Cotacachi y Cuicocha

Fellow volunteers and I took the bus from the north bus station in Quito to Cotacachi, a town about 5 miles northwest of Otovalo (which I still need to go to for some hiking and the market there).  That weekend, there was a festival with all of the indigenous groups in the area called Inti Raymi in Kichwa (it means "sun festival") and also commemorates San Juan, San Pedro, and San Pablo.  We went to the town to see what it was all about. On the first day, the men start dancing around 9:00am or 10:00am and dance until about 7:00pm at night.  The dancers wear these leather chaps that have sheep or alpaca furn the outside.  they also have these giant black hats that are made out of a hard material and have symbols on...

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Posted in: 2L,Cotacachi,Cuicocha,Ecuador,English,Festival,Inti Raymi,J-Mad,Kichwa,Lake,Otovalo

First Two Weeks in Quito

For my very first weekend in Quito, I managed to fill it with a lot of interesting, random things.  On Thursday night (June 13), I went with some students from my undergraduate university to Calle de la Ronda for a chill time.  We tried a famous Ecuadorian drink called canelazo, which is a hot alcoholic drink made with wine, cinnamon, and fruit.  We tried the mora kind (raspberry).  It wasn't bad, but was pretty thick and a bit syrupy (pretty sweet too) so we had to get some empanadas to go with it.  We wandered to another restaurant down the street and tried some chocolate de Ambato (Ambato is a city in Ecuador) and the hot chocolate was really good.   However, even though La Ronda was bustling with people...

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Posted in: 2L,Basilica Voto Nacional,Basketball,Centro Historico,Dia del Refugiado Mundial,Ecuador,El Panecillo,English,J-Mad,Nightlife,Plaza de San Francisco,Quito,Refugee,Santo Domingo,World Refugee Day

First Day Out and About en Quito

Condor y Toro After hunting down where exactly my internship building location is, I walked up this hill to the Fundación Guayasamin.  It is a museum in the house of a famous Ecuadorian artist, Oswaldo Guayasamin, with a connected building housing more of his art.  The painting above is called Condor y Toro, and it represents the tension between the Spanish and indigenous Ecuadorian cultures.  It is a gigantic piece, and was my favorite of the visit to the museum. [casa de Guayasamin] The house, built in 1977, is absolutely beautiful and $3 gets you a guided tour of everything, including the little bonus of sneaking into the library (which apparently is not part of the tour but could be tossed in if you asked nicely)....

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Posted in: 2L,Ecuador,English,Guayasamin,J-Mad,Mindalae,Museum,Quito

Flying In and Day One

I've been fly so long I fell asleep on the --- plane. The lyric by Weezy (aka Lil Wayne) is accurate.  Despite my best efforts to stay awake, I fell asleep on both the flight to Atlanta and to Quito, which was probably for the better to avoid motion sickness.  De verdad, the flight was not bad at all.  Only about 5 hours in the air from ATL to UIO.  And the weezy part is also kind of accurate given that Quito is about 9,300 feet above sea level.  The good news is that aside from being a bit tired with a mild headache in the afternoon, so far so good with the altitude. Aside from flying in yesterday and taking it easy today just running a few errands, it's been chill so far.  A couple first impressions: The...

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Posted in: 2L,Ecuador,English,Fútbol,J-Mad,Quito

Going to Ecuador!

By this time tomorrow, I will have already landed in Quito and hopefully be home to my new residence for the next few months.  Quito was the first city to be named a UNESCO world heritage site and I am looking forward to seeing how blue the skies are 9,000 feet above sea level.  I'll have one week of relaxation (and mostly adjusting to the altitude) before starting my internship.  Will update soon! Look at those skies.  Beautiful at any time of the day or night. ...

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Posted in: 2L,Ecuador,English,J-Mad,Law School,Quito