Day 22: The Middle of the Earth!

Decided to head to the equator today. I am leaving for the organic farm tonight, so I won´t see Matt and Jenny until we get back to Santa Cruz in August, so we decided to make a day of it at Mitad del Mundo. I asked my professor and she gave me directions to take the bus. The monument is only a short distance, but by bus takes over an hour, but only costs 40 cents each way!

Taking the bus always scares me, because I´m never really positive that I know what I´m doing. Luckily with friends along it is a bit less frightening because you know you won´t be abandoned!

So we have no idea what to expect. We know that the monument was built in 1936, but moved in 1979 to it´s current location, which apparently isn´t EXACTLY the equator, but when you are that close, who´s counting...

Inside the monument is a musuem of ethnography and like many museums in South America it is so sketchy that the only thing to do is mess around and laugh, so we did...

I made a friend with one of the locals and his pet llama...

I tried on some of the local attire...

Then we made it to the top of 9 floors of museum stuff and here was the view. You can see people walking the line and obviously the big N and S, which wasn´t so noticable from the ground.

We made our way back down and explored the little "town". You know that place South of the Border? The tacky little tourist trap? I am not sure if it is even there anymore, but when I was a kid and we would drive south to Florida and I remember this super cheesy, tacky, tourist trap. Ok, you have an image the $3 Disney World... that is Mitad del Mundo. They have a ton of tacky tourist shops and food places and a planetarium. Yes, you heard right, a planetarium. It was $1 extra on top of the $2 to get into the "park" so we splurged for a ticket. She warned us it was in Spanish, but we figured what the hell...

Here´s some llamas standing in front of the planetarium.

What happens when you are in neither hemisphere?

Or both at the same time?

Is it easier for God to see you when you are on the Equator? You know, no tilting to deal with?

I am leaving tonight - ugh an overnight bus ride - to head to the little beach town of Canoa, then to Rio Muchacho, the organic farm. I have no idea if I´ll have internet access, but my guess is probably not, so I´ll take lots of photos and fill you in when I get back to Quito!

Day 21 (yesterday): The Virgin - nooo I'm not referring to myself

You know that big Virgin statue I keep taking photos of? Well, you can go up to the top of the hill and not only have an amazing view of the city, but climb up part of the Virgin. So when Matt and Jenny and I met for the afternoon that was my sugested activity. It actually appears closer than it is. I´m glad we decided to take a cab instead of walk, we would still be on our way up there.

See the hill she sits on? That is called El Panecillo, which means a small piece of bread. The hill itself is of volcanic origin, as is most stuff in and around the Andes. In 1976 some Spanish guy was hired by some religious people to build a statue of a madonna. He used lots of aluminum and built the 45 meter tall virgin. What is special is that she has wings. Jenny actually said, hey why does she have wings and at the time I didn´t realize that she is claimed to be the only madonna-like statue to have wings.

So we hopped in taxi and headed up the hill...

Apparently she is standing on a snake, which is supposedly a ¨classic¨madonna image... huh.

You can climb up to her base and look up... It´s a bit frightening.

Of course I had to snap a self portrait, but since I actually had friends with me I was able to get a shot taken...

It is really difficult to get good photos of the sky and mountains here. Everything looks a bit hazy.

We headed back down and look what I found!

Day 20: Minister of Tourism...

I find it interesting that the Spanish word for handcuffs is "esposa" which just so happens to be the exact same word for "wife".

Just a little bit about this country called Ecuador...

It´s a tiny country, really, around the same size as Colorado, however it is very diverse in terms of geography. I didn´t realize until I came to South America, that the Andes are HUGE. Much bigger than the mountains we have in Colorado. Ecuador not only has huge mountains, but rainforest, coastline and then the Galapagos. I would totally recommend that if you are thinking about a new place to visit that you put Ecuador on your list.

I also didn´t know how big Quito is in terms of buildings, people, traffic, etc. I like big cities, but only for a short time. I´ve been here for 20 days now and I´m reaching my limit with the big city. There are a ton of other places to visit and I´m headed out on Saturday to do a little exploring before I head to the Galapagos.

So, what have I learned about this little divese country... well I´m not much of a history person - like my sister - so when I went to the big Museum here in Quito I was fascinated by all the artifacts, but couldn´t tell you much about the actual history of this place, except that there were a lot of native people here for a long time and they believed in the earth and mother nature and prayed todifferent gods, until of course, the Spanairds came and killed a bunch of people, took control and built ridiculously large churches. Then of course the US started to become a power house and other countries started to aspire being like us, so 10 years ago the government of Quito decided to change their currancy from the Sucre to the US Dollar! I know, they use the US Dollar as their official currancy. The paper money is from the US, but they make their own coins here, but are the exact size as our coins, only they use coins a lot more since things are cheaper. The 15 minute bus trip to school is 25 cents... they mostly use dollar coins so I have bought a separate little purse for coins.

