Today we had another weekly academic outing, which is awesome because we get to learn outside of the classroom. It was our introduction to colonial Quito, which is an awesome and beautiful part of the city. After arriving at the plaza and grabbing a delicious pastry, we had a tour of The Society of Jesus Church, a popular cathedral that took 160 years to build and is almost completely covered in gold leaf. Next we went to the City Museum where we learned a lot about Quito’s colonial history. Finally we went to lunch and I had shawarma wrap and some guanábana ice cream. Later we had some salchipapas at a small street corner restaurant that was about as hot as a sauna from all the frying grease. I absolutely how cheap food here can be. (Large Size = $1.40!)
Here are a couple pictures I took today, including a panorama of South Quito.
On Sunday I decided to hang out with Gustavo and I went with him up to the mountains to the church he works at. We had to take a bus up there, which I’ve found is one of the scariest systems of public transport. The bus drivers aren’t any better than the others and they hardly stop to let you on and off. It is really important to hold on too because they drive all over the place. Even though I’m used to riding on a ferry, I realized my balance isn’t as good as I thought. They will cram a ton of people on, like the subways in Tokyo. The only difference is South Americans value personal space a lot differently, and if you sit down you might end up with someone’s armpit in your face. At the top, the roads were dirt and cobblestone, littered with garbage, and there were close concrete buildings and stray dogs everywhere. I love places where I can be the only foreigner!
The church service was small, but really good, and afterward we walked over to the pastor’s house to eat lunch. On the way, we stopped at a small street corner grocery and bought some chorizo (sausage). Those tiny stores have everything, including chicken feet and other cuts of meat I don’t recognize. While Gustavo and the pastor cooked the sausage and rice, they showed me how to make juice from tomatillos, which taste like the combination of a tomato and a peach. Juice is really popular here and they make it with blended fruit, water, and (lots of) sugar. There are a lot of good drinks here, with tropical fruits and sweet teas.
Oh yeah, the concert on Saturday turned out to be awesome! There were probably about 10,000 people there and I wouldn’t be surprised if we were the only gringos. I love learning about new music and there were four different bands playing (I really liked Pescao Vivo, a Columbian alternative band). The concert was supposed to start at 5, but instead the first band didn’t open until 6. This is because of La Hora Ecuatoriana, Ecuadorian Time where everything begins casually late, anywhere from ten minutes to over an hour. From what I’ve heard this is pretty common in South America. Our first week welcoming party started about thirty minutes late (us Americans were all standing around waiting), and I’ve gone to play basketball but had to wait a while for someone to bring a ball. During orientation we were told that whenever we see a time, just to add an “ish” on the end of it. Coming from a punctual society I’m not used to it. Well I’m used to procrastination… I still have to study a lot for my exam tomorrow. Hasta Luego!
Left: Jenna, Josué, and the girl with the flashlight. Right: Pescao Vivo
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