Wandering around...

Quito is so beautiful. This morning we walked down to catch the bus, and we pass a small flower market along the way. I took a few guerilla photos (camera on, held at waist level, pointing where you're not looking) there and they turned out pretty well. I'd like to use one as wallpaper on the desktop myself, so here are a couple at full size that you could use if you'd like:

We were heading downtown on a couple of errands and just sort of got lost. Not literally, just sort of lost in thought. It's great to be in a place where everything is completely different sometimes. We were noticing that since there is so much to take in, that you're completely occupied with all the new experiences...and are never bored, never lacking something interesting to look at, taste, or smell. We walked past a fruit/juice shop on Amazonas Street and stopped for some carrot juice. $1.50 for about 24 ounces. MMMmmm. The lady juiced it right there. Are those the biggest carrots you've ever seen, or what?! Susan got some new glasses. $1.50 for the eye exam. Yep. The glasses are ready on Monday. (I included the bit about the glasses, because Susan was pointing out that the blog was all about food lately.)

We saw a car with a 'boot.' It was pretty funny. I'm not sure what the infraction was, but the lady was chatting with the police officers. They weren't quite as modern as the ones in DC, but just as effective: They had three giant screws welded to the pinchers...so if you moved the car AT ALL, you'd have a real problem on your hands.

We went back to the same place for lunch. Susan had what I had yesterday, the rice with calamari and tuna. I had the 'tortilla camarones,' the shrimp tortilla. Sort of like the Spanish type, not Mexican. It was basically a plate of shrimp and green onions, sauteed and then with egg over the top. Wow. We ate the entire bowl of salsa that they had out. I went up to the lady after we were done and apologized for eating the whole thing. She laughed. Then I asked her what was in it and the secret ingredient was the 'tree tomato,' which we've seen in the markets but haven't tried yet. Apparently you cook it. We'll see. : )

As we were walking back to the bus, we walked past these two little guys playing outside of the Artisan's Market, where we were yesterday. They thought the camera was pretty cool, seeing the pictures of themselves right away.


We're hanging around Quito for a couple more days and then heading off, out of town. We'll keep posting every day until then, since when we get home we unload all our pictures and gawk at them for a while...and it's not much more effort to post them to share.

See you!