Sorry for the long winter in my posts. Today marks the thirteenth day of my trip, and the fourth day that I have been sick since arriving in Quito. Yesterday I woke up with a killer sore throat and no voice. I thought it might be laryngitis, but I am feeling substantially better today, though still with a slight cough.
The past week has been eventful and hopefully I will get time soon to upload what photos I have and track down the photos of friends.
Monday I went to the Old City on the south side of Quito. The area is full of beautiful buildings from the 19th century. Before playing tourist I sat for a while in the plaza and read a newspaper and spoke with some old men who had come to feed the birds. There was a protest in front of the Presendent´s Palace, but I could not figure out over what. While in Old City I visited La Basilica and La Compañia. The Old City also had a great view of El Panecillo, which I did not go visit.
On my way to La Basilica I met a man in the street, Jose, who lived in Atlanta for seven years. He said that he crossed into the States illegally from Mexico into Brownsville, and that he walked for three days alone in the desert drinking his own urine to survive the heat, before meeting his contacts. Hardcore.
Monday night I got a phone call from my friend Eyal, who hosted me and two friends when I visited Philadelphia in January through Couchsurfing. He is in Ecuador for 11 weeks, working in Quito for six and traveling the rest of Ecuador for 5. We met up for dinner with a bunch of other couchsurfers and some of his coworkers. The group consisted of people from Finland, Germany, Ireland, France, Poland, etc.
Tuesday Eyal and I went to the futbol stadium at about 11 in the morning to buy tickets for the game against Columbia the next day. About 6:30 they ran out of tickets and we ended up having to buy them from scalpers.
Wednesday was the big game, which kicked off at 5:30. We arrived at the stadium at 2:30 and still had to stand for there was absolutely no seating in the stadium. Then, it started raining... hard, and continued for the next 6 hours on an off. I shared my small umbrella with three others, but we were all still pretty wet and freezing, but nobody left the game. To make things more interesting people were throwing confetti everywhere and when it hit the water the dye migrated to our skin. I was blue for a good two days. For half of the game I sat on a ledge with my feet on the shoulders of the guy in front of me. It was cold and miserable, and neither team scored a single goal, but it was a blast. I have some great pictures. Anticipate.
Friday I signed up for a Spanish class for next week and booked a room in a friend´s hostel. My room is, quite literally, larger than my old apartment. So I will be staying in Quito for one week more trying to improve my Spanish. Friday night I went to a party with the international group for a Polish girl´s birthday. Yesterday and today I and Magdelena, who lives in my hostel and is of Germany, went to a music festival.
All in all things are good here in Quito. Love you.
Taryn
