Unfortunate news to report: My camera was stolen last Sunday afternoon while I was on the Metrobus in Quito. I had it in my pocket because I had been walking around a park taking pictures (after seeing Harry Potter, which was subtitled, not dubbed!) and someone took it without me noticing, then exited the bus. When I looked down to find it gone, I yelled that I had been robbed, and someone said they thought it had been a man wearing a red shirt, but with the Metrobus, the doors don´t open until you´re at a stop, so I had to wait another 5 minutes to get off the bus and call the police, which meant the man had easily gotten away when he had exited the bus at the previous stop. I was on my way back to Yunguilla after a nice trip to Papallacta (more about that later), but I then had to go to the police station to file my report, so I didn´t get back to the community until 8:30pm. I´m most upset about losing my pictures, but at least he didn´t rob my money/credit card or use force/violence. I bought trip insurance, so they´ll hopefully be reimbursing me for the new camera I bought yesterday in Quito. It´s the newest version of the Canon Powershot and so far it´s working great! (+ it wasn´t as expensive as I was led to believe cameras in Ecuador were)
Papallacta was great--the town is at about 3,300m, so I expected it to be rather chilly, but the sun was shining when I got there! I went to the thermal baths at the nice hotel in town, where I met an older Ecuadorian man who is currently living in Colorado after having attended Georgetown and an university in Germany. He was once an economist for the oil and gas industry, but is now working in insurance, and I believe has something to do with State Farm. I had great trout for dinner as I watched one of the Copa America futbol games at my hostel. The hostel also had its own pools, so I enjoyed those in the morning before heading back to Quito.
Aside from the robbery, Quito was lovely. I got to see Harry Potter (which was great, in my opinion) and walk around this massive park filled with families, soccer games and paddleboats! On Monday the entire community went on a tour to Tabacundo and Cayambe to learn about cuy production (guinea pigs--which I still haven´t tried) and rose cultivation (this is where your Valentine´s Day roses in the USA come from!). We also stopped to try bizcochos (dry, salty, buttery breadsticks), which were great! There was a high school aged volunteer from Quito staying here in the community on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, so it was nice not to be the only volunteer for a bit! On Friday I went with Diogenes to his finca to check on the 10 bulls he has there. The walk was an hour and 45 minutes long (a lot of which was uphill), but the view when we got there was GORGEOUS. I´ll definitely be going back with my new camera. If I was a bull, that is where I would want to graze! You´re surrounded by mountains and can see the Pinchincha volcano in the distance!
I´m currently in Mindo, which is about an hour or so away from Yunguilla. It´s also cloudforest, but a lot warmer than Yunguilla! I met 2 Germans on the bus, so I went with them to find a hostel and then we just got back from a tour of the chocolate production facility in town. Best chocolate brownie and ice cream I´ve had! A lot of the world´s cacao is grown in Ecuador and it was really interesting to learn about how my favorite food is made! I´m probably going to visit a butterfly farm tomorrow and then maybe go on a birdwalk. This is one of the most famous towns for birdwatching, so I brought my binoculars!
Can´t believe I only have 3 more weeks in Ecuador--next weekend I believe I´m going to the beach, so that´ll be nice! I´ll try to post some pictures of Mindo tomorrow before heading back to Yunguilla. Not sure what I´m up to this week, but I believe I´m heading back to the Spanish man´s finca so that I can re-take pictures there. Hope everyone is doing well and beating the heat--you know it´s hot when the US heat wave makes the news in Ecuador! xoxo
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