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Firebreather
There was always something going on in the streets of Quito to catch our attention. We got into a rhythm in the big city. Lying on the equator, we had a consistent 12 hours of relatively safe sunshine to exploit. Of course, just wandering the Quiteño streets would always yield some surprise or another (like the man breathing fire at the intersection, or the anti-Bush graffiti we saw sprinkled about town), but we also wanted to get out and see as much as we possibly could of the surrounding areas. We started each day with a hearty breakfast of fresh and exotic Ecuatorian fruits (with names like
taxo, durazno, babaco, granadilla, naranjilla, and
tomate de arbol) and scrambled eggs. Fueled by Marta's cooking, off we´d trot to Spanish class. After four hours of language practice, we´d climb aboard a bus and set out to explore the
afueras. Before night fell, we were careful to rush back home for dinner before the sun set, when we would become easy prey to the criminal minds of Quito.
One of those afternoons we met the famous classical guitarist Hugo Oquendo (check out my last blog,
The stranger next to me) on the bus to Otavalo. Otavalo is a little town to the north of Quito where one of the country's most famous
Quiteño graffiti
Bush, Uribe
Assasins, terrorists artisans' markets takes place. There we strolled the stalls, admiring hand-made cotton and alpaca scarves, silver and beaded jewelry, rugs, tablecloths, Panama hats, pipes, purses, and ponchos. We learned to bargain with the indiginous artisans, saying "Hmmm... I don't know...," making unimpressed sighs, and pregnant pauses. With these techniques we could usually knock the price down by at least 50%, and we ended up buying some beautiful gifts for ourselves and our loved ones.
We spent one day taking the Teleférico up the volcanic mountain Pichincha. The Teleférico is a gondola that eases the pain and the puff of the climb. Quito sits at 9,680 ft., and the Teleférico zips you up to 13,284, where the air is thin and foggy. Despite living at 5,280 ourselves and having dosed ourselves with Diamox, we huffed and puffed up there in the oxygen-deficient sky. When we saw some horses grazing, we immediately knew that we would enjoy the views much more if the horses were doing the aerobic work. For $5, we each climbed aboard one of the high-altitude equines, and enjoyed a leisurely stroll on the mountaintop. I rode a horse named Coral, Aleks mastered Gitano el Bravo, and Audrey
Bargaining in Otavalo
Audrey taught me how to bargain like a pro in Otavalo. "No sé,¨ she would say to the vendor, ¨I´ve seen better prices than this.¨ We ended up getting some great deals on alpaca and cotton scarves, ponchos, blankets, and jewelry. sat (for the first horseback ride of her life!) atop Tomé. It was nice to see the crowded city of Quito from above, safe from the threats that our big city constantly posed.
We devoted another afternoon to visiting the equator. Ecuador is named for its equatorial latitude, so of course we had to check out the actual line. La Mitad del Mundo (The middle of the world) is the name of the equatorial monument just a bit to the north of Quito. Finding the exact location of the equator has been trickier than you might have thought. It was first marked in the early 1700s by Charles Marie de La Condamine. Over the centuries, various geographers have reexamined La Condamine´s results, and have moved the line to suit thier findings. In 1936, the Ecuatorian geographer Dr. Luis Tufiño built an equatorial monument in San Antonio de Pichincha, which stayed put until 1979 when it moved 7 km to the west (although this time moving neither north nor south). The current monument was built there in Calacalí, but since the advent of GPS technology, the line they painted still lies about 240 meters south of the true equator. The
Teleférico
This gondola transported us high up Pichincha volcano overlooking Quito (from 9,680 to 13,284 feet!). inaccuracy of the painted line aside, we nonetheless had a wonderful time running around snapping the cheesey pics of ourselves straddling the equator, kissing to unite the hemispheres, and tight-rope walking the line.
Tired from our equatorial antics, we sat down at the Cafe Mitad del Mundo. We were thrilled to see they served the Ecuatorian delicacy:
Cuy -- roast guinea pig! Now, I know what you're thinking. In the good ol' U.S. of A., guinea pigs are thought of as sweet furry pets, certainly not thought of as a main course. But the truth is that guinea pigs were first domesticated in the Andes, not to be
mascotas, but rather for the high protein they could bring to an Ecuatorian dinner. Why raise and eat
cuy instead of your standard pig or cow or chicken meats? Like mice, they reproduce ridiculously fast, and unlike livestock, they don't require much grazing space. I admit that when I first read about
cuy in my Lonely Planet, I felt rather nonplussed and uninspired by Ecuatorian cooking. But by the time I was there at the Cafe Mitad del Mundo, sitting next to the equator, I knew I had to sample it
The three musketeers
Enjoying a lollipop at the top of the Teleférico, high above Quito. for the sake of the Ecuatorian experience. We ordered one
cuy for the three of us to share, and waited with anxious anticipation.
Out came our roast guinea pig, sliced sagitally from whiskers to hind-quarters, splayed out on a platter. It had been cleaned in the intestinal department, but the brain still remained, as did the teeth, skin and nails. Aleks was the first to take a bite, and he actually seemed to enjoy the flavor. Audrey and I each then sawed off a piece of shoulder, and bit in. The skin was excessively fatty by my standards, and I would have enjoyed it more had it been a bit more
crocante, but the meat was tender, juicy and flavorful.
Refueled by our exotic
almuerzo, we left the official La Mitad del Mundo monument and went next door to
Inti-ñan, an outdoor museum of Quichua culture located at the ACTUAL GPS-defined equatorial line.
The Quichua people are one of the larger indiginous cultural groups in Ecuador. In the Quichua language, Inti-ñan signifies "path of the sun," and thus appropriately marks the true equatorial line. At
Inti-ñan we got a private tour from a young man named Ivan.
Vaqueros
At the top of Pichincha, we rode horses: Coral, Tomé, and Gitano el Bravo. He showed us some traditional Quichua dwellings, cultural artifacts and relics (including live
cuy and a shrunken head!), taught us how to shoot curare blow darts to kill our dinner, and tried to teach us about magical forces at the equator. He had several "experiments" set up on and near the line to convince us that: 1) water will spin clockwise or counterclockwise just feet off the equator, but on the true line will just drain straight down without spinning; 2) that your strength is greater on the line than it is just feet away; and 3) that you can balance an egg on the head of a nail on the equator, "because the forces cancel each other out." His experiments weren't properly controlled, and the logic didn't quite make sense, but we had fun with it anyway.
The week passed quickly. My other memories of Quito: studying the subjunctive tense with Gilma in Spanish class; reading Ecuatorian
cuentos: stories of baby boys transformed into tigers and of the perpetual cultural struggle between the indiginous and the Spanish; enjoying fresh papaya juice and empanadas at local restaurants; visiting the fruit market; watching people, talking to people. Every day was
A man of two hemispheres
We thoroughly enjoyed taking the standard cheesy pics at the Equator. so full of cultural observations and learning. Before we knew it, it was time for Aleks to return to work in the States and for Audrey and me to catch the bus south to Puyo to begin our medical work. Because of the climate of crime in Quito, I can't say that I was sorry to head to greener, safer pastures, but our week in Quito will always have a special place in my heart.
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Auds
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What a great week!
My favorite part of the week was getting to spend time with Aleks - I wish he could have gone with us to Puyo! My favorite photo is the one of Aleks with Martha in the background. She looks like she's in a separate universe, even though she's only a few yards away.