energy fast in Ecuador...

I had intended to post again this past Friday but alas, just as I was about to sit down, the hydro (American translation: power) went out. So here I am with too many things to share - I´ll pick a few highlights.

Jacchigua: National Folkloric Ballet

On Wednesday night I had a spontaneous opportunity to go to la Casa de la Cultura de Ecuador (basically the National Theatre) for a show by the national dance troupe. I´m not totally clear on its significance but basically the central theme is demonstrating folk dance traditions from various indigenous communities in Ecuador, mixed with some ballet and accompanied by a wonderful Ecuadorian band. Wednesday was a special night because the director of the dance company was being honoured with a special award (no idea what it was, but I can tell you it was shiny). It was a wonderful night and I´m thankful that I overheard some students at the school talking about going and was gutsy enough to invite myself along. So myself, 2 Lithuaians (who went to Lithuana Christian College - started by Canadian Mennonite types) and 2 Australians found ourselves completely underdressed for a phenomenal night that included traditional dress from all over the country. We even had the chance to dip out hands in paint and contribute to an art piece that was a part of the celebration.

La Cuidad Antigua

Thursday night was my school´s night to take us on a night tour of the old town of Quito. Muy bonita. We started at the statue of Virgin Mary that stands on a hill over the city, wandered a few of the streets of the old town, drank a traditional drink that is something like a mulled cider - canelazo, were introduced to some of the central landmarks - all with some excellent guiding info from one of the teachers, Luis. I´m looking forward to having some more time this week to explore the old town in the daylight. The area has 26 churches....I don´t think I´ll try to get to them all but I definitely want to check out a lot of them.

Camping in Pasochoa

This weekend I went on a camping trip to a local volcano (this one is inactive) called Pasochoa. Saturday was devoted to a light day of hiking and exploring at a park that included a phenomenal waterfall. (I´m sorry I haven´t gotten to a cafe to upload photos....I´ll try to get to that this week). Many Ecuadorians go swimming at the falls- in their full normal clothing. Our teacher, Carlos, wanted us all to join him but only got a few takers. I went with the compromise and went wading up to my knees - frigid! After the falls, we headed over to our campsite at the base of Pasochoa. Quito is situated at 2,900 metres above sea level, and the top of Pasochoa at 4200 m. The plan was to hike to the top today - about 5 hours of hiking, minimum. Unfortunately, the day was extremely cloudy and on and off raining and sunny. Thankfully, the rain was quite light and didn´t result in a drenching. The hike was beautiful but the views were extremely limited. We couldn´t see the peak of Pasochoa at all so I ended up 'only' climbing about 2-thirds of the way up. I just couldn´t see the point of all that pain for no view. Most of our group went all the way so I enjoyed a very slow descent stopping for lots of steeping in my surroundings and taking photos. It was of course, perfectly clear as we drove away from the park so I have a lovely photo of the peak from the road.

Our campsite was great and the highlight for sure were the 2 llamas that shared the space with us. The downside for me was that I was the only English speaker in our group of 11. The rest were all from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, a number of whom already knew each other well. So I listened to a lot of German and felt pretty left out anytime we were together as a group. That was a little disappointing and quite frankly, not a lot of fun much of the time. But all in all, the hiking was well worth the trip and a few of the students I got to talk with one on one were lovely and I look forward to getting to know them better over the coming weeks.

I´m sure I will post again soon and what I´m most looking forward to this coming week is a Wednesday trip to a football game! Ecuador vs. Argentina!

peace to all.