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I arrived back in Quito at around 2pm. I immediately went to the hostal Posada
del Maple, then walked over to La Sala to visit with Evelyn and Gabi. Evelyn and I
were supposed to hang out on the weekend, but father's day was on Sunday and she
was busy doing family stuff. I did get to meet her family though, and they took
me to see historic Quito.
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It is so pretty there at night. Completely empty and the buildings are lighted
up with different color lights. I've never seen it in the day, and I
don't know if I want to!
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This is the main square area. I don't remember what it's all called since
we went by it so quickly and it was in spanish!
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I don't know why they don't do night tours...
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This is Ecuador's equivalent to the "White House".
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More buildings. I think this one is a church.
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This is Evelyn's room. Her family took me out to dinner and was kind
enough to let me stay overnight. They were so nice!
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This is Evelyn with her parents. They are the nicest people!
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The whole top of the house is reserved for Sammy, their dog.
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This is Gabi and another woman. They both work with Evelyn at La Sala.
When I returned they've been having problems with the connection and
didn't have any for 3 days! And they still had to show up for work.
They played solitare all day!
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I had to take a picture of the sores that I got from the wetsuit. By this
time, they were 1/2 healed, but still tender.
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This is the Marriott in Quito. It is a very plush hotel, and it looks really
out of place there. When I first arrived in Quito (before the galapagos trip),
I was feeling sick the first day, so I hung out in the
lobby and read my book. I also ate a salad lunch there. The prices were the
same as it would be in the US, so by Ecuador standards, it was very expensive.
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They also were having a huge gas crisis. People lined up around the block at
all hours of the day trying to get gas. It was incredible. I felt kind of
bad taking a picture. Something about the workers went on strike so the whole
country didn't have gas. Funny though, it didn't drive the prices up.
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The line for the cars went around the block!
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I didn't have much to do so I spent a lot of time at 2 different malls, CCI and
CCE. I was surprised at how much they look like american malls.
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This is a view of Quito from the mall.
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To blend in with the natives, I bought a sweater and a scarf (it was
winter there). Here I am in my hostal room. This is the only time
I was in Ecuador on my own. I was a little lonely...
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The Posada del Maple bathroom. This room was small but quite
comfortable. The hot showers were the best!
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The Posada del Maple patio. I highly recommend staying here if you
ever find yourself in Quito!
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The breakfast area. They had really good eggs but not very good
pancakes. They were kind of hard and the syrup wasn't all that great.
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And of course the obligatory photo at the Mitad del Mundo (middle of the
world). I am straddling the equator! I didn't find this place particularly
interesting, but it was something to do. It was $.40 for the hour long
bus ride, $1 to get in, and another $3 if you wanted to go inside the
tower. But I didn't want to pay another $3.
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Woo hoo! Equator!
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This is one of the main streets on Sunday. Mostly everything is
closed on Sunday, almost completely empty! It's amazing how much a
place changes on the weekends.
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Rosa, the caretaker of the Posada del Maple. She was a really nice
woman and I talked with her a little bit.
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I had to take a picture of the door because it is not a normal door.
It is a closet door and it is only locked with a tiny padlock.
Talk about secure!
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On my last day there, I went out to dinner with Ernesto and Daniella (the
couple I met on the flight from Houston to Quito). They are the nicest
people ever! They took me all around the city. I got another look at
"old" Quito, as well as several other views of the city. We couldn't
decide were to eat, so we went to a chinese place and it was really good.
I wanted to pay for dinner since they spent their precious gas on taking
me around, but they didn't let me!
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I am so glad that I met them, they said that I was their first
friend from the US! I can't wait to go back to Quito and visit them
again! I ended my trip on a great note, I had the best time, met some
really cool people, and I'm looking forward to returning one day.
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