We arrived last night around 11 pm into Quito. As we were leaving the plane, the flight attendants passed out medical masks to everyone, and told us that we wouldn’t be allowed to disembark the plane and go to customs unless we wore one. As we stood in the customs and immigration line, we couldn’t help but wonder how the customs agents were going to be able to tell if we were the people we said we were, since 2/3 of our face was blocked with the mandatory masks. We also wondered how exactly it benefits the country to require incoming passengers to wear masks for about 10 minutes, before being released into the country at large. Hmmm… our Spanish didn’t allow us to inquire further into the matter.
Useless H1N1 masks
We’re staying at the Hotel Plaza Internacional while we look for more long-term accommodations. Our Spanish lessons begin tomorrow, and we will each have our own teacher for four hours of private instruction each day. My first impressions of Quito are really positive– it is not nearly as busy or hectic as I thought it would be. Everyone seems friendly and helpful. I’m not gasping for oxygen due to altitude; but then again, I haven’t tried running yet. Although I know I’m not supposed to flush toilet paper here; I’ve already forgotten three times! At least I haven’t forgotten about drinking the tap water yet.
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