We (Anat, Susie, Tanner, Mae and Nick) travelled through the city of Quito today. We visited many of historical and architectural landmarks.

The accomodations at our house in Quito are amazing. Tanner and I have our own room and the girls are sharing Susie's room from her childhood in Quito. Some of our group dynamics became apperent very early in themorning. For instance, I didn't make it out of bed until 10:30 despite an enormous amount of early morning noise (read knocking, running, loud music and yelling).  After nearly losing my passport 15 minutes into the trip, I dropped my international student ID card in the park and Anat picked it up. I plan on leaving something all over this country.

For lunch we celebrated Susie's birthday with her parents. Her mother, Carol, made an amazing cake around a Barbie doll. We didn't know it at the time, but Barbie would later become an integral part of the team.  After some quality family time, we headed down to downtown Quito for some good old-fashioned sight-seeing.

The famous Barbie cake

The market was filled with art and textile sales in the park. Also in the park there was some burning garbage to help with the aesthetics.  And Susie bought lunch at KFC (seriously, they have have a KFC next door to the McDonalds) for two impoverished Indian youths.  Like most big cities with a high poverty level we saw more churches with incredible architecture and gold alters than we can count.

The team posing below the 'Virgin' statue that overlooks the city. The hill was actually built by the Incas to serve as a lookout post for enemy attacks.

The night ended with a final birthday celebration in the center of the city at a couple of local pubs.  Susie passed out from exhaustion/altitude on Anat's shoulder at midnight as we discussed the validity of the UNIDO program.

Susie taking a break.

- Nick