Wednesday, October 10, 2007

2-4-6-8, No Hablo Español

Yesterday was a lazy day. It rained a lot. I went for a rather long walk, a bit into old town here in Quito, and it drizzled on me. It was quite cold too. My friend Kristen met me and we went to the heart of old town for dinner. Kristen also helped me write some devious emails in Spanish, because unlike me, she can speak 2 languages. She's here in Quito volunteering as part of her master's degree in Conflict Resolution, so she's all around awesome. I think I've brought bad luck to her, because along with my arrival, winter and a heavy travel load for work have followed. She's already gone to Ambato (twice) and San Pablo (near Otavalo), and will be going to Ibarra and Baños, before I leave.

Today I walked to the same place where we had dinner, which was next to the president's house. There was a small protest going on, by some indigenous group I think. I couldn't really understand them. There were about 25 protesters screaming slogans outside the president's front steps and many more onlookers. Whereas new town, particularly Mariscol, features post-modern (kind of out of place) buildings and tons of tourist, old town has a consistant colonial style and far fewer tourists.

I saw a baby on the corner today. I said, ¨Hola niño, vas a su casa.¨ The baby said, ¨¡Silencio! Compro los weed.¨ I was like, ¨¡Dios Mios!¨ On the way to the internet place I was offered some cocaine. I declined.

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