QueenPuya

Edwin insisted that I take today to heal myself from el gripe (the nasty cold) which has plagued me since I arrived. It probably originated in Wisconsin, from my poor sick husband and morphed on the planeride over. I swear, airplanes are the worst for your health. I really didn´t feel that bad, but loafing around was kind of fun. I slept a lot, but was woken up earlier than I´d like by the coughing and weezing of our poor old night guard. He´s this cute little old man who is just so nice to me, though i can´t really understand a word he says, but periodically throughout the night he goes into the bathroom right behind my bedroom and hacks up a lung. Now, this reminds me all too much of Laramie Peaks apartments and Old Man, and I just can´t really deal with such a noise. There really is no escape, though, as there is virtually no soundproofing in any walls in this country. Poor guy, though. He works all night here (though not very hard...I seriously doubt too many people are trying to break into the herbarium. I am glad for the guard, though.) and then he puts on this ridiculous bright colored track suit that all the lotto ticket and ice cream vendors around here wear and stands in the middle of traffic all day peddalling his wares. I feel most sorry for the people that stand around in the traffic all day in Quito trying to make a buck. The diesel fumes are truly terrible and it must be very dangerous. Lots of people try to sell you things, but there are also little kids doing gymnastics and weird hippies juggling or throwing battons in the air (I swear some of them are American backpackers that lost their way).

So, I had the day to myself and didn´t really feel like going anywhere interesting. I´m in the far northern part of Quito, which is far from the touristy part, and I really couldn´t deal with taking a cab today. I read some nice books about paramos and plants, letting all the strange names of genera I´ve yet to see bump around in my brain. Maybe a few caught. Edwin said he´d call me at 9 to talk about the football game and renting a car, which of course meant he called at 11 to say he´d come at 2, which turned out to be 430 with no futbal game and no car rental, as his brother is sick and he´s the only one who can drive (Edwin neglected to tell me earlier that he doesn´t have a drivers license! Thank god for taxis and buses or I´d be doing the driving, which I wouldn´t do).. This is kind of irritating, but what can I do? I sat in the sun, watched a hummingbird defend its territory and took a nap. It is good for me to remember how to do nothing. I think it helped get rid of el gripe anyways. (That and healthy doses of my favorite gringo foods I can find...ramen and Oreos!)

So the plan has changed and tomorrow I am going with Edwin to watch a different football game south of town. It is Dia de Los Muertos, which I guess means you watch futbal games and eat weird things. The shops are full of bread decorated like dolls, which you take to the cemetary and eat over your dead relatives. Supposedly tomorrow night I will eat a traditional soup with Edwin´s family...I hope there is no sheeps blood in it! And then we are going to take the giant overnight bus to Loja. Yup, everything is backwards now. We are starting in the far south and working our way north. It is all the same to me, and I think it will be just fine. So I´ll write more from the sunny south soon!

Happy November!

Love,

Rachel