Hol(l)a.

Walking through old Quito today and it’s obvious that Ecuadorians put a lot of effort into maintaining the historical accuracy of the streets, architecture, etc, etc. But then as we’re walking down one street, I hear Lady Gaga blasting from a cell phone store across the street from a Forever 21. So close, Quito, so close. But then I began to think that there are contradictions everywhere in the City/Country. For example, there are signs all over the place to make Quito and Ecuador more green, but the buses and cars here are so old that I have a perpetual cough when I walk along a main road for any extended period of time. Also Ecuador’s constitution acknowledges the Rights of Nature that supposedly guarantees that nature will be able to reproduce and function without human interference, yet the current government is pushing for mining which will most definitely disrupt nature’s flow. I doubt that Ecuador’s the only country with internal contradictions, but I can’t think of another where there are so many blatant discrepancies. However Bad Romance in Old Quito was pretty amusing to hear.