Quito

After arriving in Quito I went to the "Cafecito hostal" - a place recommended by a good friend (Melanie Schnidrig) of Switzerland. It turned out to be a very nice place with clame patio and in the middle of the fiesta district of the locals. The streets offer italian style restaurants and the general mood in the city seems to be very upbeat. After organising a new camera I hung out with 3 israeli guys for a day. The streets are covered with police - sometimes they are in groups of 20 and more. People get drunk more or less every evening and do the salsa-thing. Downtown Quito is packed with colonial buildings, that are only matched by the masses of middle aged turists. In my eyes the parks are the most impressive locations in the city - also because of the noise level - and thats why I spend most of the time there.
Later on I met a girl from Barcalona, which seemed to be a interesting person. She was studying the local indigenous villages at the Rio Napo for a project in school. We hung out together for two days - going to museums and movies. She constantly quoted romantic catalan authors, which probably wouldn`t even have impressed me in german. But the more time I spend with her, the more awkward she seemed. Towards the end I was glad that my departure day came closer.
The Amazon journey was about to start.