Also there is no visa requirement to visit Ecuador for US citizens, which is rare in South America. Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay all charge for US citizens to enter their country. I´m not sure about the other countries, but I do know that Ecuador and Peru are free for tourist visits. See you are packing your bags already, huh?

The number one source of money for Ecuador is... petroleum - I know - I was surprised too. The petroleum is east of the mountains, away from the cost in the forest near the Columbian border.

The number two source... bananas - now this I can believe, but number two??? How many bananas do you think that is?

Number 3... tuna and shrimp - from the coast of course...

Number 4... people living in different countries sending money here! That is crazy... didn´t we hear a while back that the leading legal source of income for Mexico was people sending money to their families?

And finally number 5... tourism... I´m shocked that this is so low on the list, but after being here for a bit, they haven´t quite perfected tourism. Maybe they could hire me to tell them what the people want.

Day 19: Talk about a spoiled brat!

You would have thought I'd been tortured this past week - with my behavior and all... It has only been ONE week without internet, but I think that coupled with the fact that the weather has been super crappy, left me in one terrible mood! Also, spending the whole day trying to speak another language and then coming home to no one has been tough. Before the internet crapped out I had been talking to my family more often than usual. It was nice to come home and speak English to people that know me. This past week has been difficult to say the least.

I am still feeling the residual crappy mood for today during a lesson in which I truely didn't GET it, I almost had tears come to my eyes! My brain is so tired and she was trying to teach me about "complementos indirectos" and it wasn't sinking in. Tomorrow I'm going to ask if I can take her out for a snack during break, just to give myself a break too! Six hours a day is a lot!

I know, I know, I bring this stuff on myself... it makes life interesting really. I have known for a while that I don't like getting bogged down in a routine for too long, which is why being a teacher is so great. My routine each year changes enough to keep life interesting and well, the breaks and traveling help too! So I've been here for 19 days now and I'm ready for a bit of a change.

Tomorrow two teachers from Bolivia show up in Quito. I haven't had much contact with them so I don't know if we'll hook up or not, but Saturday night I am leaving for the organic farm. This is perfect timing. The farm is on the Ecuadorian coast and therefore much, much warmer. This will give me a change to still study Spanish (I'll have 4 hours of classes per day) and to explore the farm. I think we go horseback riding, which should be interesting since the last time I was on a horse I had a little incident and haven't been on one since.
So a professor from the school goes with me and we spend 5 days at the farm and then head back to Quito.

I do really like this city, but I think I'll have to pass on living here - the weather is just not suitable for me. I'll keep looking for my dream location. People always ask me where I want to live and I tell them, well hell, if I knew that, I would live there!

Day 18: It´s unfortuate, really

Still no internet at my house. The people who manage the place are a married couple and have the presence of a door mat. It is my pet peeve when people just lie down and play dead. I know that I´m not in the US, but there can be customer service in other places... argh

So here I am, after 6 hours of classes today, at the internet cafe. Look at my dedication to you, the reader. Actually it´s probably only to my family and a few close friends, but I care about you enough to try and keep this thing going. Not sure why the planets aligned and the internet went out... I would much rather go home and relax to write...

There are so many things that I´ve been saving up to tell you! I keep thinking that THIS will be the day that the internet is working...

Last week I went to the Capilla del Hombre, which is a kind of museum designed by a famous Ecuadorian artist, Guayasamin.

 Here`s the top of the building. I was trying to get a photo of the amazing view, but it was a bit overcast.


This man was an incredible artist. His work is inspired by Picasso and tells stories of desperation, opression, hunger, and pain and suffering of people around the world. His paintings are very moving. The Capilla del Hombre was part of his dream to exhibit his work in a place that is close to his house. He lived up on the East side of the city overlooking Quito. Here are a few examples of his work. I couldn´t use a flash in the Museum, so you can google his name to find better photos...

 

The next imagine is a traditional image of Jesus during his pain and suffering.

Next to this painting, is the same image, but done by Guayasamin...

I like this one so much  more! The emotions that his paintings evoke are incredible. I actually bought a copy of one of his paintings... a small one. I´ll have to show you later when I unroll it...

