A friend of a friend of a friend

In February when I visited my friend Hannah in Tuscon, AZ, a friend of hers mentioned that she had a friend living in Quito and offered to connect us.  That connection proved fruitful and I spent a wonderful afternoon/evening with her friend Makiko and her boyfriend Francisco.  Makiko is Japanese-American and has been living in Quito for the last year working for the Japanese consulate.  Her boyfriend is Ecuadorian, although he has spent some time in the states and in Israel.  They were both very interesting people and I had a really good time.

Makiko and me

In the afternoon I met them at one of the big malls in Quito (after a small detour with a cab driver dropping me off at the wrong place a few blocks away).  After some yummy ice cream we went back to Makiko's apartment to relax and hang out for a bit before hitting the bars.  Going out that night was fun - Francisco seemed to know everyone who worked at every bar he took us to, allowing us to skip the lines waiting to get in.  We spent most of the night at No Bar, a club that's very popular with both Ecuadorians and foreigners.  They played a mix of US club music with salsa music.  Of course, every good night out ends with food and ours was no exception, ending with papas fritas (french fries) at a cafe.

Makiko, Santiago, and Francisco