When Volcanos Attack

Apparently the volcano is kind of a big deal. Arrived about an hour ago and of the three people I´ve said more than a hello to, all of them have asked me if I knew the volcano Tungurahua was erupting. I turn on the news and the headline is “Death and Destruction”. In some places its raining ash. The news footage shows city streets completely covered in ash, mud like ash raining down on cars, and giant swaths of treeless smoking earth. But none of this affects Quito. The cab driver said it is impossible to get to Banos but that Cuenca is no problem.

Sat next to some very nice French people on the plane. Sat behind Americans who were sitting behind Japanese people. So a good mix of people are visiting here. Had to explain in pictures to a Japanese lady what OCCUPIED means on the bathroom door.

First impressions of the city are very positive. The taxi driver was the nicest ever, the airport is modern, and the hotel is 100x better than I expected. It even has high speed access. The area between here and the airport looked a little sketchy but that might be just because its late at night.

Tomorrow I will figure out what there is of Quito, visit the old town, take the tram thing up to the top of the mountain, etc. For now its back to the Death and Destruction and then on to bed, maybe a shower first if I can´t stand myself (left the deodorant at home, French people didn´t seem to notice).