Me and my roommate Ross had an interesting time finding the part of the hotel where breakfast was served. He thought it was near the lobby, I thought I had heard someone say the seventh floor. We didn't find any food in the lobby, but we did get to practice our Spanish with the concierge by asking, "Dondé está el lugar de desayuno?" He replied in English, "7th floor"
After breakfast we all piled into the bus for an hour drive just past the city limits to the outdoor museum celebrating indigenous culture/history and also it has the line that demarcates the global middle of the world, the actual equator. At the museum the tour guide told us about the ancient peoples of Ecuador and also had us do a variety of activities, like showing how water would drain differently north and south of the equator due to the Coriolis effect. I learned that when water drains directly on the equator, the water does not spin at all, it simply falls straight down, who knew? There was also a challenge to try to balance an egg on the head of a nail directly on the equator. Your balance is increased by putting one foot on each side of the equator that way you are pulled equally in both directions, or something like that. Anyway, the point is, after two tries, I managed to do it successfully! Each of us who managed to do it got a certificate for our accomplishment.
Sarah and I trying our best to balance eggs, it was hard!
After the equator we headed to the center of Quito for lunch at the mall. Lunch was tasty and we got another opportunity to practice our Spanish by ordering, but we ended up making a mistake somehow and ordered a bit more than we intended to. On the plus side Inca Cola is delicious, it tastes a bit like cream soda.
Our next stop was the La Basilica del Voto Nacional where our walking tour of Quito began. The Basilica is a mammoth cathedral that celebrates the right to vote in Quito. There are a myriad of gargoyles that festoon the ramparts of the cathedral. Each gargoyle is a different animal from the different regions of Ecuador; there were panthers, iguanas, large birds, turtles, sloths, you name it! On the tour we saw the plaza central which houses a large green space surrounded by the local government, the national legislature and the president's palace. On the steps of the capital building there were a group of protestors, but we were a bit confused as to what they were protesting.
The Guards outside of the President's Palace
After a stop at a giant statue of St. Mary with wings we returned to Hotel Quito to rest. Except we didn't rest: a few of us went down to workout and I swam a few laps. It was really only a few because I got pretty winded, I think from the altitude.
(The giant statue of St. Mary)
That night we ate a restaurant called Hunter's. I had Locro de Queso, which is a potato and cheese based soup with half an avocado in it, and also 3 empanadas that were super tasty!
edit:pictures added =p
No comments:
Post a Comment