Still in Quito

Every Sunday in Quito there´s an art and craft market in one of the parks. I´ve been struggling to find things to do here when I´m not in my class. There´s a lot of cool stuff to see outside Quito, but you need at least a whole day and I have class in the mornings. If you like old buildings and big churches, this is a great city. I´m looking forward to getting out of the city and finally breathing some fresh air. All the buildings and roads are black from exhaust. My spanish professora says that a lot of cars here don´t have catalytic converters. I don´t know exactly what that means except for more pollution. The city also doesn´t have recycling facilities. I´ve been trained so well my whole life that it´s difficult to throw a plastic bottle in the trash.

The food is great (lotsa yummy soups) and I´ve met some nice people. But I´ll be happy to leave Quito on Wednesday. Oh something interesting I´ve noticed...People are really interested in the U.S. primaries and general election. I was suprised to hear people in Ecuador telling me why they wanted Obama to win, or Clinton. They blame Bush for some of their problems here, especially with Columbia. The fighting between the U.S. backed Columbian government and the FARC rebels just spilled over into Ecuadorian territory this past weekend and people here are not happy about it. Anyway, no more politics. I hope all is well en Los Estados Unidos.