Notes on Quito

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Hello Beloveds!
I am taking my first South American bus ride, beginning tonight! I will be in Lima by the 5th, and will heading to Cusco from there.

In the spirit of reflection, here are my thoughts on ecuador thus far:
-If you haven´t seen a Sacagawea dollar or 50-cent piece in a while, it´s because they are all here! Large-quantity coins are super useful and much more common than in the U.S.
-LOTS of tourist hostals and clubs and other such in La Mariscal, Quito´s ¨gringolandia¨. I´m not that into it, but if you want to party and hang out with other westerners, this is the place for it in this city.
-Beautiful countryside, with verdant valleys, rivers, and the glorious plant and animal life of the cloud forest.
-Amazingly nice poeple here are Vipassana meditators, similar to the U.S. and probably everywhere else on this planet
-Folks are patient with my super-neuvo Spanish, and tolerant. It could also be the critical mass of toursits, who you can see almost everwhere in Quito with their fancy outdoor gear and wearing their back-packs on their fronts.
-Crazy-elaborate churches and Cathedral in the old town. I didn´t get pictures of it, but the altars are pretty much made out of gold.
-Local prices vs. Gringo prices, pretty different.
-Nonetheless, I found Palo Santo for a non-western price! It was pretty much the only thing i´ve been looking for here
-Locals ignoring gringos
-Police everywhere anywhere near to La Mariscal, most can be very flirtatious, far more than the typical Ecuadorean man, it would seem
-20-cent avocados have made me pretty happy
-Wide variety of yummy and inexpensive food
-Cheep internet cafes on almost every block
-Choichos! basically, soaked beans with salsa, lime, and plantain chips; a little bowl for about 50 cents, one of the best snacks ever and usually vended by very nice indigenous women
-way too much exhaust from the busses as they drive pass
-so many beautiful murals and graffiti all over the thoroughfares
-tons of anti-swastika and anarchy graffiti all over Quito. Suprisingly punk-rock
-Typical booth of tourist goods: pan pipes, machine made alpaca-acrylic blend sweaters, shawls from factories in India, earrings from factories in China, etc. This same booth is repeated over and over.
Well, Adios Quito!

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