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Ecuador is a beautiful country, for sure. Our day started out with Jillian knocking at our door. Class wasn't starting until 1pm, so we had some time to catch-up. Then it was off to eat. We took a taxi.... I'll tell you, Jerry and I were so impressed with her spanish.... she and the driver chatted on and on.... at a quick clip... she's thinking spanish.... so I guess she's "immersed".

Went to lunch and then walked to her school. Very, Very nice. Lauralee, the Lutes there were thrilled to have the Podium banner. We walked in the computer room, and many schools were represented there... Soon PLU will be. Chatted with Katy Guinn while we were there....

The driver who took us from the airport to the hotel last night, well, he said he would be willing to show us around. He spoke great English, so after we parted Jillian and the school, we headed off with Mesias... Quito is very large... spread out in a valley between the mountains. There are volcanoes in the area, but fortunately, seem pretty quiet. We went to Pululahua, a volcano now no longer active.... (We're already up pretty high, Quito is at 9500 ft...) Today, quite a few clouds as you can see in the pic.

We left there and went on to the center of the world.... The equator (hence, the 0 degrees stuff in the title). Pretty darn cool, after learning of the Ecuadorian culture and tribes... we had a few demonstrations showing the difference between the magnetic pull and the absense at the equator.... The toilet, now, that's one I'm not sure about.... Does your's flow clockwise or counterclockwise when you flush.... I don't want to tell you what ours is doing till i hear from you!

Last we went on a tram that goes up another couple thousand feet in the hills... Wow... the view was spectacular.... we could see almost the whole city, some volcano snowcapped mountains peeking through the clouds.... looked very much like a skinny Mt Rainier... We found ourselves a bit winded as we walked up steps at the top. At first I thought it was just me, so I didn't say anything.... but Jerry made a comment he was feeling it....