One of his projects (that he didn´t get to finish before dying) was to represent the suffering and pain people endured in the mines in Potosi. Remember Potosi? It´s in Bolivia and is the location of the big Cerro Rico, the mountian of silver. Over the years the Spaniards brought slaves from Africa, used indigenous people and other europeans to take out as much silver as possible. The death stastics are astounding. Not only death, but suffering in the cold, high altitude, dust from the mines. Trying to live in a place that is very dry and where there is nothing green anywhere close... Guayasamin painted this ceiling (or started to) as a rememberance of those people in Potosi.

This building was HUGE, and spacious. In a good way, but also in a way that made me wonder how much it cost... The fee to enter was $4 per person no matter if you are foreign or not. I couldn´t help but wonder why a man that was so concered with opression and poverty would build such a monstrosity of a building for his work. Now mind you that this is the OTHER building in addition to his museum which is only a short walk down the hill. As I am wondering this we come across his former house. Apparently he had a few wives and children with each of them so there is some dispute as to who should get the inheritance... So I look over and here it is...

First of all I don´t have to remind you about how cold it is here! We are 10,000 feet high and the nights are frigid and the days, when they are cloudy, are not much better. Why on earth would anyone in Quito have a pool? Look at this place? I really love his art, but I can´t help but think of what kind of person he was. I guess you can really care about the world and try to bring awareness to issues without having to live in the streets, but isn´t this a bit too much? I don´t know, maybe not.

Day 16: Can´t I just get an I.V.?

The food situation of traveling has always frustrated me. I just don´t enjoy eating long drawn out meals and especially not alone. I was looking at the Quito guide book and realized that you could eat your way through this city, but well that would be torture for me... I just like to eat so I don´t pass out. My mom is the same way... eat to live not live to eat (don´t get me wrong, there are foods I like, but only when I don´t have to put in much effort). In Quito there are tons of fast food places, but I´ve been trying to avoid them so I don´t look like that super jack ass from the US that goes to a foreign country and eats MacDonalds...

Well let me fill you in on some of my food adventures.

Next to my school there is a local place called Cafe Libro and it looks super charming and cool and sounds like it might have a nice cup of coffee... well, it´s not. It´s a buffet of traditional food. When I say traditional in Quito I mean soup (oh god not more soup), rice, and some sort of beat thin piece of meat. Oh and some juice. When I say buffet I don´t mean that you can just go get what you want, I mean cafeteria style where you move your tray along and someone dishes out the exact portion from the handbook. So, ok, it´s fine, and it costs $3.50, which is pretty good. So I´ve been a few times, on my lunch break from school. Well the other day I got my food and sat down at my table by the window, when I notice something on the bench by the window... wait, what? Damn, it´s a cockroach. When I told my teacher that afternoon, she said, yeah, but it was a small one, right? 

Ok, it´s time to branch out. I must try and sit alone at a different place. Ok, I´ll wander around the neighborhood, oh look, there is a little place called Cafe Tree. It has outside seating (even in this frigid weather many places have outside seating and it´s always full) looks nice, ok, I´ll sit down. I order some chicken, fries and a juice. This time my bill is $9 and the food tastes bland and boring. Damn. In the back of my head the chain fast food restaurants are calling my name. I will resist!

In the guide book they mention Magic Bean. Sounds cool, and gringo like. They guidebook mentions that the sandwiches are very good. A little pricey, but good. Resist the Big Mac and head toward Magic Bean... ok, I´m there and see they have an iced coffee drink, my expectations are low and when it comes it looks very good. I even snapped a photo while I thought no one was looking. Sip. Damn.
I order the Magic Bean chicken sandwich expecting a nice meal by the guidebook standards... It was the blandest meal I´ve ever eaten. Tasteless. I really don´t like ketchup and here I was dipping my tasteless chicken into ketchup. That was $14 later...

My favorite meal so far... it´s embarassing to say, but true, that my favorite meal was the cheesy gordita from Taco Bell in the mall. Yup, sorry to admit, but it had tons of cheese, and a delicious sauce with lots of flavor. I got a gordita, soda and chips for $3.50. It´s no wonder that people love fast food. The two big malls have big food courts. I had this thought that maybe I should eat my way around the food courts...

Day 15: Dear Quito... you are going to have to do something about the sun

Still no internet in my house and well after a long day of 6 hours in class the last thing I want to do is sit in an internet cafe... well, today is Saturday and I´m supposed to be enjoying the big Parque Metropolitino, however Quito didn´t get the memo and is keeping the sun hidden behind all these rain clouds! The more time I spend here the more I am reminded of how much I hate being cold. I guess it wouldn´t be soooo bad if the houses had heat, but they don´t. Right now it´s in the 50´s and raining. Bleck.When December rolls around make sure that I have booked a trip to somewhere warm!

