tinto

i cant believe i forgot to mention the very best thing about colombia. not only is it easy to get good coffee, there are actually tons of people walking around in the streets selling the stuff. everywhere you go you see men holding 5 thermoses and shouting "tIN-TO, aRO-MA-ti-co" (black coffee, tea). they have 17000 tiny little cups and if you flag them down they will stop and pour you a shot of coffee or tea, for 200 pesos, the equivilant of 9 cents. you can get the 500 peso cup too, which is larger but not even double the amount, as anthony and i learned this morning after a scientific measuring process. but the 500 peso cup is a good deal because you dont burn your fingers so much since the cup is bigger. you see, they serve the scalding liquid in flimsy plastic cups, not paper or styrafoam cups as you usually get when you order coffee to go (which, btw, does not exist AT ALL in ecuador, save for one very expensive place in quito). so, if you get the 200 peso cup, and even if you get the 500 peso cup, you burn the bejesus out of your hands. its really quite painful and the only way to avoid the pain is to instantly shoot the hot hot shot of coffee, right there in the boiling sun, without giving it a chance to cool. also painful, in a different way, but a different, novel experience. very, very cool.