The shower at this hotel is really powerful. That's all I really have to say so far. There'll be more later.

***

Breakfast was a tasty buffet, but expensive. Luckily, Ross is covering this so I didn't have to worry about it. The best part of it was the super-strong coffee and the fresh blackberry juice. Both were amazing. We went out after breakfast to get some topographical maps for Ross so we can do some surveying at some point. I picked up a political map of Ecuador for myself, being the map nerd that I am. After that, we hit the internet café (30 cents for 30 minutes; nice), and had some lunch. Jim had cuy (guinea pig), I had a pan fried fish (the whole fish) and Ross had shrimp and rice. I enjoyed my fish thoroughly. Ross was satisfied with his rice. Jim had some issues with the guinea pig. This is one of the national dishes of Ecuador, usually served grilled or skewered and roasted over an open fire. Jim's was breaded and fried. Ross, while at no point endorsing guinea pig as a delicacy, thought that a fried and breaded one was probably not the best way to ingest it. I plan on trying it later, skewered and roasted over an open flame. I'll let you know how it is.

***

So, I struggled a bit with a traveller's hangover today. I had a slight, but persistent headache all day and lacked somewhat in energy. that said, today was pretty great.

After lunch we went to Old Quito and acted like serious tourists. I got lots of pictures (which I will publish once I figure how to get blogger to let me; for some reason they're just not showing up). We went to see museums and churches covered in gold (well, not covered, but the inside was pretty close) and had a relaxing beer in the square outside the Cathedral of San Fransisco. Ross pointed out that a good number, if not the vast majority, of the buildings were not at all colonial but much more recent, but they still looked nice. We went for dinner at an underground restaurant featuring many pictures of bullfighters and a great 1960s decor. the food was good, not spectacular, but we had a fun time. After that it was off to the tourist section of town in search of booze. We found it and spent the evening getting all philosophical about life, archaeology, and capitalism. A good time was had by all.