he city is growing on me. On Sundays, I walk through the parks near my house. It seems like there's a park on every other block. During the week, they're empty. But on Sundays, the families are out, the little boys are playing soccer. At one, there is a little circular stream where people rent boats and sail around and around. They look like little toys. Everywhere there is music, and vendors, and couples lying together on the grass. It feels like a city.

I walk to Old Town. Like most of the tourists, I live in the New Town, called "Gringolandia," where there is an Internet café and a travel agency on every block. Old Town is far more beautiful and dangerous, all dilapidated buildings and hectic, cobbled streets. When I get to the central square, the little shoe shine boys crowd around, trying to make a sale.
"Hola amiga," they say. They always start this way.
"No gracias," I say. I am wearing sandals.
One little boy persists, following me down the street.
"Si," he says.
"No," I say, smiling.
"Si, amiga," he says, smiling back. He thinks it's a game, that I will give in eventually.
"No," I say, trying to stop smiling. "En serio."
I turn the corner quickly and leave him there, frowning.

Last week I took a tour of the Old City with the school. We went to the presidential palace, where Gustavo Noboa lives. No one really likes Gustavo Noboa. He wasn't even elected. He used to be the vice-president. But in 2000, the Indians united in a revolution to depose him.
"He's teaching at Harvard now," the guide explains.
"What does he teach?" I ask.
"Stealing from third-world countries, I think," he says.

Friday is the Ecuadorian day of independence. The school is closed, and everyone flees the city for a long weekend. The thing about Quito is that all you have to do is take a bus and you can be in a completely different place. You can go to the coast, to the jungle, to the rain forest, to the mountains. Some friends and I were planning on going to Banos this weekend, where they have mineral springs. But yesterday, a volcano erupted next to Banos, and now I'm not sure if we can go. It's a bit dangerous to get there by bus. But that's not the problem. When the volcano erupted, all the tourists headed there to see it, and now there's no place to stay.