Wednesday, January 8, 2014

First day in Ecuador

We arrived in Quito at 1:00am and took the one hour taxi ride from the airport to Quito Hotel Bonanza located near the Equator.  La Mitad del Mundo.  We quickly fell down on the bed and passed out.  Woke up at 11:30am and ate breakfast.  A few hours later we took a taxi into the city so that we could stop by the bank and pick up our original Certificates of Deposit; the last items we need related to our application for residency.  We walked around a bit.  Stopped at the pharmacy to buy sunscreen and snacks and enjoyed a cup of coffee at a local restaurant that we have been to before.  I almost forgot, we visited one of the local malls called Spiral something...the inside of the mall spirals upward with stores only on one side.  There is an open area in the middle from top to bottom...an atrium I guess.  We summoned a taxi for the ride back to the hotel and quickly realized that we do not speak Spanish.  You should have heard me attempting to negotiate the price with the driver.  As we drove off I quickly realized that I had agreed to $50.00.  I said, "excuse me, I meant quince, or $15.00.  We finally agreed on $25.00.  It is an hour trip back to the hotel so I guess $25.00 was ok.

The warmer weather here is so nice!   It is the rainy season so there are showers during the day.  Nothing to hamper us from getting out and exploring.  The showers only last a short time.

Just finished dinner, the hotel provides us with three meals a day.  Tonight we had pork chops, rice, vegetable salad, bread, and fresh fruit juice.  The rest of the evening consists of relaxing and maybe some reading.  My resolution this year is to read.  Let's see how long that lasts!

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