Big City Life in Quito

The indigenous population here is upset over Ecuador's likely agreement with the United State's Free Trade Agreement, referred to as the TLC here. This is the main reason for the roadblocks and unstable state of the country. This political situation that has left Ecuador in a ¨state of emergency,¨ had also left my plans in the same state. I had arrived into Quito with the intention of heading north to a national park close by and then to spend tomorrow at the famous Saturday market of Otovalo. Due to road closures, it was impossible for me to make it to the national park, and even if I could make it to Otovalo, it is highly unlikely that there would be a market because all of the vendors are taking place in the protest. Because of this, I had to spend lots of time in Quito, and to my surprise I have enjoyed it!

Yesterday morning I headed out to the Pahuma Orchid Reserve and cloud forest. It was a little over an hour bus ride to the reserve, on one of the only roads left to travel on. The reserve consisted of a number of hiking trails, mostly shorter trails leading to waterfalls. I hiked on the first one for about 30 minutes before arriving at a beautiful waterfall set back in the forest.

After hanging out at the waterfall for a while, I started to hike back when I saw a sign for another trail, with the words ¨sendero de adventura¨ (adventure trail). I decided this was probably something I'd enjoy so I started to make my way up it. I hiked for about 45 minutes on a reasonably adventurous trail until I came to a bunch of trees piled in the middle of this very narrow trail. I made my way around by literally climbing up and over these trees, going from clean to very dirty. I was ok with this at the time, since I was excited to get to the top of the trail. About 10 seconds later the trail turned really sketchy, requiring some rock climbing to continue. At this point I decided since I was by myself it was probably in my best interest to admit defeat and turn around. So I climbed over those dang trees again, getting even more dirty and continued down back to the first trail. I eventually came to another trail which led to a smaller, but just as nice waterfall.

Finally I wandered through the orchid garden trail, which contained many interesting plants, with a concentration on orchids. There was a fly catcher plant which when poked closed up and lots of other cool looking flowers.

Last night I went to the Teatre Sucre in the old town of Quito to see a concert by an indigenous group called Yarina. This group won the Native American music awards in 2005 and is one of the most successful indigenous groups in the world. Not only was the music amazing, but there were dancers in traditional wear which was also wonderful. It was interesting to see the crowds reaction to the group. This was no tourist event, and the Ecuadorians that came to see the show were very enthusiastic about the whole thing. They would scream and dance when the band played a song they knew, and reach out to the lead singer whenever he walked up close to the crowd. I enjoyed the music so much that I went out and bought a CD this afternoon. I think that concert will remain one of my more memorable experiences in Ecuador.

Today I headed out in an effort to see more of the city. In the beginning I wrote Quito off as a big city that I'd rather not spend much time in, but after my experience with the concert, I decided to give it another shot. In the morning I found a bagel place on the other side of town that served up awesome bagels as well as the Miami Herald. After catching up on the news I walked over to the Parque Carolina. The park was much nicer than I expected, with lots of space for all kinds of activities. There was a garden, basketball and volleyball courts, running track and much more. I walked around a bit, watching some soccer games and doing some people watching. After which I lied in the grass and read and napped. There was a large mall close by that I decided to take a look at. The mall was nicer than most malls I have been to in the States, and I decided to make a quick exit before I did any damage to my already minimal bank account. From there I went across town to the Parque Ejido, which contains Quito's largest museum, El Museo Banco Central. I walked throughout the museum's archeological and art exhibits for a few hours. I am not that big of a museum person, but I enjoyed this one.

In the evening I went to a play of the Vagina Monologues, the only catch being that it was of course in spanish. This was so much of a non-tourist thing that the man next to me actually asked if I was Ecuadorian! I thought that was funny, but it was an Ecuadorian event, and I was the only foreigner there. I came across the small theater while I was walking around earlier in the day and decided it would be an interesting experience, which it definitely was. I probably understood about 50% of the words, however with the actions of the actors thrown in I figured out most of what was happening. It was definitely a humorous play to see in another language!