sunday in quito

Damn, i was typing and then everything disappeared from the screen -- and it was a lot too. I´m in a small dark computer shop used by the locals right around the corner from my hotel. the backspace doesn´t work on this keyboard so some mistakes will remain. now i know why this place is cheaper than the hotel. today we explored the downtown a UNESCO world heritae site they are preserving in the Spanish fashion in which it was build in either the 14th or 15th centiury my notes are back in my room). the town center has the usyal park packed with people out for a walk, a cathredral, packed with people praying, and peopledemonstrating in front of the president´s palace because they think he is ripping the common people off, . i told our group leader that when we fish with our guy we´ll send him down here to straighten things out. He said they want no park of our Current Occupant. After the downtwn walk around we went to the equator to take pictures and visit in an indian village (with shrunkened heads and a posted recipe for how to do that kind of specialized work). at the equator (0 degrees latitude NIck and Adam but i guess you aready knew that.) the guide did a demonstration of the coralis effect(sp?) and how water in the northern hemisphere spins in the bathtub drains one direction and how it spins in the opposite direction in the southern hemisphere . we stood on the equator line (as found by GPS) and pured water into a drain on the equator and the water went straight down. We moved the drain about 3 yards off the equator line and poured water dowen the drain and i´ll be darned, it turned one direction as it ¡was draining. Then we carried the tub to the other side of the line and repeated our experiment and bingo the water spun the other direction as it was draining. what blew my mind was that you only had to move a few yards off the line to see the corallis effet in action. maybe it was a magic trick and he fooled us all but i doubt it. i think al rooker was here a few weeks back when his network was at the north pole, south pole, and equatior doing a spectial on global warming. one of our group is pretty sick with diarrhea, light fever, and clamminess. we chope he is better to make the trip to the galapagoes tomorrow.
BERT, THANKS FOR YOUR NOTE, whoops, those caps again. no i will ass on the horseback ride as that bumping jams my spine and i get feeling pretty miserable pretty fast. i might take a tortuga ride instead.
sorry for the mess of writing bu a bad keyboard and 20 watt lights have me not doing so good. i am feeling healthy and having fun.
love you all!!!