Mis dias de vacaccion antes de escuela, mas



Saturday and Sunday before my first day of school I spent relaxing with Ruby's family. We went to the mall for a bite to eat, visited some street shops, and stayed at home for most of the day. The exception was when we walked to church (I think it is called La Mujer de Dolerosa) where I am surprised to say there are a few minor differences in the mass. One is that everyone left once the closing hymn began and another is that there was little union in when people knelt --- some stood, some sat, some knelt.

After mass we went to a seafood restaurant where I tried Cerviches --- a cold soup (mine had shrimp, a major export of Ecuador). Below is my reaction to the soup (well, not really) because not only did it have shrimp, but it was loaded with tons of cold purple onions -- the worst kind. It was not too bad, but I could not get over the onion taste.



Some of Ruby's family is below.



David and Marifer, brother and sister, in their living room with dining table in the background -- Mercedes, the grandmother in the background, got that sofa that is in the picture for me since I was so tall

Mercedes and Rosita, sister of Ruby (I am pretty sure)

Finally, I think if time permits, I will start giving lessons on living in Quito.

Lesson 1 -- How to hail a cab or bus

I cannot imagine driving in Quito. People often disobey the traffic laws -- for instance, I have seen a few times cars that just go right through red lights and often have I seen cars go through stop signs. And I am not sure why there are speed limit signs. Furthermore, lots of streets are not by any means in a nice patchwork pattern and many streets seem to be lacking any sort of mark to signify their name. Thus, public transportation is a really good option. To get a bus or cab, you need to go to a main street, wait, and when you see one starting to come near you, you stick your hand out like you want to grab something and then you wiggle your fingers. If all goes well, the bus will at least come to a slow speed or sometimes stop to let you on and of course the taxi will stop all the way if it has no passengers. Or to get a bus, you can always go to the designated main bus lines to the bus stop.
Cost for a bus ride -- 25 centavos
Cost for a taxi -- about 90 centavos, but probably less.
What you saved -- your sanity

One warning though, the buses in the city are almost always jam-packed, quite literally. You definitely have to lose all your personal space when you ride. The bus that goes outside of Quito to Cumbaya where my university is, though, is more like a coach bus and has a lot less people ( and it still costs only 25 centavos).