Another Ecuadorian Story

Tuesday February 24

Jayne and I left for Quito about 11am. We went to Papaya Net restaurant for lunch and went on the internet there.

I got an email from Matt saying to come about 5.30pm. This is later than I thought. In his first email he said come in the afternoon but he didn’t say what time. When you sent out an invitation you should put the time and he didn’t. Since I didn’t get to read his second email until today it means that we have a lot of time to kill. So, we stayed on the internet longer. Then we looked around the stores and finally had a small pizza. We don’t think he’ll be offering anything to eat, as he said to come over for wine, that’s why we ate before we go there.

When we arrived Matt was talking to a client in his office so he told us to go inside. At 5.30pm another couple came over. This couple is from Australia and they import souvenirs from Ecuador. Then a black woman came over and then Chad and his girlfriend. A guy from America, named Bill, came over, too. He flew in from Urgarway. He’s looking at property here. However Richard never showed up.

I talked to Bill quite awhile. I was hoping he’d be interested in buy my property but it doesn’t look like he’s interested.

I was glad that I brought cheese with me, as Matt didn’t have any! This is strange; when you invite people over for wine you should have cheese there. He didn’t even say, ‘Sorry we have no cheese,’ so I think that he thinks it’s ok to not have anything to go with the wine. His wife, Amparo, did make some Ecuadorian snack for us awhile later, but she only made enough for each person to have one! He did admit that there was not enough.

We had a nice evening. Jayne and I were the last to go home, which was about 9.45pm.


Wednesday February 25

Gonzalo called early this morning to say if he could come over tomorrow morning. I said he could and I was glad to hear that he’s ok.

I left this morning to pay my electric and phone but when I got to the electric company and saw a line out the door, I didn’t stop there. I then went to the phone company store and saw a line out the door there, too! I didn’t go in there either. I figure I would have to spend an hour in both lines.

Then I took a taxi to Quito. I went to get something to eat first, then I went to a bookstore. I said to myself, ‘there is a book waiting for me.’ sure enough, after looking around for awhile I saw the book, Psycho-Cybernetics! This is a book that I read a long time ago and it’s a classic. I recommend everyone to read it.

I got some books for Jayne, too.

Then I went to the internet café near the Magic Bean. I noticed that the girl sitting next to me had some Russian on her screen. I asked if she is Russian and she said yes. So we got to talking – in Russian of course – and she said she is from Moscow. The guy sitting next to her is either her husband or boyfriend.

We had a nice chat. I then invited them for a cup of coffee to talk more and they agreed. So we went back to the Magic Bean.

I was asked where a mall is as Olga wanted to buy some clothes. I said that I was going to the bank but if they would wait I would take them to the mall (QuiCentro). After I got my money we went to the mall.

They were hungry so we got something to eat at the mall. Then we went to a store where Olga wanted to buy something. Later, I told them I had to go home and we said our goodbyes. We had previously exchanged phone numbers and email address.

It was good talking to them in Russian. Some words I pronounced wrong and other words that they said to me brought it back to mind.