Ecuador

Bienvenidos CHS estudiantes de español! [[image:chs-espanol:mapa_de_ecuador.png width="287" height="202" align="right" caption="mapa_de_ecuador.png"]]
What do I do??? Read the daily entries that I make and answer the questions on your worksheet based upon what I tell you about my trip. The picture I have put on here is the Volcano Cotopaxi. === Day 1: Hola estudiantes! Como estan? Well, my flight to Ecuador was just fine. It was a little bumpy at times but we made it. The first thing you see when you get off the plane is a sign telling you to walk slowly.... remember that Quito is the second hightest city in the world, at over 9000 feet high the air is thinner and you will get tired and dizzy if you try to move too fast. We went through immigration and customs very easy and our driver was waiting for us at the entrance of the airport. His name was Miguel. We are using a company that provides a driver in their car instead of renting a car and getting lost in the big city of Quito, the capital of Ecuador. Much like other countries, there are signs and buildings that are very different from ours and then you see a TGIFriday's. Quito has all the restaurants that we have in the US. I saw a lot of KFC, hopefully it is chicken and not the guinea pig that we talked about. :) The most wonderful thing I saw the night we arrived was on the way to our hotel, there is an amazingly beautiful cathedral that is huge and just as impressive as any of the famous cathedrals in Europe. It is called the Basilica del Voto. Our hotel is very nice, it is called Hotel El Relicario, a renovated home from 1705. When we were checking in a man brought us two small glasses of a juice, it was very good, and it turns out it is a fruit called babaco, native to Ecuador. It is similar to a Papaya. Talk to you tomorrow!

Day 2: Buenos tardes clase! What a day I have had! We slept very well and went to breakfast around 7 am. El desayuno fue pan, mantequilla, dos huevos fritos, cafe con leche. (everyone of you should know what this is:) Then we walked around the plaza just a couple of blocks from our hotel. Then we returned and a new driver picked us up, his name is Enrique and he will be our driver the rest of the trip. We headed for Parque Nacional Cotopaxi, to see the Cotopaxi volcano, the largest active volcano in the world. Before the park rangers would let us in they told us we had to hire a guide to ride with us. And the entrance fee for a person from Ecuador is $2 but if you are a foreigner it is $10! So now we have a new passenger in the van, Carlos. We went from about 9000 feet to almost 15000 feet high. The road we traveled was like a dirt road, except instead of dirt is is volcano ash. It was a very bumpy and sometimes scary ride. On the way Carlos showed us a lot of plants that the indians still use today for medicinal purposes. He also showed us a plant that when you rub the leaves your hands smell just like chocolate! Once we were there close to the base of Cotopaxi, I walked about 10 feet from the van and was very dizzy because we were so high up, so I got back in the van before I passed out! We saw the volcano and then on the way back down ate at a restaurant with a perfect view of the volcano. I ate sopa de papas, ensalada, pollo, y pan dulce. Now we are back at the hotel waiting to eat a traditional Ecuadorian dinner. I am a little nervous. Be sure to check in tomorrow to find out what the food was like. Adios! Day 3: Buenos Dias estudiantes! I hope that you all are having a great long weekend. What an adventurous day 3 has been. Before I begin I want to make a correction, for day two we were going to visit a city names Latacunga which was on the way back from Cotopaxi, but we did not visit it, so you can disregard question 2 e. Also, the traditional Ecuadorian meal was very good, it was beef strips in a sauce and llapingaches, with flan and fruit for postre. Well, day 3 began when we headed for Otavalo. It was about a 1 1/2 hours driving on a very pretty mountain road. If you remember from class, Otavalo is an town of indigenous people who have created the largest food and craft market in South America. The people of this area have maintained a lot of the clothing style and culture from hundreds of years ago. So you see a lot of indians walking around in their traditional clothing and carrying large bundles of whatever on their backs, it all looks like they are in costume but this is really how they live. The market was awsome becuase I love to shop. We were warned that things would be expensive there since it was such a tourist attraction but to me it was not expensive at all. The main things they sell are alpaca sweaters(wool from an animal similar to a llama), a lot of tablecloths in very bright colors. I bought a lot of embroidered hand towels and an embroidered table cloth for $9, a t-shirt for $4, a cloth purse for $5, a long knitted thing to hang on our wall in class for $7, a hat for my mom because the sun was so bright, and many other things. As for the bargaining I did ok. For example, on the hand towels the price for each one started at $5. I asked what discount she would give me she said $4, then I told her I can go to another stall and buy one for $3, so she sold it to me for $3. But our