Can´t find Fritos in Quito

We arrived in Quito a couple of weeks ago. After walking around the city for a half day or so, we saw someone meandering the streets of the old town area who looked unusually familiar. We ran up several flights of stairs pursuing him, and finally caught up with him. Turns out it was Matt´s brother, Ira, who happens to be travelling through South America too. It was a nice surprise, and we have been travelling with him ever since. After that, we spent a few days wandering through the streets of old town, climbing a volcano, and getting sprayed and dusted with this colored stuff that all of the locals seem to have during Carnival(the weeklong celebration before Lent begins.)
Wandering aroung Old Town was amazing. Not only were we walking through a 12,000ft. valley, but we were also walking in and around true colonial-era buildings and plazas. The churches that we were able to go through were landmarks themselves. While large businesses and corporations dot the skylines of cities in the US, Quito´s skyline was dominated by giant church spires and domes. On our first day in town, we were lucky enough to be spared the usual afternoon thunderstorm, so we walked to to El Panecillo (¨little bread loaf¨), a hill in the middle of the valley, and marvelled at the city as it snaked through the mountainous terrain for miles and miles.
After several days in the city, we set out for a little change of pace. We started out the day by riding up the Telefèrico, a gondola that took us 2.5 km out of town and up to 4100m above sea evel. From there we decided to hike to the summit of Volcan Pichincha, a 2-3 hour hike with 800m of altitude gain. No big deal, we thought. So we headed out in jeans and t-shirts because it was pretty hot down in Quito. The hike was simple and straight forward until the last section which became a mess of loose gravel and sand, and finished with some boulder scrambling. We arrived at the 15,400ft. summit, a bit loopy from the altitude, cold, and lack of water and food just as the wind picked up and it began to snow. So there we were again, three dumb gringos. We figured it was the end of summer on the Equator and it shouldn´t be snowing, but I guess altitude changes everything.
After some time in the clouds on the summit, we headed down, wet and cold. We returned to Quito, and spent one more day before heading out.