Bienvenidos a Quito

What I´ve learned during my first 48 hours in Quito:

  • Just like in Boston and New York, one minute it’s sunny and beautiful here, the next it’s windy as hell. Five minutes later, it’s raining cats and dogs. As my professor said, take your umbrella and your sunglasses because it will be sunny, and regardless of how clear the sky is, it will rain at some point.
  • Despite my desperate wishes, I am not escaping four hours of straight Spanish class. Just like in Manta, we have classes from 8 AM until 12 PM, with a thirty minute break at 10:30.
  • Humans shove themselves onto busses here the same way they do in Boston. In fact, the school children who get on and off at the stop near our spanish school might possibly be just as obnoxious as all the BU hipsters on the B line. A bold statement, but it’s true.
  • The mountains here are to the west, a confusing geographic difference. Regardless, they’re beautiful, and I love the way the buildings rise above you onto the hills.
  • People bury their heads into their cellphones as they walk, not paying attention to anything around them, exactly like in the US.
  • I have seen just as many Pizza Huts, Dominos, KFCs and McDonalds in Quito as there are in any town in the US.
  • In fact, Ecuador runs on Dunkin Donuts, just like America supposedly does.
  • The mall 5 minutes from my homestay is ten times nicer than the Cambridge Galleria, and much nicer than the Beverly Center. There’s a gigantic “Tiffanys Coming Soon” sign in the entrance, to match the Bulgari, Lacoste, Ralph Lauren, North Face, Zara and other American brands housed in the mall.
  • In Ecudor, the economic classes are titled pobre, medio, y ricos – poor, middle class, and rich. Quito is one very large, very long city. In the northern suburbs, where our school is, is where all of the wealthy people live, which explains the expensive mall. Closer to the Centro Historico — the center of the city — are the indigenous peoples and middle class, and the poorer suburbs are in the south. In Quito, 60% of the population is indigineous peoples, and 40% are mestizos, of mixed indigineous and Spanish heritage. (My Spanish teacher gave us a great history lesson this morning.)
  • The delicious $2 or $3 Menu de Dia that I’ve become accustomed to thankfully still exists in Quito. The family I’m doing my homestay with owns a restaurant, and their food is cheap and absolutely delicious. This afternoon, I had salad, chicken and potato soup, chicken, rice, pasta salad and a dessert (banana with chocolate ice cream) for $2.50. Score!
  • Ridiculously salty food is just as prevalent in Quito as it is in the rest of Ecuador — my bloating is here to stay.
  • We may be in a major metropolitan city, however the milk is still not refrigerated and you cannot flush your toilet paper.
  • Taxes on imported goods in Ecuador are ridiculously high — a box of Kraft Mac & Cheese is $2.75, but the Ecuadorian version is 33 cents.
  • Yo amo Quito! It´s so nice to be back in a major ciudad, the people may speak spanish and the cuisine may be a little bit different, but I feel right at home.