I do have some photos to show you, but you´ll have to wait til the internet starts working again.

I´m off to find something to do. I´ve been to two of the three big malls and just wandered around in the dry, warm comfort of a mall! Two teachers I work with are coming to Quito next week, so I hope to take them to the Ecuator and Mitad del Mundo.

Ciao for now...

Day 11: (was yesterday) MAN DOWN! MAN DOWN!

Well the internet was down... at my house... I forget that Quito is in a 3rd world country and expect things to work perfectly - this just puts me in check... I could have gone to an internet cafe, but that was not in my busy schedule, besides last night we had a bunch of people come over to the house and had a pizza party. It was nice to speak english, I talked to some dude from England and a girl from Germany. At one point there were probably 15 people sitting around the table and I was the only person from the US.

So yesterday, I finished my 6 hours of lessons and went down to Old Town to explore another church. I have some more photos for you and some fun facts about Quito to share, but you will have to wait to see if the interenet is up and running when I get home.

Until then...

Day 10: has it really been 10 days?

Most people from the US travel for only 10 days. I sure used to. We work too much, worry too much about money and don't give ourselves enough time to explore. Traveling has helped me see how much I appreciate the US and what the people try to do there. I like that we have services to help people. I like bragging about my country. If you had asked my 10 years ago I would have been ashamed of the US, but what did I know? I hadn't been anywhere. What I really love about Quito is that they seem to be stealing the best parts of the US. The government here imposes a fairly hefty tax on it's people, but the city uses that tax for stuff for the people. Parks. It takes money to build, and maintian a park and let me tell you that I won't move to another city without knowing if there are parks. I love the park by my house here and I've already claimed it as my own. I zipped around the park again today and even though it could have been 15 degrees warmer I loved it.

This I needed after my lessons today. Six hours of spanish. I am speaking and listening to spanish for at least 6 hours each day. There is literally no english spoken between my teacher and I. It is awesome and overwhelming. Totally I finally felt out of my league. Last week was a lot of review and a few new vocabulary, but this week I started ONE of the past tenses with irregular verbs. Apparently there are 4 past tenses in spanish? Not sure, and I have to say I'm not particularly looking forward to them!

Back to Quito... they are doing a good job with public transportation. They had that road race - very first world stuff. They are using the US dollar for their currency. Apparently they started using the US dollar 10 years ago. At the very end of the change over their money, called the Sucre, was worth hardly anything. They needed 25,000 sucres to get $1. Most people I talk to are happy with the situation now, but as with any change, they were frustrated when it first happened.

The city is CLEAN! It takes effort and money to be a clean city, because people still throw trash on the ground, they just have people to clean it up. After the road race yesterday there was trash everywhere, today, none.

They have museums. A botanic garden in my park, and a museum of natural history, oh and the vivarium - with the snakes.

I guess you get the picture... not sure what I'm up to tomorrow. The big task for today was to find a duffel bag, which I did, and to go to the park. Maybe Old Town, you want to see some more church photos?

Day 9: Grey Sunday

Decided to head to the mall and try to find the other two big malls here. Thought, ok, it's Sunday, so it'll be a nice leisurely walk to the mall from my house... Wait, what are all those people down there? Quito had it's 50th annuel 15 K run today. There were 1000's of people. It was like a real city. People wearing their "Marathon" (it's the name of a sporting goods store here) shirts were all over the place. By the time I ventured out of my house the race must have been over because the people were all congregating around the north end of the big park here.

I was a little overwhelmed because I had my mind set on a nice relaxing walk. I walked around for about 45 minutes and realized that I was really hungry. I headed up to the big food court in the mall and decided it was time for me to have some Taco Bell. If I were back home I would have gone to Moe's or Chipotle, but I didn't have that choice. It was yummy and tasted just like I expected. People always wonder why chains are so popular and it's because you know exactly what you are getting - no surprises. That's why we love starbucks so much. I know what my favorite drink is going to taste like before I take my first sip. Don't get me wrong, I love trying new things, but sometimes I want that comfort taste.

I did find a little pharmacy with the shampoo I really like so I spent some money there and decided it was time to take a break. I took a two hour awesome nap.

After I decided to get up I headed to the big Parque Carolina and walked around the whole thing. The city has done such a fantastic job with their parks. Places for skateboards, mountain bike trails, playgrounds, a botanic garden, the musuem of science is in the park. Reminds me of a mix of City Park and Wash Park in Denver. Despite the overcast grey day, there were tons of peole out and about. I pranced around the park with my headphones and felt good!

