The short list

Things that I could do without in Ecuador:
* Cheese, I love thee, but ye loveth me not here.
* Kissyface greetings. Especially the taking-leavings where I am not as able to slip away unnoticed without brushing cheeks and making puckering smoochy sounds.
* Smoking in most every establishment
* Walking around at rush hour, there are no emission regulations, on vehicles, as discernible by me.
* Haggling is the closest approximation to the opposite of my methodology I have yet experienced.
* Overrun of dogs and consequent lack of cats. El Capitan tells me the dog population has decreased dramatically and he misses that (Dogs they rule the night). But to me there are still too many; they just wander the street which so far is interesting, but i'd trade it for cats.



Things I hold in the highest:
* Fresh juice, everywhere all the time. This is heaven for what was an Odwalla-for-breakfast (at lunchtime) drinker.
* Plates of the day. Since I can't really understand Spanish at talking speed, I usually view ordering Almuerzos (lunch) or Meriendas (dinner) where you get a soup, juice, plate of rice, meat and veggies/beans and a desert for less than $2 as a gamble and sometimes i lose but its fun with chance!
* Not getting carded for anything! Finally I appear old enough.
* The climate right now is perfect warmish in the days then cooling at night.