Middle of the World

April 13th 2008

I went straight to 'el parque el ejito' in the morning to check out the vendors followed by a visit to 'el mercado centro'.

Seriously, I almost threw up walking through the market because the raw beef, chicken, and fish smells mixed with the fruit and vegetable smells, mixed with the smell of cooked food was too much. Not to mention that it just didn't seem to be the cleanest place for all this "fresh" food.

I ate lunch here though and it was delicious. $3 USD for selvivo (Sea Bass), rice, ceviche del mar, and popcorn\chuchos. There is so much food everywhere that I am starting to wonder what happens to all this cooked food at the end of the day. Is it re-used tomorrow? Do they feed it to their families at home? Their dogs?

In the afternoon I took a cab for 40 minutes outside Quito to 'mitad del mundo' or the middle of the world. Yes, I have now been to Latitude 0 and Longitude 0, a must do when you come all the way to Ecuador. I also went on a 1 hour hike down a very beautiful and tranquil trail to a crater of an old volcano that is now overgrown with corn fields, cow fields, and other various crops.

I also checked out an Incan ruin sitting on top of an Andean mountain.

On my way back into Quito I went over to Diego's and chatted with 3 of my Ecuadorian friends (again, teaching each other our languages and playing with ipods\cameras).

Tomorrow, I want to fly to a different city on the coast (30+ degrees!!). I think I have done everything I want to do in Quito.