No roosters. No yelling. No flutes. No car horns. No church bells. Under such blissful circumstances I spet in all the way to... 7:07 am. I think this country has me trained (or perhaps schooled would be a better term).

***

I looked outside and Riobamba is still brown and yellow. The rain hasn't greened it up much here at all. This must be just how it is up here.

***

It'll be Noboa vs. Correa in the final election showdown. Noboa is a banana tycoon with no particular political platform. Correa is a sympathizer with Chavez and Castro and hates all the politicians in Ecuador. Should be fun.

***

There's a news story on the TV right now at our lunch restaurant. It's not the first time it's been on. It's about a dog in some city or another who is missing his front legs. It's nobody's dog, just a stray. The story tells how the community has adopted it and gives it food, water, and baths. This is a strange and stark comparison to the what Ross told us last night about the stray dogs in our neighbourhood. Apparently, the health department came in and put out a bunch of poison to kill them. It's to make the neighbourhood nicer. I guess it works, as there are less dogs harrasing pedestrians (and they could be pretty vicious), but there had to be a better way. I'm disturbed by this. Contradictions abound.

***

We're so close to finishing up our analysis. There's one context left of the major sites. It's a big context, though. It's going to involve a lot of glueing and drawing (throw in some glitter and it's kindergarten!). After that it's a quick look at a few other bags and then putting everything into storage. I'm thinking Wednesday evening we'll be done analyzing and we'll have it all stored in Thursday.

***

Dinner tonight was interesting. We decided to try a place recommeded by my guide book. The place, as noted by the book, was called Che Carlitos Parrillada. We went the address and found no such place, but a similar restaurant under a different name. Things change, no problem.

The menu was easily the most entertaining butchering of English translation I have ever seen (and I've seen some pretty good ones). The offerings included "Head ribs of the grill and gears," "Fillet of Language," and "Cremate of mushroom." To top it all off, the music was this Casio organ stream of various Latin American standards. I asked what it was and I'm going to seek it out. It was pure awesomeness. The food itself approached mediocrity, but the sheer weirdness of it all made it worthwhile.