Quito’s main square (La Plaza Grande), as well as several smaller plazas throughout the city, are great spots for peoplewatching. On this Saturday morning, there were thousands of people gathered, watching the jugglers, musicians and singers.

Food vendors were everywhere, many selling food that I did not recognize. I thought these were pineapple slices, until I saw her put ketchup on them. (They’re not fries, definitely some kind of fruit).

Here they were sitting next to oranges, but the slices did not look like oranges.

And I thought this was ice cream, until I realized nothing was melting under the hot sun. Must be some kind of other cream cones.

There was plenty of my easily-recognizable favorite, corn-on-the-cob.

Of the thousands of people in the plaza, I was most fascinated by this woman playing her trumpet.

She did not have a tip jar and did not seem to be playing for money. She would play a 20-second note, then pick up her bag and move a few feet away. Then she would stop, set down her bags, and play the same note again. This went on the entire time I was watching her, making her way around the plaza, playing the same note over and over.

On one side of the plaza is the Presidential Palace, with guards standing by the door. She made a point of facing them and blowing her trumpet right at them! At one point there was what seemed like an angry exchange between her and someone in the audience, which made me wonder if she was doing it as some kind of protest. I was dying to ask her what this was all about, but she seemed so focused on her trumpet task, I didn’t dare interrupt her.