Helloooooo, Quito

I'm in Quito again!  My flights were mostly non-eventful, but my arrival back to my apartment certainly was.  For those who don't know, my building has an absurd number of keys needed to get in.  There's a key for the door, a key to call the elevator, another key to put in once you're inside the elevator to go up (and another key to go down!), a gate outside of my door, a deadbolt, and a normal locking door. There are also stairs, which could be really easy to use (my apartment is just one floor up) if using the stairs didn't require another three sets of keys.  Seriously.

When I arrived last night, I opened the door, called the elevator, got in...and realized that they'd changed the key to go up to my floor.  Because it was 12:30am and I'd been up since 3:10am, it didn't immediately occur to me to take the stairs.  Also, keep in mind that I'm carrying a backpack that weighs 25 lbs (weighed at the airport), a heavy purse/bag, a suitcase that weighs 49.9 lbs and another backpack that weighs 42 lbs.  So, I went outside to the intercom and proceeded to bombard my neighbor with doorbell rings until I decided he either wasn't home, or was home and deliberately ignoring me (in which case, say adios to the gringo gifts I brought you back, vecino!). Finally, a stranger neighbor answered my desperate pleas (as in plural of plea- doesn't that look weird though?), but he was (probably rightly so) concerned about security. Since he didn't know me, he insisted on calling the apartment administrator to make sure I wasn't lying about living in the building.  I, meanwhile, was shouting out any information I could remember at the intercom.  "I swear I live here! The administrator's name is Manuel...I can't quite remember his last name! My neighbor's name is Eduardo, he lives in suite 1! I'm a gringa, I go to the U Andina! I HAVE THE KEYS TO GET INTO THE BUILDING IF YOU WOULD JUST COME DOWN HERE YOU CAN SEE THAT I LIVE HERE AND I JUST NEED YOU TO HELP ME GET UPSTAIRS!!!!!" 

While Pablo from suite 6 was on the phone with Manuel, it suddenly occurred to me that there were stairs, and that I could take them.  I got my two backpacks up before Pablo came down, and then I introduced myself, apologized, and convinced Pablo to carry the 49.9 lb suitcase upstairs. All in all, he was very friendly (eventually), and I understand and appreciate his concern for letting strangers who buzz intercoms at 12:30am into the building.

Since then, nothing so exciting has happened. A few changes have happened around the neighborhood- for example, the price of milk at the Supermaxi has gone up $.05, they're now stocking roasted and salted almonds (but not the plain ones, boo), and my favorite whole wheat crackers are back on the shelves after a long hiatus. OH! And the garish statue store a block down from my street appears to have caught fire! That's actually really sad, because they used to have a guard there at nights, and I always liked knowing that he was around if I was walking home around dusk, and he's probably out of a job now (not to mention the statue vendors and employees).

Tonight I'm making lentils to fully aprovechar- take advantage of- the yummy spices I brought back. I hope everyone at home is well!