Esto es Ecuador

A weekend spent afuera (out) in Quito...

Jakob, Carl, Brianna and I at el Centro Cultural

The entirely cylindrical mall in la Mariscal

Amazingly picturesque presidential Plaza

In front of the famous Iglesia del San Francisco

There's so much to say, it's hard to know where to begin. Pues, para empezar, let's give a HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY SHOUT OUT to everybody at home who're probably gazing skyward at grand fireworks finales and eating barbequed hamburgers and apple pie. I'm celebrating my first Fourth "abroad", but I'll always be proud to live in the USA! I'm loving on Ecuador a lot from this blog, but I'm doing it from an American heart. Which I will always defend as a good thing, even when I take the mindset of a global citizen or find myself in a situation needing to apologize for my country.

Now no te preocupes, this is not a political blog. I want you to read it, after all. ;) But it IS the 4th of July, and it's the first one I've "missed".

Now, back to Ecuador.

My formal Spanish training came to an end on Friday, July 1, with a lot of subjunctive verb use, and some newspaper articles from Hoy and El Comercio, two of Ecuador's biggest publications. With disappointment, we realized that we were saying goodbye to Lucia, our first trainer that we bonded with.

Thank God for Facebook! ;)

There wasn't much time for frowning, however. Immediately after our last Spanish class, we were met at the Center by Nina, a former TESOL student from the US and South Africa who has lived and worked in Ecuador for the past eight months. She ran into our group earlier in the week and volunteered to walk us around her favorite spots a bit on Friday, an offer we happily took her up on!

We walked with Nina down to the Mariscal and she identified the best bars for sports viewing, clubs for Salsa, and the cheapest drinks. The bars and nightclubs in la Mariscal are literally uncountable; I've never seen so many altogether. Being as it was only four o'clock or so in the afternoon, Brianna and I settled for trying the Magic Bean, a place my dad said of on his visit here many years ago was the only place for good coffee in Ecuador.
It's true, one of Ecuador's primary exports is coffee, but the citizens don't drink it. Instead, they prefer un cafecito in the evening, which is the dehydrated instant coffee flakes poured in hot water that take the place of dinner with a little panecito (bread). Combine this type of coffee deprivation with the true magic that is the Magic Bean, and you have me saying that the Magic Bean could conquer the world with one frappe!

La Iglesia de Santa Teresita

En La Mariscal, Quito

We picked up a bus in Quito Park at the edge of the Mariscal and headed further south into Old Quito, also called Colonial Quito or el Centro Historico. It used to have a really bad reputation but has been cleaned up in recent years (to clarify, it does have a different vibe - slightly darker - than commercial areas, neighborhoods, or even the Mariscal). This is where you can find the presidential plaza, which is centered on the statue of Garcia Moreno, assassinated president of Quito from the late 19th Century. Around the plaza center is the presidential palace (basically, the White House of Ecuador), the office of the governor, and some important churches. We had to hustle through in regards to how many more minutes of light were left. The frustrating thing about the amazing Old Town is that everything is picturesque, perfect, and breathtaking, but nobody is taking pictures -- cameras are a high commodity, along with many other nice electronics attached to wide-eyed tourists, on the streets of Quito, which have the most robberies per capita in Ecuador.

We managed to snap a few, discreetly, as we walked down the Avenue of the Seven Crosses (yes, there really are seven, and they're famous for being named by Garcia Moreno) towards the plaza of the Iglesia del San Francisco:

Getting off the bus in Old Quito

"Discreet" walking photo through Old Town

Presidential Plaza and Garcia Moreno's statue

If you're governor of Quito, you work here :)

The Fabulous Four of TESOL

Nina, our guia for the afternoon

It's like a Palm Tree, but cooler!

A plaza inside the Cultural Center in Old Town

This place is not easily forgotten

There were many photo displays within the Cultural Center, but the one I took the time to walk through was dedicated to the mine victims in the war between Peru and Ecuador. To this day, there are still many unaccounted-for active mines near the border of Peru and Ecuador, and victims are still being tallied. The photos of a man desperately mauled by acts of war, amputated in the arm and the left eye, staring into the eyes of his young, beautiful wife were especially moving.

And above all, el Panecillo and the Virgen de Quito

Brianna and I in the plaza of San Francisco

Plaza del San Francisco

Friday mass in the gilded church of SF

La Iglesia (church) of San Francisco was famously built, in part, by the devil. The true story, according to my sister here, is that an indigenous man of Quito set to build the church long ago, but he was determined to do it all by himself. As the church is large-scale with full grandeur, he soon tired of the job and realized that he could not do it alone, but as an indigenous, the other mestizo (Spanish-heritage) citizens of Quito were critical of his task and his ability to accomplish it. Therefore, the man asked the devil to help him finish this house of God. The devil agreed, in exchange for the man's soul. 

Alright, the man said. But you have to finish the job first; this is my passion and I want to see it complete before I give up my soul.

The devil agreed, and under a crew of demons, the work commenced. The Church was soon very large, ornate, and altogether impressive. At nightfall on the last day of construction, the man slipped up the scaffolding and pocketed a stone from the top face of the Church and buried it underneath the edifice. When the devil came to claim his soul the next day, the man accepted the Church as splendid but begged pardon, for the job was incomplete. 

Here, he said, and pointed out the missing piece. 

The devil had no answer for this and was forced to go away, cheated from possession of the man's soul. To this day, you can go see where the final piece is missing from the top of the Church face. The man is commemorated in a statue in the plaza outside the church.

After coming home via Trole (express bus that runs a rickety, fast route North-South through Quito), my sister Andrea and I decided it was time to go out with some of her friends for a night of dancing.

Thus, the night belonged to a club called Colours, which had a high cover but got incredibly popular as the hour got later, playing a hiphop/electronic mix of songs in mostly Spanish, but some in English. 

Saturday afternoon my family tried to take me to the Basilica, an enormous church (the largest, and first, gothic church in all of America) on the north side of Old Town. I say tried because the true attraction of this church is the ability to climb up inside of one of its two clock towers for a $2 fee. The climb is thrilling in itself, as the internal structure of the towers is not exactly fool-proof, but the real reward is the sweeping views of Quito that you get from the top. Apparently, though, they do not let you try this unique experience if you arrive a half an hour before closing time. Thus, the vista from the Basilica will be for another day. Here, however, is the stunning church:

In place of Gargoyles, the Basilica was built with the native animals of Ecuador adorning it. There are turtles, anteaters, pelicans, iguanas, and many more. 

Next time, arriba!

Sorry, there's no place in this inn.

The famous stained glass artwork inside

We settled for lunch at the cafe: Batido de tomate del arbol (tree tomato smoothie) y humitas (choclo con queso, or corn with cheese. This corn, however, is very unlike ours in the states!)

My sister Andrea and I 

Martin, my somewhat brother-in-law here, drove us a roundabout way back through the city for some sights to the house. Unfortunately, racism is a big reality here, as evidenced by this picture from a traffic stop:

(fuera, los negros)

The ever-present Andes

Saturday night was also devoted to collecting a true Ecuadorian experience: after some sightseeing, it was time for a bar/lounge. This time my sister and I and her friends elected Strawberry Fields, which is dedicated to the Beatles and has their vinyl records and classic magazine photo shoot photos all over the walls. Our little nook for the night was dedicated to John and Yoko in the nude. All the music played was in English, a lot of Beatles interspersed with some U2, Aerosmith, and AC/DC.

Sunday morning arrived all too soon for an early departure up the side of Mt. Pichincha on the TeleferiQo...

...

...to be continued :)