5/15/22- Days 1and 2 in Quito, Ecuador

Greetings from the coolest condo in Quito, Equador-the 8th floor/rooftop penthouse!

More pictures are below, but I'm afraid that if I try to move them around, they will delete.

Friday the 13th lived up to it's name:

12:10 pm flight delayed until 3. 4-1/2 hour fight.

Missed my connecting flight in Miami.  Had to stand in "customer service" line at American Airlines for over an hour to get a ticket for the 8:17pm flight.

8:17 flight delayed.  Arrived in Quito at 1:30 am. 

Got a taxi driver who put his hand on my arm while he was asking me if I cook! lol

(Ecuadorians ask a million personal questions about everything from "How old are you?" to "What do I do in my spare time.")

    Since the main highway from the airport to Quito was closed off, this guy took me on grueling 1-1/2 lane switchbacks with no other car in sight;  sometimes driving completely enclosed in forest, sometimes passing men urinating on graffiti on cracked walls to police (the only police I saw) pulling over a white station wagon-ish vehicle, where there must have been 15 drunk men climbing out and sitting holding their heads, slouched over because they were so inebriated.  I thought of my sisters Jenni and Juli, and how terrified they would have been!  2 am, nothing out but people exiting houses of inebriation.  Then onward about another 20 minutes to this now one lane road switching back and forth until finally, there was a small exit, and we went up a hill...and there was the city of Quito!  Amazing.

    There, in the doorway to my condo building at 2:30 am, was a small, curly dark haired man with a smile, a greeting and a key.  He let me in the main gate then said "wait a minute" with motions.  To my greatest surprise, Jose, the owner of the condo building, greeted me, and took me up the elevator to my palace!  He is a youngish guy, I'd say around 40-45 who is a punk rock drummer and collector every form of art-eclectic.  He played the drum for me, stayed a while and talked, showed me around,  told me to call if I needed anything, then left.  I slept like a rock.

    The next morning "Pinky," my driver,  picked me up at 8:30 am, and we headed out in her purple Chevy truck for the two-hour drive to the famous Otavalo Saturday market.  I brought my Ikea bag to put things in I'd planned to purchase for my family and friends.  We filled the enormous thing 1/2 way, then I suggested we leave after an hour or two, because I was satiated!

    

This is Pinky, the driver who talked for 9 hours in the truck.

(I sent her an note on WhatsApp asking her to be less chatty.  I mean, I wasn't even getting a word in edgewise.  I know things about this woman that I don't even want to know!

Here is Jose's condo.   

Me on the AMAZING balcony/terrace.

I mean, I can see the whole city from this vantage point!

This is off the terrace at 3 a.m.

    Luckily, Pinky was glad to stop for a Diet Coke whenever I needed one, along the road.  

She also took me to the Gringo supermarket so that I would have something to eat and drink in the condo for the next few days.  (I stay here until the 18.)  I went to bed at 6:30 pm!

    Today, Sunday, we are going to "The Middle of the World," a park on the exact equator where they say you can stand an egg up longwise, and it won't fall in any direction.  I need to get some eggs.

Also, we are going North toward Mindo, where the Cloud Forests with the butterflies and hummingbirds are said to surround you in the air!