So, the day has come to an end, basically, and I find myself sitting alone in a British pub (a rather good British pub, too - the shepherd's pie was surprisingly tasty) writing a journal. Ross and Jim have returned to the hotel after a long day of touristing, but I've decided that this is a much more congenial place for journal writing than a hotel room. It's really quite comfortable. I swear it could have been taken right out of England itself (not that I've ever been to England, never mind a pub in England).

Anyway, I suppose a description of the day's events is in order.

The day started with a venture out for breakfast. I had some hugely delicious blackberry pancakes and some truly terrible coffee. After that, we wandered into a music store where I decided to buy a churango. The first question one should logically ask is "What?", followed closely by "Why?". Well, a churango is an Andean strng instrument, kind of like a twelve string ukelele with a deeper cavity. My goal is to diligently practice it, with the aid of the English/Spanish instructional cd, throughout the trip, much to the consternation of my travel companions.

I've also found myself buying postcards at a furious pace. I'm not generally a postcard kind of guy, as my friends who have never received one during my travels can attest, but this time I can't seem to stop myself. Thus, if anyone wants a postcard from Ecuador, email me your mailing address and, as long as demand isn't too great, I'll send you one.

Anyway, after that, we set off on a quest of Jim's to locate the local Scouts chapter. He had a cross road, but not a specific address. However, we were confident we could find it (well, Ross was kind of confident, anyway). We found the corner, after a bit of an adventure on the Quito bus system, but there was no Scouts office in sight. It took some doing, including asking a supremely helpful guy selling phone cards on the street, buzzing what seemed like a rather random house, asking at a curtain store and finally at what I recall to be a paint store (but my memory is a bit fuzzy). We ended up finding the place and Jim bought the badges he wanted.

Next up was a much needed (and much better) coffee, followed by a trip to the Central Bank Museum. There were lots of archaeological things and it was, on the whole, pretty interesting. After that we went to the botanical gardens, which were really quite a nice place, especially after spending all day amongst the traffic and pollution of Quito. It was quiet, the air was pleasant, and the plants were all very pretty. I took all sorts of pictures (which, again, I'll post later), especially of cacti and orchids.

And that was the day. We went straight from the botanical gardens to the pub where we spent a three and a half hours drinking/talking/eating. Ross and jim have left now and I've been writing, listening to the chatter and talking to the waitress. It's been a good day. Tomorrow we head off to Riobamba in a van Ross has arranged to get us there.

Guillermo