Blogs from Quito, North, Ecuador, South America - page 156

Yes, we did it, as you can see from the title. But we´ll get there in a minute. We left Mindo, and made our way to Cayambe, a town north of Quito, on the way to Otavalo. We found out about a hacienda we could stay at outside of Cayambe, and tried our luck without a reservation. Luckily, they had an open room. It´s a splurge for the trip at $35 a night, but it was worth it. The Hacienda Guachala was built in 1580, and has hosted many dignitaries and presidents in its time. It became a hotel in the 1990s for the public. Our room had its own fireplace, and walls that were about 3 feet thick. It had its own restaurant and we were able to charge everything - bonus! It was a ... read more

Ami has loaded more pictures on the web -- check 'em out! There are certainly some gems in there :) All is good in da hood. My Spanish profesora this week is fantastic; I'm studying los verbos imperfectos right now and she seems way more concerned with making sure I not only know how to conjugate the verbos correctly but that I completely understand how and when to use said verbos. Yesterday, after we chatted about what I did the day before and she had corrected mi tarea, she handed me the white board marker and told me to explain what I had learned on Monday. Whew. After the initial panic attack, I realized that I was fairly confident that I could correctly show her what I learned. I know I would not have felt that ... read more

Happy One Month Ecuador Anniversary to us! :) We celebrated in style today -- I made very soft, no-bake, vegan peanut butter cookies with chocolate frosting, (the oven doesn't have a temperature gauge and besides, we're still terrified we're going to blow the house up), we ate fried green plantains, (which taste more like potatoes than bananas, by the way), and, well, that was about it. Our routine hasn't changed very much since the last time I updated you on our riveting daily activities. I'm still taking Spanish classes at Vida Verde, but much to my dismay (and probably to the dismay of my professors, too) my Spanish is still rather poor. And that's putting it delicately. There seems to be a connection missing in my brain between what I learn on paper and what comes ... read more

. . . reassuring you that I have not fallen off the planet. I spent last weekend in Otavalo, and am currently in the process of catching up on my writing. Never fear! Something of interest will appear here soon! :) em... read more

Today Brenna, Ami and I hiked -- crawled, rather -- up a steep, cobblestone street west of Carolina Park to the Fundación Guayasamín, a museum housing some of Guayasamin's work as well as his collection of pre- and post-colonial artifacts. Once inside the museum grounds the sounds of the city vanished and as we walked between and within the buildings it was as if we were miles outside Quito. We viewed the pre-colonial (500 a.c. - 1500 d.c.) artifacts first -- a hundred or so stone clay pots, figurines, bowls and few sacrificial altars. It made me wish my Spanish was better so I could both understand our museum guide and ask her questions as my knowledge of pre-colonial Ecuador is limited. The artifacts were fascinating nonetheless. From there we moved onto Guayasamín's work. It was ... read more