my walk home (la camina a casa)
Alright, I’m not sure if these pictures are in order or if they’re rotated properly, but I think you can handle it.
I have a walk of about 8 blocks to get from my house to the bus station, Estacio Norte. I live almost directly west of the station, in the northern end of Quito (hense the bus station being “North Station”). However, the volcano Pichincha is to the west of the city, meaning that my walk home is uphill. These photos are an attempt to capture the amount of work I put into getting home, but unfortunately, pictures don’t show angles well. Just trust me that it’s super steep. The first two photos are looking up the hill. The photo showing lots of the city (hopefully the third picture) is looking east and downhill. The following picture is facing west up my road, past the steepest part, but shpwing how you can see mountains everywhere. The final picture is the front gate to my housing complex.
I don’t really know whether to call this a house or an apartment. There are three or four floors, but each floor is essentially a house with tons of space, multiple bathrooms, and everything you expect a house to have. So far, every other host-family home that I’ve been into has been the same idea. There is a gated driveway, a gated front entrance, another locked door to get into the building, then the door to our home/apartment/thing. There is a guard across the road and I think his job is to watch who comes and goes. Actually, there are guards everywhere in the city, but I haven’t seen them do much except stand in doorways with batons and/or guns. They give the appearance of safety but I’ve heard you can’t trust them because they’re only responsponsible to whomever pays them. So mostly I avoid eye contact.
Anyway, I swear the road is super steep.
Sorted that out for you. I’ve finally fixed things out with my webhost; check your MSU mail. You’ve got directions for managing and uploading photos with Picasa and FTP . You don’t have to use FTP but if you use Picasa to rotate and export your photos, they’ll be smaller and oriented properly.
Nice shots! Looks steep enough to me, especially considering the elevation. Glad you’re having fun.
Maybe you should forward my email to Mom, so she knows what a PITA it is to upload pictures
Anna, Looks plenty steep to me. You’ll be in shape when you get home.
Dad
Nice pictures Anna. Are there multiple families living in your house?
Mike: thanks for the picture info. Later posts will be better organized I hope.
Mom and Dad: Like I said, my pants are fitting a little large these days. As far as housing goes, we live in the entire first floor of the building and I assume that a different family lives in each of the other floors.