I've seen more of Quito today...

...than I have in my entire time here. I woke up around nine and ate breakfast; Brenden called me at 9:30 and told me to meet them at the Olympic Stadium at 9:45. I did, said bye to Ben Talus, and went in a cab with the other Ben and Brenden to the Teleferiqo, or this cable car that goes up the mountain. We met Andrew there and debated going up because it was cloudy, but decided that we wouldn't get another chance. It was good until we got about halfway up, then it was really cloudy. At the top, you couldn't see anything but white. There were shops up there and we walked along a couple of paths, one of which led to a chapel. We were all dying from the altitude (4100 meters) so we didn't stay too long; we left after Andrew and Brenden ordered coca tea. We came down and got a van/taxi to take us to the historical district. The guys were starving, so we found a legit restaurant that wasn't closed for siesta in the Ronda. Andrew got goat and I ordered guatita, which is cow stomach (not great) with peanut sauce (yes great), potatoes, rice, tomato, and avocado. We left to meet Margot and James in the square, the boys bought peanuts, and it began to rain. We decided to go look at this huge church that we saw in the distance which turned out to be the Basilica. It was huge and super cool, and beautiful. I liked it because it wasn't a whore-church that catered to tourists and it wasn't a dead-church that had no parish life... I saw an advertisement for vacation bible school! I loved it. Brenden, Ben, and I took the bus back, which was an adventure because it was so crowded. I got off by the mall, bought a couple more minutes for my phone, tried three different ATMs in order to take out Z's money but it didn't work, thought about buying ice cream but then changed my mind. I walked back in the pouring rain and started looking for help; I need to pay Z that $100. I ate and arranged to share a cab with Brenden later, played some Solitaire (definitely getting to be a major vice) and skyped with Helen. Today was fun, and Andrew invited me for guinea pig with his family tomorrow. Plus we're going to see Harry Potter eventually. Two and a half more nights! (By the way, this is a picture of the Basilica.)