Guanabana?!

These past two days have been CRAZY!! :O

After getting in to Quito late Monday night, our group was up pretty early for orientation and then our trip to Otavalo on Tuesday.  I already love the group-- everyone is really chill and has something different to bring to the group--crazy personalities, different backgrounds.... we've got people from all over the states.  Our coordinators have also been great so far-- really helpful with everything and really welcoming us into the country.

I am so thankful that God's been working in this trip already.  On my flight to Miami, I sat next to a senior from W&M that I hadn't ever met before (she asked me about my W&M sweatshirt!), and on the flight over, I sat by a girl from my group that I hadn't meet before (I overheard her saying she was studying abroad and I asked if she was with CEDEI-- the school where we'll be taking classes in Cuenca!).  Everything was smooth settling in to Hotel Quito as well.  I also had a really great conversation about faith with two other students on the trip last night at dinner.

Otavalo was amazing. The indigenous people who live there are known for their textiles and weaving and are a very successful group because of it.  It was crazy getting to see some of the women weaving at the market.  Haggling is part of the culture and it was a little hard at first (I have trouble saying no...) but was fun once I did it a few times.

We also visited two workshops-- a textile one and a music one.  In the textile shop, the guide explained how weaving has been a part of their family's tradition for generations and we got to see how his dad wove some of their things.  Later, we went to an Andean music workshop and saw a family perform using indigenous instruments --like the pan flute.


We went to the equator today!  We went to a very touristy site but it was fun anyways and our guide told us a lot about indigenous rituals (like head shrinking!) and beliefs-- the Andean cosmovision has earth as a central part of it -- the Pacha Mama is Mother Earth.

Later today we went to La capilla del hombre-- the site of Guayasamin's paintings.  He is very famous for his expression of the indigenous struggle through art, and his stuff reminds me of Picasso.  Goya and Picasso (I think) were his idols and he was friends with Neruda, as well.

The last thing for the day was the tour of Quito-- the centro historico.  This city is FREAKIN' HUGE.. Like.. it doesn't end.  There was so much colonial architecture and lots of Catholic churches due to the Spanish influence, but also lots of other sites, like the monument of independence from Spain.

Tomorrow we're off to the jungle (ahh!?!).  We'll be staying at an eco-lodge at the edge of the Amazon along the Rio Napo.


Talk to you all soon! 
  

P.S. Fruit here is off the chain. I've tried 3 new ones in the past 2 days: guanabana, taxo, and chirimoya. Exotic and wonderful. :)