July 1-7: In and out of Quito

Friday, July 1

       We arrived a bit late last night, but everything went smoothly

        Breakfast included two new fruits, the guanabana and the tree tomato.

        Our "city tour":  We began with a stop at the aluminum Virgin.with wings.  The design is a take-off from a church altar image.  A local legend explains that the wings were a gift from God to help in a battle with Lucifer.  She is said to be the only winged virgin.

        Most of our time was spent in the old quarter.  Quito's historic district is presented as the largest and oldest in S.A.  Most of the buildings are 18th or 19th century.  Earlier versions of Quito were destroyed by earthquakes.

 Central Bank on the right.  The lower oil prices have caused great hardship.  The country has adopted the US$ as its and has imposed 60% tariffs on imports.

Editorial note:   Many images for our previous blog could not be viewed.  We have used  direct transfer from the chip, instead of the Google photo program, with low resolution settings.  This eliminates tinkering with the images.  It is almost always overcast here, but the contrast cannot be adjusted.  Hope it works.


Presidential Palace

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The standard drink in Ecuador is juice, at every meal.  It comes from any fruit; the above is, I think, blackberry and guanabana


 Then to the Equator Museum.  Reproduction of Easter Island sculpture and East Ecuador costume; an assortment of matates:

There was an attempt at authenticity, but the place comes off as terribly tacky.

We had a long lunch of typical local dishes.  Fruit juices are almost mandatory with meals here.
Potato soup with avocado and corn nuts; fried pork; goat stew; passion fruit mousse.

We are pretty tired and overfed at lunch, so Bruce went to the supermarket down the street and bought a few snacks.  We skipped dinner.

Saturday, July 2.

      A long drive Northeast of the City brings us to the Otovalo market.  The indigenous population is large here and the local languages are used on some signage.

A variety of corns.

   The fish section was odorless and very clean.

A collapsed volcano lake park.

Lunch was at an 18th Century hacienda. Palm or shrimp ceviche (Ecuadoran ceviche is cooked; pour in corn nuts and popcorn); shrimp in garlic sauce (nothing like the Spanish); braised pork;  ,  Again excellent, but pretty filling.  We skip dinner again.

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July 3, Sunday
  A long drive to Antisana Ecological Reserve.   We stopped at a small town with a very lively market. 

    The Reserve surrounds a twin-coned volcano:

     It was really cold and very windy.  Leslie has come down with the cold Bruce thought he left in Florida.  The picture is from the 'net.
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Monday, July 4.  We visited the Guayasamin Museum, the only one open on Monday.  Guayasamin ("Gu" is pronounced "w") was a prolific and commercially successful artist.  His home contains his collections of colonial and pre-Columbian obects, as well as his studios.

The rest of the grounds are devoted to Chapel of Man.

   The interior is filled with large Guayasamin paintings.  They depict bruaility and agony,  No photos.  From the 'net:



Bruce spent the afternoon at the botanical garden.  Leslie slept in.

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Tues., July 5.
     We joined Rohanna & Co. for a trip around the countryside.

     Our first stop is Mindo, a few thousand feet down.  The cable car took us to trailheads.  The trails were too steep for us.  The Wises walked down to a waterfall and swimming area. and enjoyed the cool water.   Later, Will, Zachary, and Drew did an extensive set of zip lines.

T We stayed at a great eco-lodge.  

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July 6, Cotopaxi.  A long drive and we arrive a few thousand feet up.  

Next, we walked around an alpine lake.   A local guide identified a lot of plants.  Her Spanish descriptions were translated by our tour guide into English.  Bruce and Will circumnavigated the entire lake.  It is only 2.5 km, but it was tiring at 14,000 feet.

  We stayed at the Hacienda Cienega.  It is approached with a frame of 200-yr old eucalypti.

It was very cold.  The fireplace was not nearly adequate for the 2-meter thick stone walls.  Meals were pretty good.  Bruce enoyed llapinagas at dinner (potato items about the size and wieght of hockey pucks).

Humbolt stayed here in 1809.

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July 7.  We visited the market at (can not remember).    It was very local and very lively.

 

 These buckets were crafted from old tires.

 These goats were milked on the spot; the milk was sold buy the glass.

Farming here is not mechanized.  Barley is harvested by hand.  This man earned a living hand sharpening the sickles at the market.

The Indian populations appear to have been pushed up the mountain sides.  We visited a farm.  The family lived in a hut thatched with "long grass."  They shared space with 150 guinea pigs.  They cooked inside and the walls were black.  A single candle provided light.

The fields were very productive.

 Our host.

 They grew 8 varieties of potato.

 other crops

 cui

We drove on to the famous Quilotoa crater lake.  We had an excellent set lunch for $4: quinoa soup, chicken, rice, fries, juice.

It was bitter cold and windy.  Will and Drew took a long hike along the rim while the rest of us drank tea and beer.