quito

hello from quito! after a breakfast of fresh squeezed orange juice, an omelette with mushrooms and tomato and a taste of the local guanabana fruit, my mom and i ventured off to find the nearby market. i spoke to a little girl who was washing her face at a fountain. she was 7 and getting ready for work. i walked down an aisle and met her again at the opposite end, wearing an apron and selling watermelon gum for fifty cents. she was on her own, but her mother was nearby, with her youngest on her back, pleading the tourists to buy their dulces.
we then caught a taxi up into quito´s old city. walked up calle olmedo- so many colors, very few tourists. i spoke to a policeman, asking for directions....after much confusion and jokes he realized that he was looking at the map upside-down. my mom and her friend left later to venture back to the hotel to get ready for their concert, and i was on my own. i walked into the center of the old city only for it to begin to thunder and downpour. i ran across the square and up the steps of a cathedral where a group of people were gathered. a man, dressed in clothes of many fabrics and colors was playing the sax and others were knelt on the stone floor painting. i learned, from talking to a man, oscar (who somewhat reminded me of jim) that the group met every sunday to celebrate the earth. that the group did not believe in god, but instead they believed in the sun, and pacha mama. we stood there, the rain coming down harder and harder, and the rest of the people in the city vanished - gone to drier places. we huddled together and sheltered each other from the rain.

jeremiah, where are you now? i am beginning to formulate plans for your scavenger hunt. matt, where are you?
i hope that you both are well and enjoying your adventures!
que les vaya bien.