Quito- day 2

Hola from the southern hemisphere!! We're 22kms below the equator and 3000m high. We arrived in Quito on Sunday night after having spent a painful night at a Miami beach hostel. We had planned on a taxi from the airport (since I think Miami at night may be scarier than Quito) but it was $28 so we risked transit instead. 2 hours later we made it to the hostel- which was not, at all, worth the trip. The next morning we did manage to get to the beach for all of 10 minutes, packs and all, before catching the bus back to the airport. At the checkin for our flight they told us we had to have proof that we were leaving Ecuador (since our next flight is actually from Chile). I guess having 10 more flights booked isn't proof enough... They booked us a 'fake' reservation, which indicated we were flying from here to Santiago, but fortunately we weren't asked for it at Immigration.

Made it to the Secret Garden Hostel, which is awesome. A small, really vertical, space with a terrace on top with an amazing view of the Old Town. Yesterday we spent sightseeing around the Old Town. Lots of interesting buildings, and lots and lots of people. We made it back to the hostel just before the daily downpour and thunderstorm. The hostel terrace has been hit by lightning a couple of times recently. Had dinner at the hostel and then played Deathball 2000 with about 10 others. They call it Shithead here, but it's apparently the travellers card game. After dinner we went out for some drinks and pool with the group to the New Town. It's not safe to travel alone at night here, but in a group and with taxis (and with a few fluent in Spanish) it's fine.

Today we are doing a bit more wandering, and then back to the hostel for the start of 20 hours of Spanish lessons! We'll see how that goes...

All is well. We are homesick already, which is weird since we are often away for more than 2 days, but it's the anticipation of an entire year away, I guess...

Might go to the Ecuador vs Uraguay soccer match on Sunday- a qualifier for the World Cup. Probably pretty cool.

Bye for now,
Kristin and Cam