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Published: October 20th 2005
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Garcia Moreno
One of the 7 churches along Garcia Moreno 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 out of my mouth when I attempt to speak. But in spite of the missing link between my brain and my mouth I've reached the point where my thoughts tend to be 2/3 in English and 1/3 in some form of Spanish. (I even had a dream recently that was entirely in Spanish, although I could understand only pieces of what was being said.
And actually the night I had the Spanish dream was the same night Brenna, Ami and I were sharing a room at a hostal in Otavalo. I was awoken from my dream by Ami, who occasionally talks in his sleep, saying something about dogs. But in my nearly-asleep state I thought he was saying "
perros. After several minutes I realized that he was not, in fact, speaking in Spanish.) Anyway. This week has been particularly grueling, as I'm not a huge fan of my current professor. (Like at most language schools, at Vida Verde students work with a different teacher every week. I'm now on professor number three.) It's nothing drastic, just a personality clash. Fortunately the week is nearly over, so I'll just deal with it the best that I can.
Brenna and Ami are still taking language classes at La Lengua. They also started teaching English this week to upper-level English learners at a school called E.F. Aside from dealing with their fairly disorganized supervisor, and correcting the multiple grammar errors on the tests they have to give this Friday, I think they enjoy working with their students. Ami is also teaching English to engineering students at
La Virgen
La Virgen in all her splendor. a university near our apartment. Every evening he arrives home looking exhausted, but I don't know whether that's due to his students or hiking up the hill to our house.
Last week we joined my fellow students at Vida Verde for a night tour of Old Town. Rumorably Old Town is unsafe for gringos after dark, so it was worth paying $9 to get to see some of the old buildings at night. Our first stop was Plaza Grande (the plaza outside the President's Palace; also known as Plaza de la Independencia) and our guide (a Vida Verde profesora whose name escapes me at the moment) explained the history of the buildings surrounding the plaza. We continued on down Garcia Moreno -- Calle de las Siete Cruces -- and saw the first four of the seven crosses. Many years ago, in an effort to re-emphasize the squashing out of Quito's native religions, seven churches -- each with a large cross in the front -- were built in a line that points straight to El Panecillo, a small mountain that was once home to a temple for the sun god but now is host to la Virgen de Quito. Much
La Virgen
La Virgen, again. to my surprise and delight, our next stop on the tour was the top of El Panecillo.
For those of you not in the know, la Virgen de Quito is a giant statue of the Virgin Mary overlooking the city. But this Virgen isn't your standard Virgin Mary. Unlike most depictions of Mary, Quito's Mary has wings. But more striking than that -- and something I didn't notice until our profesora pointed it out -- is la Virgen's posture. Most of the time Mary is shown standing straight, facing forward, feet firmly planted. This Virgen is leaning to one side, one leg cocked, watching over Quito from her perch atop a giant globe, a writhing serpent beneath her. La Virgen is quite an imposing figure. I know I've said this before, but I will try to upload some photos soon.
And again, as I've said before, I will finish updating this blog soon. I just need to write up our expedition to Mindo, plus a little adventure I had earlier this week, and then I'll be completely caught up. I realize you're probably not holding your breath, but maybe if you were I'd move a little faster 😉
And that's the news from Quito, Ecuador . . . where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average 😊 Take care, everyone. Thanks for all the emails!
Te quiero,
em
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allie
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so so nice
em, those pictures are wonderful - how lucky you are to see such cool churches and all. and how interesting about the Virgin Mary - which culture do you think is correct in their presentation? come on! pick one! one culture has to be wrong!!!