the man with the mustache, illegitamate cabs and very cheap spaghetti.

dear Quito, I love you. today was insane.

We did a little scavenger hunt around the city.

A city we don't know.
A city we've never been to.
Kids that can't read maps.
Kids that can't speak spanish.
Trolleys that people get packed into like sardines.
Trolleys with signs that say, "cuida su vida"(guard/watch your life).

We started in our neighborhood and walked to Plaza de Americas, a mall a few blocks from the girls' apartment.  The streets are crazy here and crossing them is a joke, so you follow a native. My teammate, Chelsea made it half way across the street and then realized the cross traffic was about to kill her. excellent.
Some more highlights...
Visited a huge park a mile or two south of our neighborhood- with an abandoned, graffiti-ed air plane. I'm not kidding, there was a slide coming from the cockpit. (seriously, i'll make a legitimate effort at photo documentation.)
Moral of the story, today was great- it was an adventure and I can't wait to do it again! We ended the hunt with really inexpensive spaghetti we bought at El Bosque, while looking at the mountains and the entire city through a great window wall.
I'm not kidding. we ate spaghetti for lunch in Quito, Ecuador. love it.

**insider tip for anyone traveling to Latin america. Avoid the "coca light" at all costs. terrible. just terrible. NOT DIET COKE.**