guide, Enrique, did the best negotiating. My table cloth started at $15, and I ended up buying it for $9. After the market, we went to a real Hacienda from the early 1700's, and ate lunch there. I ate empanadas de queso, and llapingaches.My mother was brave and tried the ceviche, many of you talked about those foods in your presentations. I was very full and then we walked around the hacienda. A couple of interesting things for the rest of the day, on our way back we were stuck on the mountain road because a small landslide occured and we had to wait for the truck to come remove all the dirt, my Mom and I were curious so we got out of the car and walked all the way down the hill to see, sure enough, they were finishing up and the traffic began moving. We had to run up the hill to get back to the car. Then once we were back in Quito, on the side of the road was a man dressed and painted all in silver walking around like a robot entertaining the people in traffic. That evening my mom and I went to see the Basilica I talked about above. When we walked in there was a real quinceanera ceremony going on. I used the ultra zoom on my camera to try and get a picture for you all. After the ceremony they set off fireworks and a mariachi band played. So there ends my day. Chao! Day 4: Hola alumnos! Que tal? Today I was in the city of Quito all day. I went to the Museo Banco Central, an art museum of all the art from the time of the Inca all the way up to modern art of today. Then outside the museum there was a small concert of music from the andes, most of you I have let you hear a little of the music with the flute and charango guitar. From there we went to Museo Guayasamin. A few people did their presentation on him. He is a famous Ecuadorian painter who painted about the mistreatment and the suffering of the Indians in Ecuador. I loved the paintings and the museum, but the paintings are very sad. The museum is located very high up and you can see all of the city. From there we went on to Mitad del Mundo. Remember that Ecuador lies directly on the equator. There is a monument and a museum about the equator and all the indians that lived in that area. I stood with one foot in thenorthern hemisphere and one in the southern hemisphere, I was a 00 degrees longitude and lattitude. I also found out that you weigh a little less on the equator line, :). By this time is was close to evening, we went to a grocery store to see what things they sell, and I bought all my students a treat. Of all the areas we were in, we were in the historic district of Quito, the northern part of the city and then in the northeastern part of the city. Today is Sunday so traffic was not really bad, although it was very crowded at the supermarket, like our Wal-mart on Christmas eve. I have found the people of Ecuador to be very friendly. People are happy to help you and always wish you a good day. The people int he city are different than in Otavalo in that there are many people in suits and are hustling-bustling. Many people on cell phones, and they dress very similar to what we are used to in the U.S. As for dinner, it began storming in the evening and we did not want to go walking out in the rain, so we ate at the hotel and had a very good ravioli meal with chocolate cake and ice cream. Well, I have to run now, my trip is almost over and I can tell you that Ecuador is truly a beautiful country and I have only seen a small part of it. Hasta manana! Day 5: On our last day in Ecuador, we traveled to Mindo. Our plan was to go see all the animals and plants there, such as butterflies, hummingbirds and exotic orchids. The drive was about 2 1/2 hours and was like nothing I had ever seen. We were entering an area similar to a sub-tropical geography. Mountains and hills, one after another was covered in trees and plants. It was like blanket of plants. What I had never seen before was being high up the mountains and seeing palm trees. As if that were not beautiful enough, we saw waterfalls and wild orchids growing everywhere. When we arrived to the first place it was a small area that had a large amount of hummingbirds. There were at least 20 quicly darting around. They are so fast that I could not even get a picture. Next we went down the road to another little area that had many different orchids. Some were so tiny you had to use a manifying glass to see the flower. There were many other exotic flowers as well. The last place we went to was like a little farm for butterflies. There were butterflies as big as my hand stretched out. I saw at least 8 or 9 different colors of butterflies. They were beautiful. Unfortunately our trip was coming to an end. We had to make the long drive back so that we could get to the airport on time. Certainly my favorite part of the trip was seeing how the people lived, especially the Indians, because it is quite different and they are such proud and strong people. My favorite place to go was the Guayasamin Museum because his paintings were very interesting to me. My least favorite thing was probably the pollution in the city. A lot of the cars and buses had fumes that smelled so bad it burned my nose. All in all I think Ecuador is a wonderful country. It is beautiful, the people were very friendly and we had a great time.