Blogs from North, Ecuador, South America - page 219

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South America » Ecuador » North » Quito October 15th 2005

OK, OK, OK... That's probably being very harsh on this probably very wonderful country & anyone who's been there is surely cursing me right now for this outrageous headline. The truth is I am still missing Colombia and its people tremendously. You all know the feeling... You go on a great holiday for a few weeks, have a wonderful time somewhere, maybe drinking & dancing & tanning, you come back home and soon you have to go to work... Then those horrible gut-wrenching holiday blues kick in. And it's like someone's punched you in the stomach and you are winded, unable to breath freely. Well, that's how I feel after leaving Colombia. And it's seriously impairing my judgement of Ecuador I am afraid. The crazy thing being that I am still ON holiday and not ... read more
Baños
Ecuadorian Woman
Otavalo market

South America » Ecuador » North » Quito October 13th 2005

. . . 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

South America » Ecuador » North » Quito October 12th 2005

It felt so great to hear the shofar on Rosh Hashanah, it's such an important mitzvah. However, spending Shabbat Shuvah with 40,000 screaming, chanting Ecuadorians probably is not a mitzvah. I have been in Quito three times now in the past ten days. First for Rosh Hashana and now for Yom Kippur and on Saturday I saw Ecuador tie Uruguay and win an invitation to the World Cup. It is only the second time in history that Ecuador has gone to the World Cup and everywhere before the game people were shouting "!Si se puede¡" (yes can) I have definitely learned that "Si se puede", all it takes is a trip to the grocery store. On Erev Rosh Hashanah I came to Quito defeated. I had tried e-mails and phone calls but couldn't find a Jewish ... read more

South America » Ecuador » North » Quito October 12th 2005

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

South America » Ecuador » North » Quito October 10th 2005

Under most circumstances I love the rain. I love the first rain that comes after three months' drought, when the land is so parched it has forgotten a life with water and given in to its arid world, and when those first drops hit the ground the earth heaves a sigh of relief and it feels as though the whole world is reborn. And I love the rain that is hardly a drizzle, that clings to spider webs and the ends of your eyelashes, and the rain that lashes against windowpanes while you are inside, warm and dry, a mug of tea in your hand and a book in your lap. I am fortunate, then, to be here during the rainy season. Most afternoons -- around 2 or 3 pm -- towering cumulus clouds form above ... read more

South America » Ecuador » North » Otavalo October 9th 2005

Sunday swung back and forth from slow and easy-going to hectic and hurried. We slept in, gathered our stuff together at a leisurely pace, and then Ami went downstairs to ask the hostal owner if it would be possible for us to leave our stuff at the hostal during the day. When he came back upstairs he informed us that not only could we not leave our stuff, the owner was going to close up and leave at 10 am. Well, that certainly lit a fire under our butts. We gathered up everything and hit the street in search of breakfast and somewhere we could leave our stuff. Breakfast consisted of munchies from a bakery, and we ended up leaving everything at a hostal kitty-corner to the hostal where we had spent the night. From there ... read more

South America » Ecuador » North » Otavalo October 8th 2005

The interior of the Quito bus terminal is dimly lit, with a high ceiling and dingy concrete floors. Venders line the middle of the terminal, perched on stools beside stands piled high with brightly packaged candy and soda. A single lightbulb hangs from the roof of each stand. Along the right wall are ticket windows for destinations throughout Ecuador (Cuenca, Guayaquil, Baños, etc.). The ticket sellers lean out their windows and holler their bus' destination as you pass by. Outside these windows are attendants who try to hustle would-be travelers. Twenty feet away from the Otavalo ticket counter a hustler spotted us approaching, and, shouting, "Otavalo, Otavalo, Otavalo!" he ushered Brenna, Ami and I over to the ticket window. Once our bus tickets were purchased we found ourselves outside and then hustled onto our bus. The ... read more

South America » Ecuador » North » Otavalo October 8th 2005

To market, to market, to buy a fat pig. Home again, home again, jiggety jig. After our fearless leader Brenna found us a hostal we set off to find lunch. We ended up at a place that served vegetarian-Andean food and had . . . wait for it . . . live music. Oh, yeah. It rocked. The restaurant had an outdoor patio, and standing out there were about five men playing flutes, drums and who knows what else. My music vocabulary is a bit lacking, so all I can say is that it was the best music I have heard since I arrived in Ecuador. After lunch it was time for the market. As we were walking along all I could think of was that market nursery rhyme, which was amusing since not only were ... read more
Otavalo Market
Otavalo Market
Antiwar Mural I

South America » Ecuador » North » Quito October 6th 2005

Basically we arrived in loads of time to Madrid airport to check in for flight to Quito, and this time they told us the flight was full and the best they could do was put us on standby and we would have to hope some losers didn´t show. Queue rage and lots of confrontation by Becky, in the end they offered us the option to fly to Bogota in Columbia, then connect there for Quito. In the end it was only two hours extra, and they paid us 300 euros each for the hassle which was cool. Also notched up another country on our itinerary, which was good, even tho it is the most dangerous country in the world and one of George Bushs´axis of evil!!! However, had a bit of a mare in Columbia as ... read more

South America » Ecuador » North » Quito October 6th 2005

¡Hola Chicos! Been in quito for about a week. First things first. The beers are massive and cheap. It costs about $1.50 for local brew. Started spanish school on mon. Realised i knew nothing but was able to pick a few words up. On the first day of school they sprang a surprise on me. Salsa lessons! We re all so crap, its pretty funny to watch. Im already sun burnt even with using ridiculously strong sun tan lotion. But its not that bad. School has been good but it seems like ive got the worst teacher, everyone has told me she only ever talks about money and death which should make for interesting conversation. The schools got 7 students at the moment. 2 english (inc me), 2 swiss, 2 swedes and an ozzie. Theyre all ... read more
Basillica View
The school pupils




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