Guapalo

We have a place for all of you to come and stay in! The city of Quito runs along a North-South valley, and this little bohemian part of town is up and over a pass to the East of the city. Being out of the Quito valley, we have a little cleaner air, a slower pace, and 400 steps to climb up to reach the bustling city. Guapalo, as it is called, is where Oriellana began his expedition down the Amazon river, and it's where we will be starting our expedition here in Ecuador. The picture looks down on the town of Guapalo, our house is somewhere down there on that precipitous hill. Actual pictures of the place are at:

http://www.quitorental.com/
We found some great lofts in the city, very modern shi-shi, danish designs kind of stuff. And cheap! A very swanky two bedroom, furnished, was going for $600. But, in the end, we wanted to slow our pace down a bit, maybe next year we'll move into town.
Other highlights so far? Well, we started our evenings off with a little Enter Sandman-Metallic Karaoke, the locals loved that:) We drank our first boot of beer. Luckily it was glass, not leather. Our school "buddy" who is helping us get set up here played bass at a cool little club with, and I quote, "the Latin American Bob Dylan." Needless to say the place was packed, and our buddy was on cloud nine. Last night was Ecuador V.S. Bolivia in a soccer match....man, it was a big-scoring game, 1-0, Ecuador, of course!

Miss you all!