When it rains, it pours!

After 9 days of being in Ecuador, it finally rained! This rain comes, of course, with a story. On Saturday afternoon, I decided to venture over to this place I’d happen to come across on Google Maps called “Mr. Bagel”. I’m a huge bagel person, and had read pretty good things about this place online, so I decided to give it a shot! Unfortunately, when I arrived, they had a grand total of 5 bagels left in the place, so I settled for a toasted poppy seed bagel with cream cheese and blackberry juice. The bagel and juice were good, and I got to read the Miami Herald while I was eating, so that was nice! There’s also a book exchange there, so I’ll have to remember that next time I go.

And now for the rain… So after eating, I walked over to the huge park nearby (Parque Carolina), where I found a group of people congregated around a basketball court. Apparently the local sporting goods store was sponsoring some kind of competition, so I hung around and watched that for a while. Definitely the first time this trip that I’ve seen Ecuadorians (both guys and girls) that are my height, and even a few guys who were taller than me! I knew it was particularly cloudy when I left the apartment earlier in the afternoon, but I convinced myself that it had been cloudy the day before and hadn’t rained, so therefore it wasn’t going to rain today (and that I didn’t need to bring a jacket or an umbrella with me). Wrong. It started sprinkling just as the basketball competition was ending, but by the time I crossed the street, it was a full-blown downpour. I went into a mini-supermarket for a little bit, but slowly realized that the rain wasn’t going to stop anytime soon. I waited outside under a little awning, and when I finally saw an empty taxi (it’s hard to tell here if they’re unoccupied or not because they don’t have light-up signs on the top of the car), I sprinted to catch it and have it take me back to the apartment. It rained (complete with thunder and lightning) for most of the afternoon, so I got to read and take a nap. The rain eventually died down, but it definitely ruined my plans of walking around the park and taking pictures during the day.

There were clouds when I woke up on Sunday morning as well, so as I was heading out to the bakery to buy bread and milk, I decided to take my jacket and umbrella with me. It only sprinkled as I was walking to/from the bakery, but when I got back, there was another storm! It’s pretty cool to be able to watch the lightning come down from the clouds when you’re kind of at cloud-level, but unfortunately when I woke up from my nap, there was no electricity. My first thought was that I wasn’t going to be able to call my Dad via Skype to wish him a happy Father’s Day! I then also started to briefly panic about all of the food in my refrigerator and that there wasn’t going to be hot water (or any water). My one consolation was that the stove is gas powered, so at least I’d be able to make coffee! (the important things) Thankfully the electricity came back after about an hour or so, and I was able to call home and take a hot shower! Right after taking the hot shower, however, the electricity cut out yet again. I started to make dinner by flashlight, but then the lights came back on, so all was well and I didn’t have to spend the evening reading by flashlight!

The sunset after the storm on Sunday evening

Today (Monday), I was woken up by an earthquake! It was 4.9 in magnitude and the epicenter was about 88km south of Quito, so it wasn’t anything too drastic (no injuries or damage has been reported so far), but it definitely woke me up by shaking my bed! After breakfast, I went to watch the weekly changing of the guards in front of the Presidential Palace in Quito’s historic center. It was quite a show! Tourists and Ecuadorians alike gathered in the Plaza Grande to watch the production, which included a performance of a marching band and the singing of the national anthem. There were people standing on the top terrace of the Presidential Palace to watch the changing of the guards, which we learned later included actors Bo Derek and John Corbet (Bo Derek is an ambassador for the Yasuní-ITT Initiative to keep 800 million barrels of oil underground indefinitely in a very biodiverse section of the Ecuadorian Amazon), Argentinean singer Piero and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres. Right before the ceremony started, the Vice-President (Lenín Moreno) and President (Rafael Correa) showed up! According to the news program I watched the other night, Presidente Correa is currently enjoying an 81.5% approval rate (he’s up for re-election in February of next year). 81.5% seems extremely high to me, but the people here generally consider him to be one of Ecuador’s best Presidents (this could also be because they’ve had some not so great ones) who has really worked to bring about change for even the poorest of Ecuadorians. He earned both a Master of Science and PhD in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and is married to Anne Malherbe, a teacher of Belgian nationality whom he met while studying at the Catholic University of Louvain in the early 1990s. 

Plaza Grande -- the Presidential Palace is the building on the right in the background with the flag

The changing of the guards

The Vice-President (left, in the wheelchair) and the President (right, clapping his hands)

The guards in their colorful uniforms

John Corbet and Bo Derek in the middle

I tried to take a tour of the Presidential Palace after the ceremony concluded, but they apparently don’t offer tours on Mondays, so I only got up to the second security checkpoint inside of the building. I’ll have to return later this summer to see the artwork and mosaics that are inside!

Me and one of the newly changed guards!

After the changing of the guards, I enjoyed exploring the Centro Cultural Metropolitano (Metropolitan Cultural Center) near the Presidential Palace. It houses a rather large library, and the terraces on the top floor offered nice views of the city. I ate lunch on my way back to the bus station at a little place that served me soup with beans, a potato and some kind of fried noodles (their alternative to soup with beef) and chicken, rice and potatoes as the second plate. The meal also came with coconut milk/water, which was delicious! Grand total = $1.75.

Inside of the Centro Cultural Metropolitano

Courtyard inside of the Centro Cultural Metropolitano

Gorgeous blue skies

While I’m enjoying my time here and the research that I’m doing, I decided this weekend that I wanted to be in Indianapolis for more than just 6 days before heading back to Bryn Mawr to start my Senior year at the end of August, so I changed my flight to leave Quito on August 8^th instead of August 21^st. This means that I’ll be here for 9 weeks instead of 11 this summer, which I think is ample time for my research. I’m looking forward to the next 7 weeks and all of the adventures yet to be had! -Maggie

Ecuadorian flag flying on top of the Presidential Palace