I love this country

On Friday some friends and I went to the part of Quito known as the Centro Historico, which is basically Old Colonial Quito. We had been before, but we never really had the opportunity to explore it, so we decided to spend Friday doing just that. When we were there, we purchased a huge baguette for eighty cents. It was so big that it wouldn't fit in my backpack, so it stuck out the top like an antenna. We first went to the Presidential Palace for a tour, but found the next one was in an hour and half, at one in the afternoon. We also realized that one of my friends had forgotten all of her IDs back at her house, which is required to enter the Palace. We weren't sure what we were going to do. So, my friend Kelly and I showed our IDs, and the woman put wristbands for the tour on all three of our wrists. I love this country.

With an hour and half until the tour, we decided to head to the Basilica to climb to the top while we waited. The view from the top of the Basilica was beautiful, and provided an excellent view of the city. On our way back down, my friend Karen stopped in the bathroom, while Kelly and I went exploring. When Karen found us again, she was grasping something in her hands. She had found fifty dollars on the bathroom floor. We wanted to try to get it back to the owner, but there was no lost and found in the basilica, and we knew anyone we gave it to would just keep it form themselves. So we kept it. I love this country.

Next, we headed back down to the Presidential Palace. The tour guide met us, and asked us to show him our IDs. We had a lie prepared, in case that asked for Karen's ID a second time. The great thing was, we didn't have to use it: the guard of offered it for us. We said that she had it when she got the wristband, and the guard asked if it was robbed. We said we thought so, and the guard reassured the tour guide that the IDs were checked when they gave out the wristbands, so the tour guide let her in. And so my friend got into the home and administrative center of the Ecuadorian President without identification. I love this country.

Later, we made a stop at one of my stores that sell bootleg movies. The stores are everywhere, and operate legitimately in the sight of police without a problem. I bought three movies for four dollars and fifty cents, one of which was Avatar, which I'm not even sure is out on DVD yet. They also had Alice in Wonderland, which is definitely not on DVD anywhere. I love this country.

Yesterday, I got in the elevator in our building, and while I was in it, the elevator broke. I would go to no floors, and I couldn't open the doors. So, I called my ecuapadres, and my ecuapadre forced the door open with his bare hands. I was only in there for ten minutes. Apparently another woman had been inside for almost two hours. I love this country.

In other words, Ecuador is still awesome. You never know what crazy thing is going to happen to you while you're here. And you never know what your day is going to entail.