Hey everyone. Im so glad to be here and really glad the plane ride is over! We arrived in Quito last night at around 830 pm and our ride to the hostel was there waiting for us. The weather is great and we are taking it easy for the next few days then plan to go up to Otavalo this weekend for the Saturday market. I joined the South American Explorers club today. They offer storage space for my backpack and a safe to hold valubles. There is a ton of information in the club's building, which actually use to be the Swiss Embassy. Its overwhelming how many trip ideas they have, maps, advice, bulletin boards advertising tons of stuff, and free internet which makes loading these pictures super easy all summer. The hostel where we are staying is in a great neighborhood and the staff are so nice. We tried our best to communicate in spanish with them and later in the night they had one of their friends (who's actually from seattle) come and translate some of the coversation. We went out pretty late last night to a resturant the hostel suggested and it was really good. Last year I never went out very late in Quito, but this area of town is so different than the one I was in last summer. The resturant served traditional foods but was very much like any new type of resturant in seattle with the live music and college aged people. It was great to have some Ecuadorian Jugo (juice) again, they have the best fruit ever, deffinitely types that we don't get in the USA. I was so excited to have brought some cold water laundry soap and a sink stopper with me this time. Last year I had to rely on other people to get my clothes washed. This morning it was so nice to wash some of my clothes in the sink and hang them on the roof out in the hot Ecuadorian sun to dry. Even laundry in Ecuador is fun. Tonite we are going to a BBQ here at the South American Explorers club. Until then we are off to check out the neighborhood and call some friends from Quito while we're here. ¿kimmy?