Travelling again, which is why the blog is not so much with the blogging of late.  Hope this makes your Friday better.  It certainly made my Wednesday nicer.

That’s from a hill called Panecillo ("little loaf of bread") overlooking Quito, Ecuador. You’re at almost twice the altitude of Denver, so the air is remarkably thin — and when it’s clear, my camera can’t possibly do the colors here justice.  (Altitude sickness, just from being here, can be a problem.  Fortunately, I live in L.A., so I got over the need for a steady oxygen supply long ago.)

Yesterday, December 6, is the local equivalent of July 4th in the US.  This particular year is Quito’s 473rd anniversary.  It’s celebrated with a major festival lasting for several weeks.  So major town squares and sometimes whole neighborhoods have been filled with dancing and singing and general merriment since I got here.

Highly recommended.

Plus, the whole downtown is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, filled with magnificent churches, convents, and assorted Spanish colonial stuff, all of it pretty damn gorgeous.

Here’s how I’ve been treated since I got here: last night, I was one of thousands of people crushing together along a major avenue, awaiting the Parade of Sound and Light.  Things were delayed, so this was rapidly turning into the Parade of Standing Around Freezing Two Miles in the Air While Surrounded by People With Much Stronger Lungs.

Pretty soon, I’m talking with a local named Paul.  Mucho gusto.  He introduces me to his wife. And his son.  And another son, and two daughters.  And some in-laws, I think, and maybe a couple of cousins.  Frankly, I lost track.  But they practically welcomed me into the family, just standing there on the street, helping me with my jagged Spanish and filling in the words when I couldn’t find them.

A few minutes later, Paul asked if I had any friends in Quito.  (I don’t.)  Then, before I could answer, and in all sincerity, he corrected himself: "besides us," he added.

Maybe you had to be there to know that he meant those words, already.

There’s a thing that musicians do here after songs, at least during the Fiesta.  They lead the crowd in a quick call-and-response: ¡Viva Quito!  ¡Viva Ecuador!

So far, I have to agree.