Quito Ecuador Thursday, June 23, 2011

This is the first of a series of blogs that will post my journal entries from a trip that I took with some of my students, fellow teachers and parents this past summer.  We traveled with EF Tours (excellent company) and have already set up our next trip to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji next summer!

This morning we woke up to a great breakfast after arriving late last night.  They had coffee (amazing), eggs (not traditional in Ecuador), fresh local fruit and assorted breads.  We headed to Santo Domingo church and the historic district where we saw the President's Palace, the Bishop's Palace and we learned about Simon Bolivar and Ecuador's fight for freedom.  We went to the convent where we viewed seventeenth century art including paintings showing how all of the priests/saints/bishops were executed during the conquest.  Very gruesome, yet highly interesting!  This is actually where many of the priests? still eat...I guess to remind them what can happen!
 
 We headed to Mitad del Mundo, the Middle of the World to stand on the equator.  Awesome!  I got to stand with one leg in each hemisphere.  We did an experiment showing water in a sink drains clockwise in the southern hemisphere and counterclockwise in the north.  We tried to close our eyes, hold our arms out, and walk in a straight line on the equator.  The magnetic forces pull you so it was so hard.  People say it's not really true but it really was difficult!  We laughed hysterically as the students tried without success!  We tried to balance an egg on a nail on the equator.  Some of the kids could, I couldn't...lack of skill.We learned about highland houses, made of animal feces for waterproofing, and there were guinea pigs inside.  There was a very cute baby too.  The guide called it a "guinea nugget".  Too funny!  They keep guinea pigs in their houses free range because they start making loud noises when an earthquake is about to occur.  Funny...when we had the earthquake at home, my guinea pig didn't squeal...she must be broken.  We learned about the tribe that shrinks heads in the Amazon and saw some real ones.  Just a little bit disturbing.
 

We ate at a restaurant serving traditional Ecuadorian food.  I had Empanadas (cheese) and tamales wrapped in a banana leaf.  It was delicious.  All of that and a drink for $7 US.  They use US currency here which makes it super easy.  Headed to the handicraft market and picked up souvenirs including alpaca blankets, scarves, llama dolls, etc.  We had a great day visiting Quito.  Next we headed to dinner at the Banquet Hall across from our hotel.  Rice, chicken, vegetable salad, strawberries and cake for dessert.  We are staying at the Hotel Eugenia.  Very nice hotel with great food, safe and with very friendly people.  Functional computers (2) with Internet but there were a lot of us, all trying to make contact.  International cell phones don't work and we were not able to access the wifi at the hotel.  Mary and I snuck out for a drink at a trendy little cafe around the corner.  Beautiful evening in Quito.  The daytime temps in June were about 70 degrees F and nighttime about 50 degrees F.  There was an earthquake the day before we arrived!  Quito is located in the Andes at about 9000 feet elevation.  We had mild headaches that would not go away.  We didn't use the elevator in the hotel because going up and down fast made us dizzy.  We purchased coca tea (made from Coca plants) which helps with altitude sickness and upset stomach.  We were told even though it was harmless not to bring any home.  Someone did make it through customs with it though.  Off to bed, big day tomorrow!