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The first couple of days in Quito
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After 10 hrs on airplanes and 4 hrs in airports, I arrived in Quito in one piece on Sunday night. My bag, on the other hand, is a whole different story... Unfortunately, two hours was not enough time in Miami for my bag to be transferred between flights. Luckily it arrived last night and was not lost into the airline abyss. I had put a change of clothes in my carry-on, so it was just my frizzy hair that had to suffer without any hair products.
Right now I´m staying at a nice hostel called La Casona de Mario. I´m in a two-bed "dorm" room with a girl from LA who´s been in Ecuador for the last 3 months. The hostel has a really nice flower garden, a tv room with a large selection of movies, and a kitchen. It has a much homier feel than some of the hostels I´ve stayed at in the past. Mario and his wife live downstairs from the hostel.
I spent most of the day yesterday walking around Quito just getting a sense of the city. It´s an interesting place. The city is divided into two major sections - the Old Town and the New Town. The Old Town has most of the historical sights while the new town has most of the business and tourist industries. There´s a section of New Town called La Mariscal that is referred to as Gringoland because there are so many hostels, hotels, Spanish schools, and tour agencies. It´s the area where most tourists and travelers stay.
Just walking around the city can feel like an adventure. Street signs and markings seem to be merely suggestions. Each time I cross the street it feels like I´m in a real life game of Frogger. Drivers rarely stay in their lane and don´t pay much attention to traffic lights.
This morning I spent some time looking at different Spanish schools. There are a couple more schools that I want to look at before I pick one. I´m planning on starting classes tomorrow. While I´m taking Spanish classes I´m going to do a homestay with a local family to force me to practice my Spanish outside of class. Hopefully doing a homestay will help me improve at a faster rate than if I spoke English at a hostel every evening. While I do remember some of the Spanish I learned in high school, I definitely need to get better at it if I´m going to get around here on my own.
Latest Comments (2)
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Hola...Como estas (reply)
May 14, 2007 14:49 EST by lalcantara
Como esta Quito? Que bueno que estas viviendo con una familia. Es lo mejor manera para aprender la idioma. Have fun? Be safe!
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yeah! (reply)
May 8, 2007 16:19 EST by hannahtkd
Hi Laura,
I'm so excited for you. I want to go back to Quito. There's a very, very large market several hours out of town which is fabulous to visit. Unfortunately, the name is escaping me right now. Enjoy your time there. It's a fabulous city!
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