Today I have an eye twitch. ARGH! I can't figure out why, haven't been able to resolve where it came from, but it's annoying! Every 30 seconds or so, there it goes. Funny how the silliest of things, the most mundane subjects have some import. I have to admit, it's nice to contemplate something so menial, rather, it's nice to have the time to contemplate something so menial!
The day is overcast and I haven't managed to schedule much. I am also sore from yesterday's ride through the mountains. I haven't gone horseback riding in years but headed out nonetheless. My horse's name was Mariachi. Jorge, my guide, told me that he's always the lead horse. Here I am on the alpha horse...fitting. We rode up into the mountains to several amazing vistas and views. For the last hour climb, we had to change courses. There was a bus stuck in the middle of the road, so we ended up climbing a steep mudslide with lots of low-hanging branches. I felt like a real cowgirl! Whenever there was long stretch of path, Mariachi and I took off. It was freeing.
Today I tried a local candy made of sugar cane. They make it by stretching the cane out on a post, pulling it about 3 feet, and then looping it back around the post. The candy is essentially hardened sugar, but the making of it is really fun to watch.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Laundry
I made plans to go horseback riding today but the sky just clouded over...I also did laundry and have it hanging on the line. Strike two. We had 15 minutes of rain yesterday and it looks just the same, so I'm trying to remain hopeful! Ah HA! A patch of blue sky!
The town of Baños is a vacation spot for estrañeros y nationales as well. I was stopped by a man named Juan in the supermarket today who asked me where I'm from. I told him and he replied, "Oh, adorable!" New York, adorable? Not exactly the word I would use...I have to admit I was thankful to hear it, though. My Spanish isn't exactly spot on, so I was glad to smile and agree, a kindness I'm much more often on the receiving end of!
It's funny this traveling thing. I was too embarrassed to hang all of my clothes (i.e. underwear) on the line to dry today. Not that it will matter to me weeks, months from now, but the first time, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I had spoken with the woman who works Reception at the hostal and, as it turns out, her sister, husband, mother & father all work here as well. Maybe that added to it...that in combination with the selection I brought...I guess I just wasn't ready to share all that with perfect strangers. I just couldn't muster the guts. Silly? Seguro.
Several of the groups of indigenas do their laundry in the water that falls directly from the cascades.
The town of Baños is a vacation spot for estrañeros y nationales as well. I was stopped by a man named Juan in the supermarket today who asked me where I'm from. I told him and he replied, "Oh, adorable!" New York, adorable? Not exactly the word I would use...I have to admit I was thankful to hear it, though. My Spanish isn't exactly spot on, so I was glad to smile and agree, a kindness I'm much more often on the receiving end of!
It's funny this traveling thing. I was too embarrassed to hang all of my clothes (i.e. underwear) on the line to dry today. Not that it will matter to me weeks, months from now, but the first time, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I had spoken with the woman who works Reception at the hostal and, as it turns out, her sister, husband, mother & father all work here as well. Maybe that added to it...that in combination with the selection I brought...I guess I just wasn't ready to share all that with perfect strangers. I just couldn't muster the guts. Silly? Seguro.Several of the groups of indigenas do their laundry in the water that falls directly from the cascades.
Quito a Baños
I checked out of the Secret Garden in Quito and hopped the bus to Baños. Catching the bus here can be pretty hectic. There is no formality of purchasing a ticket, standing in a line at a gate to board, presenting the ticket and hopping on. Here you go to a cul-de-sac where all the buses are and listen for someone offering/yelling your destination. "Ambato, Baños!! Ambato, Ambato!!" The 3 1/2 hour ride was $3.30. Rule of thumb for Ecuador: every hour on a bus is a $1.
Baños is incredible. A small town dropped in the middle of mountains, volcanoes. The mountains look as though they're covered in moss, a smooth and consistent green, soft, even velvety. The Hostal Plantas Y Blanco has a rooftop terrace & cafe, God bless Ecuador! The view is panoramic and magnificent. You can see the cascadas at the back of the terrace, steep green mountains all around. There are a few houses atop the mountain closest to the hostal. One has floor to ceiling windows...I wonder who lives there? They must make calculated trips down the mountain. No midnight trips to the bodega on the corner. No delivery either, I bet...
Baños is incredible. A small town dropped in the middle of mountains, volcanoes. The mountains look as though they're covered in moss, a smooth and consistent green, soft, even velvety. The Hostal Plantas Y Blanco has a rooftop terrace & cafe, God bless Ecuador! The view is panoramic and magnificent. You can see the cascadas at the back of the terrace, steep green mountains all around. There are a few houses atop the mountain closest to the hostal. One has floor to ceiling windows...I wonder who lives there? They must make calculated trips down the mountain. No midnight trips to the bodega on the corner. No delivery either, I bet...
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Quito dancing
Saturday night is the night for dancing in Quito. I met a girl and her primos at Bungalow 6. She asked me to show her the US moves (uh, oh!), which wasn't so easy with salsa playing. I danced with one of her cousins and it was delightful! I get embarrassed so easily when dancing unless the guy knows how to lead and can move. And boy could her cousin lead, not to mention move, thank God!
Sunday is a lazy day in Quito. Drunks line the streets as early as ten am, professing their love for every woman as she passes.
