La casa ecuatoriana

While attending language class in Quito I was staying with a family. Well, didn't really feel like staying with a family. But that is quite ok. For the second week there were seven students staying in the house. It definitely is more like a private hostel than a guest family. And I'm sure that the main reason for having foreigners staying in the house is earning extra money.

Although I haven't been to any other private houses, I think this is a upper middle class family. Carlos (the father) works at the university, Blanqui (mother) doesn't work, the son is in the military and the daughter lives in Germany and there is a woman helping with the household.

Carlos and Blanqui live on the first floor and I shared the second floor with a German. So, we kind of had our own apartment and only went downstairs when breakfast or dinner was served. We also had a huge terrace with a great view over parts of Quito and the mountains. As typical in South America there was no heating in the house and of course the windows are not insulated. Nights are quite cold at around 10 deg Celsius and I'm happy I brought my sleeping bag and wool socks. I did not expect it to be warm in Quito but I didn't think it would be that cold.