After living 2 years in Quito, I could tell apart the other fair-skinned blondes who LIVE in the city and those who were VISITING the city. It was that easy.

One of the biggest ones?

Tourists wear shorts.

If you’re going to the beach of Ecuador, wear shorts, flip flops, crazy hats, whatever. If you’re trying to blend in to Quito, a city of 3 million people densely packed into the mountains – wear your trendy pants.

And not necessarily jeans either. People there don’t wear jeans and a t-shirt like we do. It’s a formal society, what you wear shows how much you respect the world around you.

You can read more about my jeans theory later, but for now, the biggest tip is – don’t wear shorts in Quito.

No one does. So don’t.

Exception – going on a run, you can definitely wear athletic shorts. But save the bright pink jean shorts for Cali, girl.