Day 8: Voy a Otavalo

This morning a group of us from school headed two hours north of Quito to a town called Otavalo. This town is famous for it's Saturday markets. One of the markets is an animal market and people come from all over the region to sell, trade and buy various animals. The other market is a "stuff" market with tons of tourist things.

The animal market was NUTS! I had an idea of what to expect and it lived up to my expectations. When we pulled up in our van here is what we saw...

People, people, people everywhere! For some reason I had a lot of confidence under my belt today and I just plunged right in. Here's some photos from the market...

Yup, in that crate are puppies and kittens all snuggled up (well I guess the ropes around thier necks encourage them to snuggle). The rooster standing to the left would not stop crowing...

Hey, you need some guinea pigs? These are a bit different than cuy, which is a type of guinea pig that people in Peru and Ecuador roast on a stick, face and all!

Oh, you need some baby ducks? How about some chickens?

Oh, you want baby ducks...

I suppose it's a good thing that I don't live here because I could have left with about 10 puppies... aww that face! Ok, it's time to go... before I take a puppy in my luggage.

On the way out this is what we see.

The blood stained fence is a nice touch. I am such a hypocrite. I shouldn't eat meat, I just don't have enough energy to change my ways, and when you travel it's kind of a eat what you can get situtaion... Yes, we did have chicken for lunch.

Next we headed to the BIG Saturday market. Boasted as one of the biggest in all of South America. Now, you remember what I said about how much I like shopping? Well try me in a market! This is the only photo I snapped...

I did end up buying a few things. A painting from an artist that was there. It's on paper. I also got some more brightly colored trinkets... two little bowels and a picture frame. The picture frame was my change. One of the most infuriating things in third world countries is the change situation. NO ONE has change, even for a $10 when you are spending $6. So the picture frame was my $4 change...

After spending two hours in the market (I could have left after an hour) we headed to a nearby waterfall.

Remember that I just went to Yellowstone with my dad last year... so I wasn't too impressed, but apparently at La Cascada de Peguche the local have sacred bathing rituals in the pools below the falls. That was not happening today...

Last on our stop... Parque Condor. A conservation center that takes in birds of prey that have been confiscated, or found injured. It is a very well done park. Clean, large enclosures, and there was a little "show" too. I snapped a few photos of the birds...

Some sort of hawk. I should have taken a photo of the name plate before I took the photo.

This HUGE male condor kept walking up to his little ledge and then gliding down. I learned that condors can live for 80 years! A very special birds to the Incans... the condor protects the upperworld.

The little show was awesome. The amplitheatre overlooked a valley and the birds were able to fly and return for some treats.

Time to head back to Quito... Here's a look at the views I had all day...

Day 7: Freaking cool basilica

Remeber the basilica I told you about the other day? Well I decided to go explore after school today. I walked from school (I love being able to walk places) to the north side of Old Town. The Basilica sits up on a slope and overlooks the city. In the guide books they say to be sure and climb the tower, so that's what I did...

Here is the Basilica, in all it's glory, sitting on the hill...

When you get closer to the church you see that the gargoyles are representative of animals native to Ecuador...

See the anteaters? How cool! There were many different animals represented...

monkeys...

and alligators... there was also turtles, jaguars, iguanas, but I was on the wrong side of the sun. I'll have to go back in the morning when the sun is shining on the front of the church.

So I walked around to the side and bought a $2 ticket to go up the tower. I had no idea what I was in for...

In the narrow staircase I came to the first floor and there was an overlook into the church.

Sorry it's so dark...

Finally I get to an arrow that points - this way to the tower... ok, I thought I was in the tower... nope I have to walk across this makeshift bridge first.

Ok, this looks totally safe. Hey, what is that at the end of this wooden path way? Is that a metal ladder?

Yup, it is...

Phew. I made it. Wait, what is that over there?

Shit, I don't like the looks of that! I think I'll just stay here and enjoy the view. Wait, what will my family say when I tell them that I went to the "almost" top of the tower. That is lame. Ok, deep breath, you can do it...

Ok, I'm at the stupid top of this thing... I don't like it one bit. It's windy and cold up here. Hey, the guide book says it's over 300 feet up!

Don't look down! Crap, I looked down. I could only hope to impale myself with some sort of gothic metal rod on the way down...

Ok, ok, I'll try and enjoy the view.

Damn there's a lot of houses out there.

Ok, it's time to go back down. Whew, I am all worked up and my stomach, which hasn't been normal in a few days is now in knots. I know people like adrenaline rushes, but I feel a bit queasy. I think I'll just head back to the bottom as fast as I can.

OMG, see that tall spire? That's where I was. Time to sit on a bench and relax for a minute. Now my head is filled with spanish and my guts are grumbling... nothing like traveling :)