This morning, we went out walking, checking out the bookstore (books in Spanish, German, & English) and breakfast at one of the only places open-a cafe near a tourist hotel, run by an Australian. Later that morning, we had an "interview" with two people from Corporacion OIKOS, a non-governmental agency (NGO) here in Ecuador which works to bring environmental issues to local industries. Their most recent program is to teach pollution prevention to engineering students at the Quito polytechnic university. As they are funded by USAID, they want to bring a pollution prevention expert from the USA. I had volunteered and it is starting to look likely I will be invited to teach one week in July. All expenses paid, though no salary. Danilo had the idea that perhaps Glen could come along and teach on technology and information exchange. Very exciting! Since Glen and I would love to travel and live overseas, this could give us some wonderful international experience.

We're sitting here in a small restaurant/café, Monastaria Restaurant, having just finished lunch, watching it rain in buckets. For lunch, I was looking for a vegetarian restaurant in the Lonely Planet guide, but this place was in its spot. It is a fixed menu restaurant-i.e., you sit down and get what they bring you! We had sopa-potato soup-and a small salty but good piece of meat with rice and cold vegetables. We didn't dare eat the veggies or drink the juice. We did get bottled water. All for about $3 apiece. Not too bad and a nice Ecuadorian meal, as opposed to last night (i.e., no tourists here, only Ecuadorians!). They have huge rain drops here and the rain often includes hail, as now. These are quick mountain showers though, and I can see blue sky in the distance. We walked in the rain yesterday, but it was not coming down this hard. It appears we timed our late lunch well. Wow, a big thunderclap just set off a car alarm....

This afternoon, we have been shopping in the art stores and galleries. They have beautiful art here, plus gorgeous jewelry & sweaters. Most are high quality at good prices-another indication that tourism is not strong here yet. This is a wonderful town for art! There are many galleries, and many works of public art. In every traffic circle and in the public parks, artists have been allowed to erect statues and modern sculpture of all kinds. While some are marred by graffiti, as many of the buildings are, the art adds an element of culture and shows that the Ecuadorians have pride in their city. (The graffiti is not the gang graffiti you see in the US, but primarily seems to be political or social statements.)

The best gallery we went to was called Exedra and contained fine art (serigraphs, photographs, original oils), antiques, and folk crafts of very nice quality. We had been seeing paintings which were of Quito and Ecuador, but with surreal elements such as trains in the sky, giant fruit, clouds of butterflies, various birds, large volcanoes, tiny towns with small human figures. Sounds odd, but they are really neat and obviously widely copies. We had been trying to figure out who the original artist was and their store had signed serigraphs. At US$300, we were/are very tempted.

At a store called La Bodega, we bought some tagua nut carvings. There is a sign there that says:

Tagua Nut:  Known as the 'vegetable root,' tagua has 
long been a choice material of artisans.  Tagua nuts 
are harvested from a type of palm tree found in 
Ecuador's coastal tropical rainforest.  When you own 
a piece of tagua art you:
	- support use of sustainable rainforest materials 
        as an alternative to destructive forms of forest 
        exploitation
	- keep ivory where it belongs: on living animals.

In another store, I saw a carved, painted balsa duck which was beautiful (~US$20) and a silver plated bird statues (~US$100). I definitely would like a piece of art before we leave, but we'll probably get something when we get back from the Galapagos.

We went back to the hotel and could not resist a nap. We timed it well, since there was a tremendous thunderstorm with loud thunder and huge raindrops.

We chose a Spanish place for dinner, La Vieja Castilla. We were the only ones there for about 3/4 of the meal! It was very elegant and the food was fantastic! We started with a half-bottle of Chilean "vino tinto." We started with two entradas, one a fish/shrimp relleno (which we figured out must mean wrap), a lightly fried pastry filled with seafood, served with a light curry. The other was fried artichoke hearts with a light tomato sauce-a french style sauce on both. Dinner was langastinos with a red wine sauce, with rice and potatoes. The other dish was Trucha a la Diablo, which came sizzling hot in a bowl. It was trout in a garlic broth, boiling hot with a wonderful flavor. It came with a bowl of rice. Of course, Glen and I switched plates in the middle, a custom we picked up in Italy. We tried to be subtle, but the service was so quick and attentive, he smiled and helped us switch. Our wine and water glasses were always full and the dishes and utensils arrived and disappeared as if by magic. They even tolerated our bad Spanish (which is getting a bit better). We finished off with a cheese plate. All this for about US$50. It was wonderful to eat a nice, elegant meal with fantastic service-something you do not seem to get in the US. much anymore (at least where we live) and certainly not in the $50 range.

At 10:10 pm in the lobby of Hotel Alameda Real, we're being accosted with the muzak again. Traveling really makes you realize that the USA's biggest export is entertainment (music, TV, film). If it is not the original, it is often a South American version. The big film showing in Quito is Dante's Peak, which should resonate pretty well here with a volcano looming over the city (just like the Pacific Northwest!). We have not seen the volcano and doubt we will, since it is shrouded in clouds most of the time. Now we're watching two young men painting part of the ceiling in the lobby here. With the huge long ladder, paint bucket, and brush in one hand, and the one person holding the ladder at the bottom, we're sure this does not comply with OSHA!

The rest of the tour arrives tonight (we're kind of waiting down here to see them when they arrive with Tania), then off to the Galapagos at 10 am tomorrow. We don't get home for two more weeks today, so our adventure is still just beginning. I told Glen I just love traveling like this-meeting new people, trying to speak a different language, seeing sites and art and stores, eating at local restaurants. It is wonderful and I could do this a lot more than we do. I hope the tour is fun-i.e., traveling in a group (you cannot go to the Galapagos without a tour group), since we are used to being independent. We'll make it fun no matter, and the animals and birds should be great.

Off to write a postcard and read a bit. I think I have an Easter egg from mom's Easter travel package she sent us. Mmmm...