The week...
Wow. Busy week with no time to update the blog... Spanish classes proceed apace, though I think the weekend speaking pretty much only English has not helped my learning curve at all. Sigh. However, I press on, yes?!
So, the week. I went to Mitad del Mundo with the school on Wednesday. That is the equator, by the by. It was cool. We saw the world´s largest inhabited extinct volcano crater on the way.
The equator line itself was marked in quite an interesting museum with indigenous artifacts, a bunch of ¨scientific¨ experiments to show that it really is the equator (the famous issue of the Coriolis forces making the water in the sink turn clockwise or counter clockwise, depending on which hemisphere you´re in was demonstrated by water in a sink on the equator where it went straight down the drain, and by two others, using the same water and same mobile sink two metres on either side of the line. The water switched directions. I´m not sure if I completely believe!) and a tour in Spanish of which I understood a surprising amount...
Nikki and I also spent an afternoon in the Old City climbing Basilica towers, going to museums (accidentally in one case!) and having juice in the market. I accidentally recommended to Nikki to have what turns out to be a herbal viagra... And we had wondered why the local people were *quite* that friendly! Hmm... The wink wink nudge nudge makes so much more sense now... My teacher laughed a lot when I told her what I'd done (inadvertently, I promise!!) to poor Nikki. Funny. The Basilica was quite the thing. Three or four floors of stairs, then three sets of ladders, and then finally you could go out on the parapets where there were no safety railings to speak of, for the best views in town. Yikes. I felt pretty okay about it until I touched a piece of the church for support and found it coming away in my hand... Oy. A fun day though!
The weekend was filled with a trip to Otavalo, the largest craft market on the continent. I believe! Wow. It was huge and entirely portable. The indigenous people carry these unbelievably vast loads on their backs -- easily three of me -- and put all their wares up for just the one day. Even the people who put up stalls on Sunday as well took them down for the night. So much work. But the stuff was quite beautiful. Carpets and sweaters and wood carvings and food and veg and clothing of all kinds, including the traditional clothes that the indigenous people wear. I don´t have any pictures of the people because for the most part, especially the older people, they believe that photos take away their spirits. I certainly don´t need to be creating anxiety that way!
On Sunday Nikki, Evelyn and I went on a local bus to a pretty little well-visited waterfall and also to Cotacachi, the local place to go for leather. Perhaps if my trip was almost over I'd have bought some stuff there, but as it was leather doesn´t roll that well... And it is heavy to boot. Coming back on the bus was pretty easy, which is encouraging for me when I think of how to get going on the next part of my trip, all on my lonesome... Fingers crossed I end up more or less where I think I´m going...
More pics later, but people are waiting for the free computers at SAE and getting cranky!
So, the week. I went to Mitad del Mundo with the school on Wednesday. That is the equator, by the by. It was cool. We saw the world´s largest inhabited extinct volcano crater on the way.
The equator line itself was marked in quite an interesting museum with indigenous artifacts, a bunch of ¨scientific¨ experiments to show that it really is the equator (the famous issue of the Coriolis forces making the water in the sink turn clockwise or counter clockwise, depending on which hemisphere you´re in was demonstrated by water in a sink on the equator where it went straight down the drain, and by two others, using the same water and same mobile sink two metres on either side of the line. The water switched directions. I´m not sure if I completely believe!) and a tour in Spanish of which I understood a surprising amount...
Nikki and I also spent an afternoon in the Old City climbing Basilica towers, going to museums (accidentally in one case!) and having juice in the market. I accidentally recommended to Nikki to have what turns out to be a herbal viagra... And we had wondered why the local people were *quite* that friendly! Hmm... The wink wink nudge nudge makes so much more sense now... My teacher laughed a lot when I told her what I'd done (inadvertently, I promise!!) to poor Nikki. Funny. The Basilica was quite the thing. Three or four floors of stairs, then three sets of ladders, and then finally you could go out on the parapets where there were no safety railings to speak of, for the best views in town. Yikes. I felt pretty okay about it until I touched a piece of the church for support and found it coming away in my hand... Oy. A fun day though!
The weekend was filled with a trip to Otavalo, the largest craft market on the continent. I believe! Wow. It was huge and entirely portable. The indigenous people carry these unbelievably vast loads on their backs -- easily three of me -- and put all their wares up for just the one day. Even the people who put up stalls on Sunday as well took them down for the night. So much work. But the stuff was quite beautiful. Carpets and sweaters and wood carvings and food and veg and clothing of all kinds, including the traditional clothes that the indigenous people wear. I don´t have any pictures of the people because for the most part, especially the older people, they believe that photos take away their spirits. I certainly don´t need to be creating anxiety that way!
On Sunday Nikki, Evelyn and I went on a local bus to a pretty little well-visited waterfall and also to Cotacachi, the local place to go for leather. Perhaps if my trip was almost over I'd have bought some stuff there, but as it was leather doesn´t roll that well... And it is heavy to boot. Coming back on the bus was pretty easy, which is encouraging for me when I think of how to get going on the next part of my trip, all on my lonesome... Fingers crossed I end up more or less where I think I´m going...
More pics later, but people are waiting for the free computers at SAE and getting cranky!
Comments
Stay away from any "randy but fruity" drinks -- if you can help it!