The Equator, Cotocachi, Otovalo & Feliz Dia Mujer

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It´s been a really full week, so I´ll try to stick to the highlights. First off, I have a new housemate, Julia, who is 18 and from Boston (like Alli). And I´ve started guitar lessons with a musician friend of Marianna´s. My second lesson is in three hours and I haven´t practiced at all, so I´m off to a bad start.

I´ve also found a new home away from home: the South American Explorers clubhouse. It´s in between work and school and has a great resource center, weekly presentations, and a lending library. On Thursday, Alli, Julia and I went to a presentation on hiking and climbing in Ecuador before we went dancing. The slides made me want to spend the summer backpacking, but we´ll see. Have to see how I do climbing Cotopaxi first.

Saturday we went to Mitad del Mundo (Center of the World), a tourist trap on, and about, the Equator. Aside from a observation monument and the opportunity to take your picture with a foot in each hemisphere, it´s a big food court with lots of souvenir shops. I´ve heard it can be a big party scene, but not when we were there. So, we went to Seseribo (a salsa club when we got home).

Sunday, we went to Cotocachi, Otovalo, and a lake near Otovalo (not sure of the name). Cotocachi is known for its leather,m and we spent most of the day there trying on just about every leather coat in town before having a late lunch. It was a great time, and I don´t even want to think about how much I bought.

Next was Otovalo, which was a bit built up in our minds for what we saw (which wasn´t much). Having arrived late in the afternoon, and on a Sunday, I don´t think we got the full experience. Also, we just got to wander around a small souvenir market before heading to the lake...no time to see the city. Maybe I´ll make it back before I leave. Oh, and for those who´ve asked about the pan flute, i heard it in Cotocachi and in Otovalo, but it´s always a instrumental version of ''Dust In the Wind,´´ by Kansas.

The lake was gorgeous, and I´ve never seen Johanna so excited. They had a parrot and bunnies and boats and mini golf at the small resort where we stopped, and she was in heaven. We got back to Quito late and exhausted, and I fell asleep around nine that night, after reading about five pages in my book. Even still, it was hard to get up the next day. Even the chickens couldn´t wake me.

Today, is International Women´s Day, which is sort fo like mother´s day in that the kids at the orphanage made cards for either their mothers or the nuns (depending on whether or not they have a mother they can send a card to). I made one, too, but forgot to include it in the package I sent (sorry mama). In addition to the cards, there´s a big parade (which I marched in with the children this morning) followed by speeches about ending violence toward women, folkloric dancing, and (improbably enough) live rap music (in spanish). All of the orphange (about 16 students and six adults) piled into one van to get there. I got a little nervous when they all crossed themselves and said a quick prayer (in unison) as we pulled out onto the street, but over-packed cars are par for the course here.

We´re planning Cotopaxi for next weekend and I can´t wait.

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