Home on the Hacienda

So, its been a week now that i have been in Quito and I really don't have any accomplishments to report, which is lovely. It has been really nice just hanging out here with no plans, no daily agenda, nothing. I have spent the last week squatting in my friends Emma and Alfredo's livingroom. I think I will stay in Quito though for a few weeks, so this weekend I am going to move into a room in the house where Emma's office is. The house is really nice with kitchen privileges and all, only $5/ day.

Like I said, I haven't been up to much this past week. Time spent in Quito has mostly involved visiting Emma at her office, checking emails, wandering the streets, and Salsarobics at the gym (a special treat Emma had planned for me the very night I arrived! haha). This past weekend I went with my Emma and Alfredo to Alfredo's home town of Mindo. It is about a 2.5 hr drive north of Quito across the equator (yeah, that's right, I drove across the equator. Soon I'm gonna go stand on it!) in to the mountains. Emma and Alfredo have invested in some land up there so we went up for the weekend to do some work on the lot, pulling grass and planting flowers. I was not prepared with mucking around clothes, so I didn't really do anything apart from transfering plants from the fencelines of unsuspecting neighbours to Emma and Alfredo's lot, shhhh!
I like the idea here. I think I might have posted a similar picture of the waste system in Aguas Calientes. I especially like the notice above the pails: "Para Turistas" = For Tourists. I guess the explanation is intended for us. Or maybe we're the only ones anal enough to worry about seperate bins.

Me working hard (Emma clearly taking a break in the background):



...and,

ooh... perdy butterfly!