Now I have been in Ecuador for two weeks and I have already found a place to live : ) I am moving to a little studio in the same street as Luz and Mikey’s apartment and it seems to be perfect. The house is owned by a Mexican artist called Doña Guadalupe and her artistic touches are present everywhere.
There is art on the walls in the studio, and generally the feeling of the place is one of a country side holiday home. There is a messy little garden right in front of my window, there is a lot of light, and the high fences towards the street are covered with plants. I will move in tomorrow, Monday.
The only thing is that Luz suspects it to be cold at night because it is on the ground floor, but that is something I will have to find out later on. So far I have been sleeping on the couch at Mikey and Luz’ house, here is a picture of me which Mikey took about half an hour ago. I bought my dad this hat for Christmas, it is a Panama hat, although the original Panama hat is actually from Ecuador, so it’s an Ecuadorian hat, really. I can’t wait to have a place where I can put my things for the next 6 months, and sleep in my own bed.
The way we found the flat was by asking the security guards who work in the street and the building where Luz and Mikey live. Juan takes care of the whole street and Santiago is the guard of the building. They told me that Doña Guadalupe has studios for rent. So every day I would go up to them and ask them if they had seen Doña Guadalupe or if they knew when she would be coming back.
Until finally one day when I came back from ringing her doorbell unsuccessfully she walked along the street towards me and Santiago very discretely indicated who she was. Here is a picture of Luz and Mikey talking to another guard in our street with the dog, who is very friendly. We were on our way to a very nice park in Quito on a hill called Itchimbia, which overlooks the city.
Love!
Chiara