a taxi driver.

Since getting robbed in Quito, I find myself a very paranoid person.

So, when my friend and I took a taxi together and, because it logistically worked better, dropped her off first, I was very proud of myself just for allowing myself to be alone in a taxi.

Very proud.

So, for me to, on top of just sitting in the car, to ask the cab driver: " ¿Usted le gusta vivir en Quito?" was a big deal [for me].

Because my spanish abilities are lacking I tend to (possibly foolishly) avoid talking with strangers.

From the first "Do you like living in Quito" -- probably in bad spanish grammar -- I talked with the cab driver the whole fifteen minutes from my friend's house to mine.

That was probably the first real, natural spanish conversation I have had since I've been here.

When I left the taxi, the driver told me "mucho gusto," which means "nice to meet you" and, uncharacteristically of taxi drivers in Quito, he waited for me to get inside my gate before driving away.

My spanish is coming along, slowly but surely. I can talk to more and more people without nerves and talk about more things. (My spanish is getting to a point where I still don't know a lot of words, but I know enough to talk around the word until the person I'm talk to can figure out what I'm talking about.. eventually..)