The Bug-Mobile

Living across from Parque de Carolina, we see all kinds of families
gathered every weekend in the park. One of my favorite things
about the park itself is the "Bug-Mobile" that cruises around the
perimeter of the park on Saturdays and Sundays, taking small
children and their parents for rides, usually with some Barney-esque
type music playing full blast. This is one of the few times I wish I
had kids as I'd love to take a ride, but I think we'd get weird looks
if we tried. Oh...it also comes in red!

Feliz 4 de Julio?

Every July 4th in my life I have spent the holiday either
in America or at least "with" 100+ Americans in a remote
place. This year, Lynn and I are spending the day with
several million people who know the day as...Saturday.
Yes, a bit underwhelming and definitely nothing to get
excited about. At least in Ecuador. All throughout Quito
you see streets named after important days in Ecuador's
history. Avenida 6 de Diciembre (The city of Quito is founded by
Spanish settlers led by Sebastián de Belalcázar) or Avenida
10 de Agosto ( Quito declares independence from Spain).
These are obviously red letter dates here in Ecuador. You
can even find a Avenida Kennedy here, referring to President
Kennedy. But...no Avenida 4 de Julio. Maybe I should just
be here in Quito with all the revelers on December 6th or
on August 10th. On a bright note however, someone was
launching fireworks in the Parque de Carolina after 10pm.
Either some expat Americans were taking matters into their
own hands to celebrate, or it was just Ecuadorans getting the
early jump on the the August 10th holiday. I'll start looking
in the stores for all of the holiday sales.

Sign of a Good Bathroom?

The other day, Lynn and I were taking a walk through
Parque de Carolina and as unpredictable as it can be,
nature called. Lynn spotted this small Bano on the
edge of the park and as customary, it costs 10 cents
to use. Afterward, I noticed this "sign" outside. Now
I know that pawn brokers have traditionally used a
sign with three balls on it outside their business to
advertise. Will public toilets, advertising with toilet
seats be far behind? (no pun intended)

Our View

This is the view out of the front of our apartment.
The weather in Quito is almost always sunny in the
morning and almost always cloudy in the afternoon.
Even though it's at the Equator, it's elevation is 9252 feet,
making it Spring-like all year long. Around 75 degrees
during the day and 50 degrees at night. It's in a high
valley surrounded by the Andes Mountains. The
park across the street? That's Parque de Carolina.

Apartamento en Quito

We moved into our apartment today. Well, at least for the next
2 1/2 weeks. It turns out that right before we contacted the
owners, somebody else rented it from May 15 through the
middle of June. Oh well. We're going to move back in for the
last month we're here. It's a great place...and HUGE! Way too
big for the two of us, but we're expecting several friends to
visit while we are here so it will be just right. It has great
views of Parque de Carolina across the street and the
mountains in the background. It should be a fun place to
live.

En el Norte de Quito

We looked around the New Town area of Quito today and found
this nice little boating area in Parque de Carolina. Lots of families
out today since it's a Saturday.


On three of the four corners of this very large park (Think Central Park
in New York) are shopping malls. We stopped by the El Jardin and
the wealthier people of Quito definitely don't want for lack of
selction when it comes to their shopping. The big grocery chain
here is Maxi...either SuperMaxi or MegaMaxi which is kind of like
a Super Wal-Mart. Many of the expats here call them Maxi Pads!


Ecuador is a coffee growing country but not a lot of it is exported
to the United States. However, a face familiar to many in the
States is Juan Valdez. Similar to a Starbucks, we've seen several
of these cafes in Quito and are run jointly between the Ecuadoran
and Colombian coffee growers.


Where would the world be without Apple Computers? I would guess
that Ecuadorans aren't as Mac crazy as Americans since very few
people were in this store while we were visiting, but it did provide
a good quick way to check our email.


We walked around the neighborhood of our hostel a bit and
found this street/stairway that was taunting us. However, the
stairway won, since there was no way our oxygen-challenged
lungs were going to tackle this monster! However, three dogs
seemed to be enjoying the view as they chatted amongst
themselves, including the spaniel on the stairs and the
boxer on the roof.