You Know You're in Ecuador When...

The first time I went to the bathroom when we were on our trip to Shell I got very excited.  There was no little garbage can filled with used toilet paper next to the toilet.  I left the bathroom to find the lady in charge of the guest house where we were staying and questioned her about this, since every other toilet we've used here necesitates that used paper be thrown into a garbage can and not the toilet. She informed me that I was indeed able to throw my toilet paper actually into the toilet...AMAZING...and our toilet in Shell will have the capability to handle toilet paper.  You know you're in Ecuador when you get excited about throwing toilet paper into the toilet.

Since we're living in the big city of Quito now, it's not too difficult to get what we need (though this will likely change when we get to Shell).  There are, however, things that are very expensive to buy here or that we can't get.  Contact solution costs an arm and a leg as does sunscreen.  We have yet to encounter Mt Dew, Dan's pop of choice, and I miss peanut M&Ms.  Of course these things aren't necesities but they are a nice treat every now and then.  We're looking forward to our first visit from our moms next week (and I must admit, the treats the're planning to bring us, too :)