Observations

The first advertisement I saw when I got off the plane in Quito was for a T.G.I.Fridays. As one would expect you can also find McDonald´s (the drive through is called Auto-Mac), Burger King, Pizza Hut, etc. And, from what I´ve been told, KFC is very popular down here. I have promised myself I won´t eat at any of these places, however. There is just way too much stuff to try to be eating Big Macs and bad pizza.

Food is really cheap here, though. Lunch is the big meal of the day, and there are countless restaurants that serve the almuerzo, a set lunch special usually consisting of soup, a plate with meat, rice, a vegetable, and a glass of juice or soda, for about $2.

But not everything is cheap. Books and electronics are often twice the price they are in the States. And there are malls that sell the same sort of stuff malls sell in the States for around the same prices.

There are no automatic transmission here. Everyone drives standard.

There are lots of stray dogs here. Some are cute, but they are all dirty.

This is generally a friendly city. In fact, there is a sense that everyone knows everyone here. It´s partly because people say hi to everyone they come in contact with: a store owner, someone on the street, friends of friends of friends. In fact, there is no such thing as a collective greeting here. If you join a group of people you can´t just say, ¨Hi everyone.¨ You need to greet each person individually, with handshake for guys, and a cheek-kiss for girls. And saying goodbye is the same thing. It really creates a warm and inviting feeling, but is a little strange for someone coming from a city where people avoided human interaction at all costs.