Cotacachi

I'm here.  This is my second day and so far I feel I've made the right choice for me.  Of course two days isn't much of a sampling but so far, so good.

The woman whose apartment I'm subletting, Sheila, is fabulous. She's been showing me the most important places to know about and that's been a huge help.  She's taken me to the two restaurants where the gringos tend to gather and tomorrow we may try one of the less costly, more local-oriented.  I'm looking forward to that.  Today I had a burger, fries, a side of guacamole, and a Coke for $5.75.  While that's not a huge price, it's pretty American and more than other places.

My legs are pretty wobbly and that's apparently from getting used to the altitude.  Today we walked about a mile and I'm absolutely beat to a frazzle.  It's better than yesterday, though, so I'm hoping it will get better each day.  Yesterday I came here from Quito--I think I got here about 12:30 or so.  Sheila and I went out almost immediately and we got back to my hotel around 3:30.  I laid down for a little rest and woke up 3 hours later.  I ate the meatloaf sandwich I had ordered to go from the place we had lunch and was back in bed around 9:30.  The next thing I heard was a rooster at 3:00--I rolled over and slept until 8:00--I didn't even hear the church bells.

My daughter was right--Sheila's seen a place that carries juicers.  We'll go there tomorrow or Monday.  Sunday we'll go to the market and I'll have fresh fruit to eat for breakfast and maybe a bedtime snack.

Siesta is from 1-3 and at least half the small stores close down during that time.  Today we didn't head back here until just a bit past 1:00 and fully half the shops were closed.

Right now I think I'm going to have a bit of a siesta.