Both carrying a small and a big backpack we left our apartment in Montréal on Thursday the 23rd of September. Approximately 15 hours later we arrived save and sound in Quito, Ecuador’s capital. This would be our home for the coming 8 days. The first three days we visited Quito and its surroundings, the last 5 days we spent in a Spanish school in the colonial, historical part of Quito combined with a home stay.
Friday the 24th of September 2010
On our first day in Quito we explored the city. In the colonial as well as in the touristic part of the new part of the city, everything appears to be within walking distance. To travel from one (the old) to the other (the new) part of town the cheapest solution is to take the overfull Troleybus. The colonial part of the town clearly was our favourite. Life seems to be very quiet in this area and everywhere you can find small “tiendas” (shops) and restaurants where you walk in and out as you please. This part of town is filled with churches and buildings that date from the times the Spanish settled in Quito. A beautiful example is the Presidential palace that we visited in the afternoon. Visits to the palace are free of charge, one of Rafael Correa’s initiatives in his vision of “Ecaudor ya es de todo” (Ecaudor now belongs to everyone). This slogan was printed on the free picture of us in the Palace that we were offered by the president. Later we encountered it throughout Quito and Ecuador.
Saturday the 25th of September 2010
A 2 hours bus ride from Quito liess the little town of Otavala that is known for its indigenous community that fills the town in their traditional outfit and for the craft market. I couldn’t resist buying a typical Ecuadorian panama-hat. It was our first real experience with the bargaining that is common in this part of the world. We are still trying to get used to it.
I particularly enjoyed our lunch. At a small table in the middle of the market place we sat together with an indigenous couple and savoured the pieces of pork that were freshly cut off a pig roasted as a whole and that was lying right next to us.
Sunday the 26th of September 2010
On Sunday we embarked on one of the most touristic trips you can make from Quito, we set sail for Mitad del Mundo. Mitad del Mundo is something of a touristic complex that is supposedly located exactly on the equatorial line. In fact the equator lies a little bit north from where all the pictures with one foot in the northern hemisphere, one foot in the southern hemisphere are taken. Visiting the place on Sunday means that you can enjoy local, indigenous dance performances, making the whole thing even more touristic.
From within Mitad del mundo we decided to make a small excursion to the nearby Pululahua crater. In this crater lives a community of about 150 souls from crops they grow on the fertile land. We arrived at the edge of the crater at around 14h45, just in time to catch a glimpse of what can be found in the crater. 15 minutes later, the clouds set in and the bottom of the crater remained hidden for us. Although an occasional brise opened the cloud cover and exposed the farmlands below. Our guide, Frederico, turned the trip in somewhat of a spiritual experience as well by telling us about (and performing some of) the rituals of “his” indigenous community. Very enthusiastically, he talked about purifying rituals performed by the ‘Shaman’ at the latest solstice (a few days ago) where the Shaman apparently had drunk a very spicy, very alcoholic drink through his nose. You could clearly feel that Frederico still was impressed by the performance of the Shaman and the influence it had had on him. Before leaving our marvellous viewpoint at the edge of the crater, he further thanked Mother Nature by playing a little tune on his miniature flute: a pretty special experience. Back in Mitad del Mundo we briefly met the 85 year old Shaman our guide just talked to us about.
Monday the 27th of September 2010 – until Friday the 1st of October 2010
The first full week in Quito we devoted ourselves to the Spanish language. Every day we followed 6 hours of Spanish (4 hours in the morning, 2 hours in the afternoon). For lunch and dinner we returned to the local family we stayed with and the Spanish lessons continued in a more informal way (although the real lessons were rather informal as well). We visited a few schools before deciding to go for the Quito Antigua Spanish school, because our teacher and the director of this school, Freddy, made the best impression on us. It turned out to be a good choice. In one week we studied the basic grammar of South American (!) Spanish and built up the necessary vocabulary to make ourselves understandable and understand (if they don't speak too fast, which they normally do) the locals.
The nice thing about the school was that everything happened in an informal and enjoyable atmosphere. We learned a lot about the Ecuadorian culture and kitchen as well. For this part, our teacher was assisted by his good friend Johny that always accompanied us for our outings to the indigenous fruit and vegetable markets. They took us to places where tourists normally do not show and where Ecuadorians buy their fruit, veggies and meat (including the popular guinea pigs – sold alive). Cats and dogs (2$ - not intended for consumption, I think…) are sold alongside the geese, and other poultry.
On one occasion we returned from the market to a small apartment owned by Freddy to cook a local dish. In fact, Johny did most of the cooking and we enjoyed the result. Later that week, Johny attracted the flu. He claims it happened on the day we cooked, he had spent too much time with his head in the fridge he said…
Not only did we enjoy the Spanish course, also the family stay was an interesting experience. We stayed with Rina and her 30 year old son, Malik, in a house in the colonial part of the city at a few minutes walking from our school. Rina and Malik now and then referred to themselves as being “un poco loco” (a little bit crazy) and we both agreed. Breakfast, lunch and dinner looked (and tasted) like a Christmas meal every time again. We assisted our hosts in cooking as much as we could, which made us feel part of the family for the time we stayed there. It was nice being able to return to a place we “knew” every evening. We had our own bedroom, living room and bathroom in the house that was colourfully decorated with paintings by our host.
You might have heard about the attempted coup on Thursday of the week we were in Quito. Part of the national police was not very happy with planned cuts in the budget for the police force. The police went on strike, which cause chaos in part of the city. When President Correa tried to talk to the striking police force he was more or less kidnapped and held in the police hospital in the north of the city. Later that day, the military that always kept supporting the president, liberated him from the hospital in a pretty spectacular action that could be followed live on TV. All that time we found ourselves safely in the old part of the city were people were gathering on Plaza Grande in front of the presidential palace to support their president. We joined the “celebrations” when the president was still in the hospital and later just after his speech from the balcony of the presidential palace. In short, for us this was a great experience, we felt part of history and yet we never felt insecure or in danger, despite the stuff that was going on in the north. Because we felt that the (international) press only broadcasted the 'action' that was going on in the north of town (and made it all look more dangerous and spectacular than it was for us), we decided to write a little article with our perspective on the whole thing and sent it to the Belgian newspapers. Our article was published on the website of Mo* Magazine, you can check it out here, although it is in Dutch...
One day later, the crisis was all over and live returned to normal. Our Spanish teacher predicted this by the way. He ensured us on Thursday already that there was no crisis as long as the military is supporting the president. To him this was just a small uprising of some guys that are not happy with a law that is about to be voted and approved. These things are normal in South America. People are much more passionate about everything here, he said.
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