We moved out of the hostel today, and really landed on our feet this time! We were paying $11.20 for both of us per night. Now our rate is $4.00 a day! It is a very tiny space, technically a maid's quarters. We think that the actual maid may live within the door to the right of Bert in this photo.
Our home is part of the South American Explorers Club House, and sits within it's tall gates. The house itself is huge: electricity, wifi, 3 bathrooms (one outdoors), kitchen, ping pong table, dvd library, and a book library. All the current travel guide books are here, along with volumes of essays written by club members on various topics regarding travel all over this continent.
Normally people join the club by way of a fee. Members are entitled to come during the day to utilize the resources here. We have not paid that fee. After 5pm on weekdays, and virtually all weekend, the house belongs to us and the two employees who live upstairs.
There is an alarm system: on the main doors, as motion detectors and in dog form. The dog is not tied down, seems to choose his barks wisely, and doesn't seek affection from us.
There are also weekly cultural events which are held in the living room. Today, for example, an Ecuadorian film critic, along with a local film maker, presented several films and lectured on the local industry. Opportunities Abound!-Eileen
Diamond! You two look so happy. - Evan
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of opportunities? For Work or learning new things or what? Is Bert standing in front of the door? Do you pet the dog and give it scrapes? That tends to engender affection from dogs. Speaking of scrapes what do you do for food? Eat any cool or weird stuff? Is there a place to cook for your self or are you doing street food for most of your meals?
ReplyDeleteSupposingly uncooked vegetables without good protected ski, e.g., banannas, most likely to set you back with gastrointestinal problems. Some authors swear by cooked street food as being safe.
ReplyDeleteThe nice thing about our current housing arrangement is that is provides many opportunities, this is a popular location for fliers, notes, and advertisements (usually in English) that will lead us to employment, opportunities to learn not only Spanish, but many things about South America.
ReplyDeleteAs far as scrapes, the dog already has several battle scars and has probably had many scrapes in it's life, and since we are trying to befriend to dog to get it to want to protect us, we will refrain from giving it any more scrapes. We do however, occasionally provide Yana (the dog) with a small scrap of food.
@Ev: :)
ReplyDelete@Big Bert: Here is a good website detailing the services provided here: http://www.saexplorers.org/clubhouses/quito/services
In addition, we have the kitchen to use. We also no longer have to pay for food/drink at an internet cafe in order to acquire wifi. And, we can lock up our personal quarters, so we can leave things out without them being pilfered away (at the hostel: although they returned them upon questioning, the staff "accidentally" took a book and towel which I had left out).
@ Dad - We've read similar things about the food, with an exception; we read that the food carts are not to be trusted. The lettuce here is actually fertilized with human feces! Ewww!