I walked through Guapulo and Mariscal (what's known as the new town, north of the city)today. Live music in the square at the Coffee Tree. I looked for the apartment in Guapulo where Chantal lived when I visited Ecuador the first time but couldn't find it. If it's not marked, you simply have to know where you're going & what you're looking for, if you hope to find the spots. I guess New York and Ecuador have that in common.
observation: everyone smokes here--Ecuadorians, Canadians, French--the only exceptions so far have been the Aussies. Pretty much everyone else smokes.
Sunday is a lazy day in Quito. Drunks line the streets as early as ten am, professing their love for every woman as she passes.
I walked through Guapulo and Mariscal (what's known as the new town, north of the city)today. Live music in the square at the Coffee Tree. I looked for the apartment in Guapulo where Chantal lived when I visited Ecuador the first time but couldn't find it. If it's not marked, you simply have to know where you're going & what you're looking for, if you hope to find the spots. I guess New York and Ecuador have that in common.
observation: everyone smokes here--Ecuadorians, Canadians, French--the only exceptions so far have been the Aussies. Pretty much everyone else smokes.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
El Panecillo
On a mountain in the middle of Quito is El Panecillo, the Virgin de Quito--the saint of the city. Only when looking down from the top today and seeing the sprawling city below me did I realize that I was in a CITY. An unban environment--a new metropolis. Having never really undertaken a journey such as this, I guess I forgot to take stock of the first stop as I would when taking a two week vacation, trying to cram in the sights, the cities... I had taken several days to venture about the city but somehow missed the whole city notion.
An Ecuadorian named Jonathon explained to me the lay of the land. To the south, on the back side of the Virgin live the working class. In the historic center of Quito--the old town--live the poorest of Quito. While Jonathon did not draw any correlation, it's interesting that those with the least lie in direct gaze of the Virgin, as though she keeps them closest, a mother to those with the hardest lot. To the north live the middle/upper class of Quito. They are out of her sight, not needing her protection any longer.
From the top of the mountain, I peered just over the railing and watched two men hoist an antennae up the hill, rigging up better reception for their televion, I imagine.
Dogs roam the streets here, no home, no food, no friends, just roaming the land. I haven't seen people sleeping in the streets like New York, only dogs.
An Ecuadorian named Jonathon explained to me the lay of the land. To the south, on the back side of the Virgin live the working class. In the historic center of Quito--the old town--live the poorest of Quito. While Jonathon did not draw any correlation, it's interesting that those with the least lie in direct gaze of the Virgin, as though she keeps them closest, a mother to those with the hardest lot. To the north live the middle/upper class of Quito. They are out of her sight, not needing her protection any longer.
From the top of the mountain, I peered just over the railing and watched two men hoist an antennae up the hill, rigging up better reception for their televion, I imagine.
Dogs roam the streets here, no home, no food, no friends, just roaming the land. I haven't seen people sleeping in the streets like New York, only dogs.
Friday, January 26, 2007
The Equator
Last night I felt ill and went to sleep early. A combination, I fear, of sunburn, altitude sickness and fast food (a restaurant called caravanas). I had a hamburger--the first and last fast food I hope to have.
Today I visited Mitad del Mundo, the supposed equator, and Inti Ñan, the real equator. I almost missed the stop and would have ended up in some remote Ecuadorian village...it's always an adventure! The real equator line was discovered with GPS about 10 years ago, so there is an official site with a monument and all, and then 200 meters away, there is the real equator. At the real line, there is a guided tour with fun experiments. When standing exactly on the line, the gravitational and centrifugal forces of the earth all meet, making your resistance far less than when standing on either side. You can also balance an egg on a tiny nail. They show you too how water moves counterclockwise to the north of the ecuator, and clockwise when south of the line (or is it the other way around??) It' s wild!
quick fact: indigenous populations here name things according to the sound they make. Guinea pig is a delicasse here and it is called "cuy" because is makes the sound "cuy, cuy." A baby's spoon is called a "wah, wah" because a baby makes that sound when hungry...makes sense...
Today I visited Mitad del Mundo, the supposed equator, and Inti Ñan, the real equator. I almost missed the stop and would have ended up in some remote Ecuadorian village...it's always an adventure! The real equator line was discovered with GPS about 10 years ago, so there is an official site with a monument and all, and then 200 meters away, there is the real equator. At the real line, there is a guided tour with fun experiments. When standing exactly on the line, the gravitational and centrifugal forces of the earth all meet, making your resistance far less than when standing on either side. You can also balance an egg on a tiny nail. They show you too how water moves counterclockwise to the north of the ecuator, and clockwise when south of the line (or is it the other way around??) It' s wild!
quick fact: indigenous populations here name things according to the sound they make. Guinea pig is a delicasse here and it is called "cuy" because is makes the sound "cuy, cuy." A baby's spoon is called a "wah, wah" because a baby makes that sound when hungry...makes sense...
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Quito, Ecuador
So I made it to Ecuador! I'm on the rooftop terrace of the Secret Garden looking into the mist of Quito. The city's mountains are lost in it.
The drive from the airport was eye-opening. In New York all space is used, for living, buying, selling. Here there are vacancies everywhere, open for anything. I'm not sure the typical New Yorker would want to call it home. But if half of New York moved here, I think there'd still be vacancies.
I may be the tallest woman I'm going to see for a while. Pretty wild at all of 5'4"!
The drive from the airport was eye-opening. In New York all space is used, for living, buying, selling. Here there are vacancies everywhere, open for anything. I'm not sure the typical New Yorker would want to call it home. But if half of New York moved here, I think there'd still be vacancies.
I may be the tallest woman I'm going to see for a while. Pretty wild at all of 5'4"!
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