the ladies got Elisa to try soup made from intestines. eep! Along the left side there were little ladies in aprons trying to sell mounds of fresh fruits and veggies arranged all geometrically--everything was super cheap. For example, I bought a POUND of fresh blackberries for only $1.20. The downstairs housed the fresh meat market with random cats and dogs running around--not the most pleasant aromas but typical for a meat market...

The most exciting/memorable part of Quito was my birthday the next day. In the morning we embarked on the 2 hour journey up to Mitad del Mundo via the trolley bus. It was a bit crowded on the bus so I tried to stay in between Sim and these 2 guys that we eyes her bag. Little did we know that the little plump woman in front of us would whip out a blade under her bag and slash Simonne´s new woven bag that she had just bought in Otavalo--on both sides!. We were both so vigilent and her hands were on the bag, but the lady was so surrepticious that Sim only noticed after she already had the gaping holes in her bag. Luckily she didn´t get through the lining and there wasn´t anything worth taking in that bag since Sim had everything valuable tucked away in her functional pants. However, she was absolutely livid after that. And understandably so... We stopped into a papelerìa to get some safety pins and the owner told us how the same things had happened to him with a leather bag and that locals are also targets so we just need to carry the bare necessities on us, which is what we did. Luckily nothing got stolen, but it was definitely a reality check.

Due to this debacle we arrived late at Mitad del Mundo so we didn´t meet the girls on time, but after standing on both the north and south hemispheres, we ran into both of them on the bus with a few students from Guyaquil. The were in Quito for the day to protest because the president is trying to make them pay for tuition, which is currently free. When we got back to Quito we did a tour of the President´s Palace (Rafael Correa) and learned about how the government is technically a democracy, but Correa is more like a dictator and uses some communist tactics--very interesting...

We then went back out to Plaza Foch to celebrate my birthday. My birthday dinner was a Pincho = shish kebab of different grilled meats with baby potatoes and a small salad + fanta = $1.50. Yummy! We ended up back at Azuca for drinks and got a big salad to get more veggies before devouring a delicious bday postre of apple cinnamon cake topped with dulce de leche sauce. Oh so good! but oh so full!

It was definitely a fun birthday night of more salsa dancing until 4 in the morning...and of course older guys pouncing. When we took the taxi back to our hostel, he tried to change the price on me and I was not having it! I´m getting good at this whole arguing-in-spanish-for-prices business. Just because I´m a tall white girl, does not mean I´ll let you rip me off!

General reflections of Ecuador so far:
-the people are not nearly as friendly or outgoing as Colombians.
-they are also not trustworthy or reliable considering my jacket was stolen and Sim´s bag slashed. We definitely don´t feel as safe as we did in Colombia and want to get out of Ecuador..
-however, the food is really yummy...
--> humitas = soft corn bread wrapped in a corn husk
--> quibolitos = a sweeter, less corny version of a humita wrapped in a lily leaf
--> llapingachos = fried chicken, friend egg, mashed potatoe and cheese pancakes, rice, and salad
--> cafe con leche = a full cup of whole milk and tiny bit of coffee (so yummy but so rich!)

We are definitely eating our way through Ecuador....

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