Cómo se, Dalai, Kendrick, y Tina
- Abby
- Jan 18, 2022
- 3 min read
If it wasn't readily apparent to you, these are the names of llamas.
Cómo se Llama, Dalai Llama, Kendrick Llamar, and of course, Tina.
Pictures from my first three days, and one of my first llamas, in Ecuador.
1/12/22 - 1/14/22
Drama Llamas
I touched ground in Ecuador shortly after midnight on January 12th. Nine short hours later, I found myself on a meadowy hillside, back in the northern hemisphere, thousands of feet closer to the sun, and surrounded by llamas of a wide range of tempers. This was at a site known as El Refugio just outside of the boundaries of Quito. Here is where we spent our first day of orientation with an outdoor climbing wall, high ropes courses, and shared our first almuerzo (lunch) together. Unfortunately at this almuerzo, I learned that a majority of Ecuadorian dishes do contain cilantro (which is the devil's lettuce in my opinion), but I'm learning how to get used to the taste. We ended the day off with a cozy, familiar tradition by sitting around a bonfire (as we ate guinea pig).
Podría tener un cono simple de café, por favor
Although I said I won't be posting in Spanish, for both my sake and yours, I cannot overemphasize the importance of this phrase. This is how one would successfully order the most delightful scoop of $2 coffee gelato should they find themselves at a gelato shop in Ecuador that is only a block away from their apartment. The proximity and bargain prices of this gelato shop, La Frutería, and La Panadería to our apartment make me quite nervous for my health throughout the remainder of the semester. Outside of all of the delightful food and prices I was made aware of, there were quite a few new realities of living here that were made apparent to me:
Pedestrians yield to cars and drivers honk all of the time. Taxis honk every time they pass walkers to indicate their cab is empty and that they're free to give you a ride.
One does NOT flush TP at the majority of places in Ecuador because the pipes are typically too small for the paper product. There are simply garbages next to every toilet.
It is law to wear your face mask whenever you leave your residence which includes walking/running outside and this mandate so far appears to be strictly followed by everyone.
Petty crime is a serious consideration to make when moving throughout the city (as it is in any big city), but it makes bringing my phone out to take pictures a more careful consideration than it would normally be. Otherwise, people in everyday life are incredibly friendly, and Ecuadorian culture seemingly values relationships much more than North American culture.
Fruits and veggies that you eat the skin of must be soaked in Kilol prior to eating.
We have a roof on top of our apartment that it so beautiful it would bring you to tears, and I will likely be visiting the roof every morning/night that I'm here.
Hand down, definitely NOT up
At this point in time, I have no reason to believe that the city of Quito ever ends (in the North/South direction), and I have yet to see the top of Pichincha (the volcano right behind our house) so I have no reason to believe that the volcano has a peak either. On the other hand, I now understand that the public transportation system is extremely busy and hailing a taxi is more enjoyable than it should be. As part of a scavenger hunt familiarizing ourselves with the city, we took the trolley, the public bus system, and took multiple taxis. When hailing a taxi, it is useful to know that your hand should be down, NOT up, when waving because an upwards facing hand can be suggestive... 'nuff said. Navigating throughout the city and being amongst crowds of people was the first time it really felt like I was actually in Quito, and I was able to seriously converse in Spanish. My Spanish definitely needs work, but I love the culture I've so far encountered here and the few parts of Quito I've experienced.
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