Monday, July 4th, 2011

Happy Independence Day anniversary to everyone!  I could tell by the number of friends on facebook today that a lot of you were off so we hope you enjoyed your day with family, friends, hamburgers, hotdogs, and fireworks!

At breakfast this morning, we met a young girl from England so I asked her if they had the 4th of July there; she said "no".  Soooooo, I asked her what they did between the 3rd and 5th of July!  Yuck, yuck, yuck! LOL!  She got it!

We did manage to go on the city tour of Quito after all.  We said something to Mr. Bolanos (a tilde over the n) on our way to breakfast; he said we could do the tour if we wanted to and someone else was interested in going as well - it turned out to be the English girl.  I may have said something in an earlier post - tour prices are based on the number of people who go (at least where we're staying) so the more who go, the less cost to each person.  It was a very good tour of about four hours.  We toured new town looked at lots of Catholic churches, as well as other points of interest - I have pics to prove it! We went to the presidential palace; we arrived early enough to observe the changing of the guard - done formally every Monday morning.  Today, the president of Ecuador came out of his office/quarters to observe the ceremony so we were able to see him, up fairly close and personal - probably about 50 yards away.  I commented to our guide that this would not happen in America because of fences and guards around 1600 Pennsylvania Ave!  Besides, our president would rather play golf than present himself to "his" people!  After we had walked for awhile, we were on our way back to the car - had to walk through the presidential park to get there.  On our way through, we saw the group from New Jersey whom we'd met and Jeff and Deanne' church yesterday!  Small world, huh? Although we had not expected to see them again, it was great to and we bid farewell to each of them, except one family who is staying an additional couple of weeks.

We then went to old town, a distinct difference from the new part.  Our guide said most of the poorer people live there.  To help keep the city pretty and to promote tourism, the government provides paint to residents to paint their homes.  While in old town, we drove up to the top of a mountain and stood below the Virgin of Quito (just one of her many names).  She kinda resembled Lady Liberty except that in her left hand, she had a sword instead of a book.  There were other differences but the stature was impressive.

We then came back to our hostal, except the English girl stayed in Old Town, rested a while, then went to dinner at the Coffee Tree restaurant.  While touring, we didn't need jackets but as soon as the sun went down, it got downright cold!  We sat outside on the patio of the restaurant; even though they had propane heaters positioned around, it was still cold.  Jenny had to have a cappuchino to warm up! We each had two beef empanadas; they were good and filling.  So far, all of the food has been great, and, except for the Bar B Q place a couple of nights ago, very reasonably priced.

We're working on the language and, if I do say so myself, I'm proud that I'm learning more of it each day!  It's not so difficult, just takes a lot of practice, practice, practice.  Daniel, one of the co-owners, told us there's a bookstore near here where we can get some 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade readers so we'll look for them.  I actually understood much of what our waiter at the Coffee Tree said and was able to clearly order our dinner, some sour cream, Jenny's cappuchino, and properly ask for the bill.

Tomorrow, we go to the dentist in the a.m., for a follow-up and, hopefully, my two crowns and a new tooth.  The rest of the day will be filled with walking, perhaps riding the trolley, and Jenny working out @ Curves.  She worked out today; we did go ahead and walk there, even up the 139 steps!  They open two hours later than her Curves in the states; we did not know that so we walked around the area around Curves until they opened.  We found a nice pastry shop and partook!

We're still planning our trip to Manta, for probably the early part of next week.  We're going to the Mindo Cloud Forest on Wednesday; there should be lots of birds and, perhaps, species.  Also, orchids!  On Friday, we plan to go to the Cotapaxie Volcanoe and park - hope it's a clear day.  We will see snow atop the volcanoe!