Thanks again to all of those who followed along with our South America travel blog (or at least browsed the photos). We loved your emails and comments, and it was nice to know that we had some faithful readers in addition to our moms (hi Moms!). We'll do our best to keep things entertaining even as we return to the banality of working for the weekend.
This is Quito (photo credit, Ari McKenna 2010)
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Check out our neighborhood. Zoom in or out for perspective.
Fun facts: Ecuador packs 31 active volcanoes into an area the size of Oregon (which only has 4). Quito, the highland capital, is located at 9200 feet, covering a long skinny valley approximately 70km long but only 5km wide. Quiteños total 1.6 million, and although the city looks bigger than that, everyone does seem to know each other. Quito is a mere 30km south of zero degrees latitude, so the sun visits us from 6am to 6pm year round. And although the average daily high is 68 degrees every month of the year, you can never quite predict the weather.
Our first weekend in country was pretty good... but things got more complicated
A cloudy hike up Fuya Fuya, Lagunas de Mojanda, Imbabura, Ecuador
Volcán Cotacachi, one of Ecuador's 44 picturesque volcanoes (standby for photos of the other 43)
Our first 6 weeks in Ecuador were a blur, but we should be able to keep in touch a bit better now that we (finally) have home internet. We were swiftly introduced to the idea that such things don’t happen swiftly in Ecuador. They said ocho días. We're pretty sure that’s code for: definitely more than a week, possibly never. But after many phone calls and three missed appointments, the técnicos finally came through.
And now we're planning to move.
Unfortunately, our apartment has been nothing but trouble since we moved in. We did manage to get the worst of our plumbing problems fixed and there is no longer a quarter inch of water on the kitchen floor. But there is nothing we can do about our super-spaz landlady or the faulty wiring.
We’re trying to adjust to our living space for now, while browsing the real estate ads for something a bit larger, with better light, less noise, and if we’re lucky, more than one electrical outlet per room. Our lights dim every time the fridge kicks on.
Our first home-cooked meal
We’ve been told that everyone’s first few months in Quito (or anywhere, I guess) are tough, and August proved to be just that. So we’re doing our best to celebrate small victories in the midst of constant frustration. We have a delicious new Japanese restaurant in our neighborhood… we improved our bathroom with a new showerhead… organic produce is affordable here… we spent a sunny day in the park with new friends and got invited for a pick-up soccer game with the locals… (and managed not to vomit from the altitude).
View of Volcán Pichincha outside D's classroom
Devin has been busy attending agenda-less meetings and relearning his algebra 2, but things should get more interesting and hopefully more fun now that the school year is underway. You know how he loves to put on a sassy tie and talk integrals to a captive audience. Meanwhile, Oriana has been busy calling the plumber, translating her resume, and networking with professionals in health, development, and ecotourism. She's got some consulting jobs in the works, but can't really imagine a 40-hour week after so much time off.
D-man gears up for back to school night. That's right trigonometry fans, the compound angle derivation for sine is on the board for your viewing pleasure.
We've met a lot of gringos doing interesting work here in Quito, but it's been a challenge to find the authenticity of Ecuador outside the expat bubble we've landed in. Weekends in the mountains remind us where we are, so we bought a used car to help us explore Ecuador. Everything is pretty expensive by American standards, but we found a good deal at the Feria de Autos, an overwhelming flea market of used cars. We crossed our fingers it wasn't a lemon, not to be deterred by the owner’s lack of front teeth. Which, it turns out, were knocked out by a bull he taunted (!!!). 3 notaries and 4 hours later the jeepcito was officially ours. Getting the registration transferred, however, took an additional two weeks.
Our Chevy Vitara: the Honda Civic of Ecuador
Gorgeous morning near Otavalo
Last weekend we went rafting on the Mira River, a class III-IV adrenaline rush three hours nothwest of Quito. The definite highlight was seeing the Jesus Lizards run across the water (check them out on video).
The lowlight was getting eaten alive by hungry sand flies as we waited an hour for someone to hunt down our lost bus driver. Muchas gracias to Greta Gibson for this investment in our travel registry. It took us a while to cash it in, but was a fantastic way to spend a day out of the city.
Gearing up for the ride with amigos Ari and Natalie. Still waiting on the action shots from our sports photographer/safety kayaker.
In other news, Devin’s summer baking hobby is leading toward a bread empire in Ecuador.
We’ve got his co-workers and our Spanish teacher hooked on whole wheat; bagels are the next enterprise. High altitude makes the dough rise nicely, but forget about bean burritos at 9,000 feet unless you’ve got a pressure cooker. Water boils at a mere 90-deg Celsius, so even though we stewed our pintos for 3 days they were still underdone. And that’s when you miss Tacos Moreno so much you might cry.
