Friday morning and the Marketplace

It was our last day here and we had yet to buy anything except groceries.  I didn’t want to go home without at least a t -shirt and a magnet for our refrigerator.  I also didn’t want to get these at the airport since they are way over priced and there is not much of a selection.  Hailey knew of a marketplace about a mile away where we could find everything that we wanted at fair prices.  We even did some bargaining in the process.  The guys were NOT interested.  Can you imagine that?

Hailey, Heidi and I decided to hoof it.  We needed the exercise anyway.  Off we went.

After about an hour of shopping and browsing in the various stalls, we came back with shirts, magnets, caps for Don and Glen, a purse for Hailey, a shawl for me and bars of Ecuadorian chocolate.

 They even had chocolate that tasted like a rose!  So many choices.

This part of Quito had quite a lot of buildings with murals on the walls.  We enjoyed all the various colors and graffiti covered walls.  We also noticed that there weren't many people walking on the sidewalks or driving in the streets.

Not far from the building above was a hostel painted in various colors with tall gates for protection.

As we walked back, a police helicopter was flying nearby, and motorcycle police were blocking off the road beside us.  Then hundreds and hundreds of taxi drivers passed by, all honking their horns and some waving flags.  Our walk turned into a brisk one. It was a bit disconcerting.

 Back safe in the condo, we looked out the window and there was another group of taxis, along with trucks carrying protesters.  Boy, were we ever glad we had made arrangements to be taken back to the airport in a personal van!

If you look closely, you can see people hanging out the windows and waving flags.