First impressions

After surviving the cab ride of death to Heathrow airport under the light of the full moon (driving between two lanes, at 20mph over the speed limit, gulp), the rest of my journey ran smoothly and I arrived in Quito following a long long day of confusing clock-changing.



I am still in a state of near disbelief that this isn´t all a dream but I stayed up eating and talking until a normal time last night so I am lucky enough not to be jet-lagged today. The city is crazy, there was some match on at the stadium behind Martijn´s flat and the streets were alive with people running around in Coca Cola sponsored t-shirts. It is all very different and yet strangely familiar; as a capital city it has its own share of shopping centres and big billboards and a mixture of Ecuadorian, Spanish, Italian, Indian, American and Turkish restaurants. But behind all that is a distinctly Latin American feel and a laid back pace that suits me down to the ground. It is surrounded by mountains and has a particularly high altitude which at the moment makes me feel slightly breathless climbing stairs.



I am currently in the Quito City News office, being introduced by Martijn to the other writers and they are planning a trip north of Quito this weekend for us to write about the area. Amusingly, we share a floor of the building with some sort of Playboy magazine spin-off. Not sure how I feel about that but it will be a story to tell at least!