Where to begin…! I think it’s going to be easiest for me to
go day by day so that I don’t forget anything…
Wednesday: I met my parents at the Quito airport around
7:30pm and we took a taxi back to the apartment. After a long hike up the
stairs with the suitcases, we ate a light dinner and they got settled in.
Thursday (Mom’s birthday): Today was spent exploring the
historic center of Quito. We ventured up to the top of el Panecillo, visited
several churches and got a tour of the Presidential Palace. At night, we went
to La Marsical, the touristy area of the city, for some contemporary Ecuadorian
food for our birthday dinner!
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| The birthday girl with her birthday flowers! |
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| On the balcony of the Presidential Palace |
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| The Ecuadorian flag! |
Friday (My birthday): We visited the Capilla del Hombre
(Chapel of Man), which houses some of Oswaldo Guayasamin’s artwork. He’s one of
Ecuador’s most famous artists, and we also got to explore the patio area of his
former house before being kicked out by the people who maintain the property!
After a pizza lunch, we visited the Quito Botanical Garden with its many
species of orchids and other native plants. I spent the evening of my 21st
birthday playing cards with my Mom at the apartment. Wooo!
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| At Capilla del Hombre |
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| Not your typical 21st birthday... |
Saturday: We woke up early to take the bus to Otavalo, one
of the largest indigenous markets in South America. Lots of colors and lots of
people selling everything you could possibly dream of! We shopped for a while,
ate lunch at a nice Colombian restaurant and then took the bus to the Quito
Zoo. The Zoo houses primarily Ecuadorian animals, my favorite of which was the
3-toed sloth. I got really close to touching it, but then the zookeeper told us
we had to wait for the tour to enter the exhibit area. I was still quite a
happy camper though, as I got to be within 2 feet of my favorite animal!
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| Little monkey with his hands on his knees |
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| Sloth!! |
Sunday: Today we made the trek (the bus stops to let people
off/pick people up every 30 seconds so it takes forever) to Yunguilla, the
community where I lived last summer. My parents stayed with German, Sonia and
their daughter Camila. German is the coordinator of the community’s
corporation, so he speaks some English, and knows a lot about the community and
surrounding area. We took a trip back out to Calacalí, where they’re in their
month of parties to celebrate their founding, to see the bulls. Bullfighting is
illegal in Ecuador, so this is just people who want to getting in an arena with
a bull and running away from it when it comes after them. Some people sustained
minor injuries, but the rest seemed to run away pretty readily from the bull
instead of egging it on. We had a nice dinner with German and Sonia, and then
my parents got to see the incredible night sky that I can never take a good
picture of while in Yunguilla. So many stars!
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| The clown bull "fighter" | |
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| Sunset on our way back to Yunguilla from the bulls |
Monday: We woke up early to go to the mirador, or lookout
point, about 30 minutes away from Yunguilla via car. You can see 7 volcanoes
from that point if it’s not cloudy! It’s an absolutely incredible view. We then
came back and Galindo gave us a tour of the community’s farm, which includes
the cheese and marmalade factories and the orchid greenhouse. We left after
lunch with the family I lived with last summer and made it back to Quito for
some grocery shopping and dinner.
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| View from the lookout point |
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| Stop at the Equator on the way back to Quito! |
Tuesday: After some shopping in the morning at one of Quito’s
very modern malls, we visited the National Museum. Lots of ancient artifacts
from all over Ecuador, an excellent collection of gold pieces and some
religious art (of which I’m not really a fan). We returned to La Mariscal for
some more souvenir shopping at a store that only sells products made in Ecuador
and then took a taxi to Guapulo, a lookout point from which you can see the
valley on the Eastern side of Quito (it’s home to the city of Cumbayá and the
new airport that is scheduled to open in October). From there, we walked down
to the church, which supposedly has a nice collection of artwork, but
unfortunately it had just closed, so we had to settle for postcards.
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| Ceramics at the National Museum |
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| Gold at the National Museum |
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| View from the Guapulo lookout point |
Wednesday: We left for Mindo this morning, which is about a
2-hour bus ride away from Quito. It’s at a lower altitude than Quito, so it was
a bit warmer and much more humid. We ate breakfast at El Quetzal, a small
chocolate factory owned by an American-Ecuadorian couple, and then took off for
the waterfalls. After a bumpy truck ride and a cable car ride across to another
mountain, we hiked to several waterfalls. Everything surrounding us while we
were hiking was green. Well, except for the bugs, which always seem to like my
blood better than anybody else’s! We returned in time for a tour of the
chocolate factory and then went out for dinner. My parents stayed in a room at
El Quetzal and I stayed at a nice little hostel down the street that’s popular with
backpackers.
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| Cable car ride to the waterfall trails |
Thursday: Mom woke up early (i.e. 4:30am) to go and see the
birds for which Mindo is famous! I enjoyed sleeping in, and then Dad and I went
to go see a small hummingbird garden. We then met back up at the butterfly
garden/farm before heading back into town for some quick shopping and lunch
before our bus back to Quito.
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| Hummingbird in Mindo |
Friday: We spent the last day visiting Guayasamin’s other
museum in Quito, which houses more of his artwork, along with his collection of
religious art and pre-Colombian artifacts. His work is truly spectacular, and I’m
excited to have bought several prints to hang up in my dorm room back at Bryn
Mawr in the Fall! We ate some delicious crepes for lunch and then came back to
the apartment to pack. I took my parents to the airport, where Galindo met us
to say goodbye. I couldn’t accompany them into the check-in area, which might have
been for the better because they had several flight problems which led to
heated conversations (read: screaming and yelling) with the airline employees.
They made it to Guayaquil, and then to Miami, and finally to Indianapolis,
however, so all is well, it was just unfortunate that they had to end their
trip on a kind of sour note.
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| Yunguilla :) |
I spent this past weekend in Yunguilla, which was lovely, as
always. We didn’t go to see the bulls again, though, so I unfortunately missed
my chance at becoming a bull “fighter”. We played lots of cards (Galindo’s
friend’s 15 year old son from Quito is staying with them, so I taught him how
to play Phase 10, my favorite card game), swung on the swings in the community’s
farm, watched soccer and volleyball and I tried to finish all of my food (they
always give you so much!!).
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| Swinging in Yunguilla |
I’m now back in Quito and am starting to realize that I only
have two weeks left. I don’t regret changing my flight because I know that I’ll
need the time back in Indianapolis to work on writing my final research paper,
but I already know that I’m going to miss Ecuador quite a bit when I get back.
It was fun to be able to show my parents the places that I love so much, and
overall, I think that they enjoyed it (minus the flight back)! I’m off to the
beach next weekend with some friends to see humpback whales and blue-footed
boobies, so I’m super excited! I need to do some more reading, writing and figuring
out of my life (i.e. fellowship applications) before then, but I think it’s
going to be a fun way to end my time here. Will try to get another blog post in
before I head back, but no promises! -Maggie
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| The Zelonis Family in Ecuador! |
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