“La Ms. Lopez let me borrow her pencil.”

Here in Quito, it is customary to add “the” to the beginning of names. The park down from my house is La Carolina, my street is La Guanguiltagua, one of my students is La Angela…I think you get the picture. According to La Sofi (my spanish teacher) this is solely a Quiteño thing and locals are often teased about it when they visit other parts of the country. Maybe the founders of The Ohio State University were from Quito?