Living the Life

Dear Mom and Dad,

It´s our second full day in Quito, and we have fully recovered from our jetlag. It´s obvious we are not locals because with my height and both of our fair skin and blonde hair, we stick out like sore thumbs. There are many soliciters that follow us at times. Never in a threatening way, and they definitely keep their distance. It´s just hard to tell if they're merely interested in us, or if they actually want to rob us and are waiting for their opportunity. As long as they keep their distance, I´m okay and feel safe with Charlie by my side.

Charlie and I have now mastered the art in predicting the weather. Everytime it´s about to rain, our ears pop. I´m sure it has something to do with the dropping of the barrometric pressure. Whatever the reason, when our ears pop, we know to take cover. It´s rained everday so far, but never for a long period of time. I´d say about 10 -20 minutes. Then it stops, then eventually it always seems to start again. Oh well! It´ll be interesting to see how my attitude changes as time progresses. For now, I´m okay with it. I´m in Quito baby! :)

We made our first meal today in our kitchen. Charlie satueed a red pepper, green pepper, red onion, and six brown farm fresh eggs. For dessert (I always have to have dessert. Mom you can sympathize on this one) we had this yellow cake like pastry with a little cream in the center. SO DELICIOUS. The cost of our meal was $1.72. Pretty expensive, I know. I have a feeling we will be making our dinner in the hostel tonight, which is great as long as we pair it with some wine. :) We drink tea with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and everything inbetween. It´s crazy how much tea is served. Liz, Charlie´s sister, warned us of this. I guess I didn´t believe to the extent of how much tea is actually consumed. At least I´m staying hydrated. Here´s a picture of Charlie making our lunch.

The altitude isn´t that noticeable unless you start  coughing. Then it´s really hard to catch your breathe. I pretty much try to avoid sitting next to anyone who is smoking because cigarette smoke sets off coughing spurts immediately. This is damn near impossible because EVERYONE smokes. It makes me appreciate the smoke free establishments in Iowa. To counteract this, I just cough as loud and obnoxious as possible. This either cues the cigarette smoker in that I´m uncomfortable or grosses them out that I could be coughing on their food. Whatever. Either way, it works as long as they blow their smoke away from me.

Well it´s about that time I take an afternoon nap. Charlie is already sleeping. Like I said before, it´s tough being a traveler.

Current worries:
- will the Hawks win?
- how am I going to stop my face from breaking out?

Love always,

Matti Jo