El Mitad del Mundo

Today, we also stayed in the Quito area, but focused more on the "New City" area that is more modern. This first shot is of a few skyscrapers from a park next to the Museo del Banco Central, one of the most famous museums in Quito.



While exploring the new city, we stopped at a market where vendors sell handicrafts, clothes, jewelry and food. Imagine a dozen or so corridors like the one below in a row with about 10 vendors on each side.



This is just a shot of some broken glass bottles along a wall that I thought was cool.



Ahora, llegamos al Mitad del Mundo. This is the "middle of the world," and the yellow line divides the northern hemisphere (on the right) and the southern hemisphere. I have no idea how the people in the red and blue got into this picture. My apologies.



These next two are also in the Mitad del Mundo area.





Random dog.



After the Mitad del Mundo, we tried to go up to an area with great views of Quito from above, but there was a lot of fog so I couldn't get a good shot of the actual city from the lookout point. This one is of the road leading up to the lookout point.

8,291 Words

We kept pretty busy yesterday in the Quito area, and instead of boring you with a long post, I figured I'd keep it to only a few thousand words. In pictures, that is.

This first one is of the yard belonging to our gracious hosts. I couldn't get a good picture of the house, but it's very comfortable and well-equipped. In Ecuador, those in the upper-middle class have to be very conscious of security, so our host family has a few guard dogs, an electronic gate and a security system.



First thing Saturday, we drove a few kilometers to a park that goes about 20 km through the suburbs of Quito. This is a picture of the entrance.



Here's one of the trail.



There are homes alongside the trail, varying from quite rich to quite poor, as well as some street vendors of whom I didn't take pictures.



This is the view from the trail. Near the river, there are cows and other animals grazing. As you go further up, there are terraces for planting various crops, and some houses overlooking the river. The skyscrapers in the distance are in the downtown portion of Quito, where we went that night.



We explored the old town part of Quito (which is close to the skyscrapers in the last shot). It had just rained a bit, so I snapped one of the old town with a rainbow above.



We stayed in the old town for a few hours, and went to see a traditional Andean (Inca) dance performance before dinner. This little girl followed her dad (in the mask looking back at her) during the finale of the show, which was quite cute.



And one last shot of the old city at night.

First Post in Quito, Ecuador

I arrived with my parents in Quito, Ecuador (the capitol) at about 8:30 last night, and after an hour or so spent getting through customs and immigration, we made it out of the airport. In Quito, we're staying with a family that we hosted in Washington, DC as part of the Humphrey Fellow Program five years ago. They're amazingly polite and welcoming, and their house is beautiful and affords great views of Quito (it's in a suburb above the main city). I'll post pictures later.

Anyway, we went searching for a restaurant to go to at about 11 last night, and most places were closed, even though it was a Friday night. Daniela, their daughter who's my age, said that this was because President Correa recently passed a law stating that clubs could only stay open until 2am. Apparently, in the first few weeks after passage, there were a lot of accidents caused by drunk driving because people were forced out of clubs before they'd sobered up. Clubs decided to close earlier to solve this problem, which didn't make sense to me, but who knows.

We did find a bar, and there was a TV there that was playing some show from Brazil where half-naked women pranced around on beaches, got massages and participated in bikini contests. Danilo (the father) and I bonded over the show, much to the dismay of his wife (Elizabeth). On the way out he asked the bartender where the show was filmed, and then jokingly said I made him do it.

Daniela and her sister (Gaby, 9th grade) left for a trip to Columbia this morning, and their brother David (sophomore at American University) will be back on Wednesday. Their parents will be here for the duration of our visit.

Tomorrow, I'll post pictures of whatever we've been up to.