I arrived with my parents in Quito, Ecuador (the capitol) at about 8:30 last night, and after an hour or so spent getting through customs and immigration, we made it out of the airport. In Quito, we're staying with a family that we hosted in Washington, DC as part of the Humphrey Fellow Program five years ago. They're amazingly polite and welcoming, and their house is beautiful and affords great views of Quito (it's in a suburb above the main city). I'll post pictures later.
Anyway, we went searching for a restaurant to go to at about 11 last night, and most places were closed, even though it was a Friday night. Daniela, their daughter who's my age, said that this was because President Correa recently passed a law stating that clubs could only stay open until 2am. Apparently, in the first few weeks after passage, there were a lot of accidents caused by drunk driving because people were forced out of clubs before they'd sobered up. Clubs decided to close earlier to solve this problem, which didn't make sense to me, but who knows.
We did find a bar, and there was a TV there that was playing some show from Brazil where half-naked women pranced around on beaches, got massages and participated in bikini contests. Danilo (the father) and I bonded over the show, much to the dismay of his wife (Elizabeth). On the way out he asked the bartender where the show was filmed, and then jokingly said I made him do it.
Daniela and her sister (Gaby, 9th grade) left for a trip to Columbia this morning, and their brother David (sophomore at American University) will be back on Wednesday. Their parents will be here for the duration of our visit.
Tomorrow, I'll post pictures of whatever we've been up to.
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