This morning after I woke up I got to have breakfast with Monse. Isabel (the maid?) made me pan tostado con queso, el jugo de sandía y leche chocolate (grilled cheese, watermelon juice, and chocolate milk). She also put some brown sugar on the table. I didn't know whether it was for the hot chocolate or the grilled cheese. I went with the grilled cheese. (It was actually for the hot chocolate...oops!) Monse is so cute, she was laughing at everything. We played peek-a-boo during most of breakfast. I am jealous of her, when she wants something all she has to do is make a sound and point. I have to formulate something coherent in Spanish.
Later I left the apartment to go exploring. The plan was to meet Tyler and Macie at la cruz (the big giant cross) en el Parque Carolina. I actually found the park fairly easily (I did have to ask for directions once or twice). But the park is GINORMOUS and even though la cruz is a big giant cross and it should stand out, I couldn't find it anywhere. I found lots of other things (people paddle boating in a lake, tons of playgrounds, some policemen on horses, lots of people selling things, dogs everywhere, and a botanical garden), but no cross. I asked one man with a little boy and he said to walk straight and to my left. Actually it was on my right. Eventually I did find Tyler and Macie. We strolled around the park for a bit and then decided to go look for food. Tyler and I both got batidos de coco (coconut smoothies) and then we went to a mall for more food. Oh my, was it crowded! We almost couldn't find a table there were so many people. We walked around Quito some more, and then it was time for us to part ways. I had my map with me that Margarita made, so I was full of false confidence. Oh yeah, I knew where I was going. Ha. This turned out not to be so true. It is difficult to navigate around Quito because the street signs are so darn tiny! And they are sporadically placed around the city from what I can tell. In the US, we have street signs at every light. In Quito, signs are hidden on random buildings. And they are impossible to read from far away (for me, at least, but I have bad eyes). I knew that I need to turn off of la Avenida Alfaro on to Bosmediano, but the road curved and split into a ton of different streets it completely threw me off. I started off in completely the wrong direction but since nothing looked familiar I realized that I had to backtrack. And all the while I was surrounded by unsavory characters that kept talking to me and staring at me. To make matters even worse, it began to sprinkle and it looked like it was about to rain. I had to ask for directions about 400 times, but finally I made it to the apartment. I still felt disoriented, like I was on the wrong side of the building or something. The attendant at the apartment complex told me that I was in the right place. I went on the elevator up to my floor, but nothing looked familiar. The mirror in the hallway was on the wrong side? Where was I? I had to go back down and ask the attendant, and he assured me that I was in the right building. It turns out that I was in the right place after all. I am back home now, all in one piece! I made it just in time, minutes after arriving I heard the rain start pouring down.
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Hola, soy olivia.After living in the Midwest my whole life, I packed my bags and moved south to Guadalajara, Mexico where I'm working as an English teacher and studying Spanish. Keep posted to hear about all my adventures!
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