Excitement in Ecuador!

Hey, everyone! I’ve been pretty busy the past few days, but with fun things so it’s okay. So, I think Quito feels so much bigger than Chicago because I can SEE everything. Chicago is pretty flat and since I can’t see it all at once from the ground, it's not overwhelming. But I can see all of Quito, all the time. It seems like it never ends.

And Quito has a really high population density. I looked it up: Quito has the 75^th densest population in the world, with 3,150 people per square km. That’s denser than any city in the US (Los Angeles ranks 90^th with 2,750 people per square km). Mumbai, India won by a lot: 29,650 per square km. I would never, ever want to live there.

Regardless of this city being much larger than I was expecting, I’m having a great time. Friday we went to Old Town and visited some cathedrals. The one where we spent the most time, Basílica de la Merced (Mercy), was beautiful and we were allowed to go up on the roof. It seemed pretty dangerous… there were no handrails or anything, just a few steps here and there to help us. They would never have allowed a tour like than in the US. Our tour guide let us climb on top of domes and four levels of rickety wooden ladders in the bell tower. It was really pretty though, but the batteries in my camera were dead so I don’t have any photos. Afterward, we went to two other churches and then IES took us out to eat at this fancy- schmancy restaurant overlooking the city for our Welcome dinner.

Saturday after classes (yes, we had class on Saturday) I went to el Mercado Artesanal, or an outdoor market with some really neat Indigenous goods (Lady Gaga was playing) and that night the whole group went out to La Mariscal party district or “Gringolandia” for a friend’s birthday. It was fun; we went dancing. But it definitely got a little sketchy as the night went on, so we left and went somewhere a bit quieter.

Sunday, we went to la Mitad del Mundo, which has a cool monument on the equator and a little town square where there are concerts and “bailes tradicionales” every Sunday. The bus trip only cost 40 cents for a hour long ride. Que ganga! We had lunch there and I tried “Chocolate Quiteño” which is hot chocolate with melted cheese at the bottom of the mug. It wasn’t bad, per say, but I don’t think cheese and chocolate were destined for each other.

Today was our first day of orientation for la Universidad Católica. I thought I was going to have to take a placement exam so I studied last night when I came home from Mitad del Mundo. It turns out that the “practice” exam was actually round one of a series of possible opportunities to pass the exam. Most of us did well enough to not have to take it again. And we had class on Saturday just to prepare for it! But anyway, while they were administering the exam, we got to roam the city (for four hours!). We had a lot of time to kill so my group had some juice and chilled out in Plaza Foch.

On to the good stuff: FACTOIDS!

· Donald Trump came to Quito and decided that the concrete buildings on the mountainsides were boring so he gave everyone colored paint to paint their houses. Except he didn’t do a very good job of distributing the different colors; each neighborhood shared a color. And now, there are splotches of pink, green, and yellow houses on Quito’s mountainsides.

· “Cuy” is a specialty here, often found roasting over an open fire. “Cuy” is Guinea pig.

· Make two fists. Then put them together. And now imagine a giant pincer coming out of them. That is the size of many different varieties of beetles which can be found in the Amazon. Thank you “insectarium,” for freaking me out.

Okay, Chao! Off to la Ronda for some carnelazo.