Day Two: Getting to Know Ecuador

---

Day two! We didn't going to clinic today.. this is actually the only day we won't. We spent the day getting to know Ecuador and recovering from a long day of traveling. For breakfast at the hostel, our host made us fresh juice and yogurt with granola and fruit. The only reason I mention that is because there are so many bizarre fruits here. Learning more than jsut about nursing things! After breakfast, we were reintroduced to Don Fausto, our bus driver, and set out to visit the equator. There was an amazing view for the entire bus ride. The mountains make for a really great landscape. It was really breathtaking. The other weird thing about being in the mountians is every time you get off the bus, it's a different temperature. You really never know whether to bring your jacket. I thought Ohio weather could change quickly but that's nothing! Ecuador is a huge exporter of roses. We got to see lots of rose plantations during our drive to the equator. You can buy 2 dozen roses for ONE DOLLAR! The people at the Sun Dial where we visited the Equator were very friendly and informative. One thing he mentioned was that we can see all the constellations from Ecuador whereas in Ohio, you can only see the constellations in the Northern hemisphere. I never really thought about that but that is awesome! When we are in Tena, Ecuador (the jungle) for the second half of our trip, we are going to be sure to look at the stars because there are so few lights there. For lunch we ate at a restaurant called Catocachi. We had chicken, vegetables, cucumber salad, french fries, and rice. It was really good. We also had chicha which is rice water that is really sweet (it can sometimes be alcoholic but this one wasn't) and it was good. One thing we noticed, and Val and August informed us this was normal, was that they serve 2-3 startches with every meal in some combination of rice, yucca, french fries, mashed potatoes, chicha, etc. In Quito, type II diabetes and obesity are prevalent but the population as a whole lacks education on these topics. This is something we will work with the health promoters in improving later this week. After lunch we visited the Otavalo market where they had just about anything you can think of. There were scarves, blankets, games, paintings, sweaters, purses, fresh produce, anything. It felt like a flea market and it was a lot of fun. I remembered a lot more spanish from highschool than I thought I would so I got to interact with the people a little. We had pizza at a small pizzeria in Quito but it tasted nothing like American pizza! Until tomorrow!



PS: I am now very grateful for having hot water whenever I want it... cold showers in 40 degree weather will do that to you! Also, I'm still figuring out this website but if you click 'photos' or click the number below whatever picture it shows, you can scroll through the pictures for the day!

---

Photos

020
equator

008
our hostel

001
before we left!

003
at the airport

005
from our hostel room

015
beautiful