Things that let me know I am not in Colombia anymore:

-I use words that people don’t understand...and "helado de paila" is not "ice cream of bad"

-this hushed accent with final rising pitch and devoiced palatal fricatives occasionally replacing voiced alveolar trills

-the non-overly nice people

-the taste of the luke-warm agua de panela-colored down coffee

-the absence of tinto and aromatica signs

-ceviche de  chocolo

-drivers drive like US drivers and understand j-walkers just as well….as in they don’t. (apparently j-walking is not a custom here, well not as much as Colombia) 

HOWEVER, Ecuadorians are just  as anti-walking as Colombians. Everything is “lejiiiiisimo” and you need to go in taxi or bus….as in a 20 minute walk. Eeek so scary! Ecuadorians seem to know their city less well then Colombians. And unlike Colombians, who will tell you they don’t know and walk with you to other ppl to make sure you get good info, Ecuadorians make things up: I walked to Parque La Carolina (about halfway from starting point to Parque Metropolitano and as I always do, I asked every few yards to make sure que me voy bien. This time I asked AN INFORMATION/VIGILANTE window. First they told me that the park was in the north and I knew it was in the south south of quito. And then when I pulled out the map they said that it would be a 2 hour bus ride there and I said I doubted that because I just walked to here in 15 mins and this was half way. They insisted it was very far away….. I walking and arrived at the entrance in 20 mins