CofC Ecuador Travel Blog

We packed most of our tours into three days during the first week. After working at the schools on Tuesday and Thursday, we were picked up at Academia Cotopaxi at 12:30 and traveled to the Universidad Technologia Equinocial. Our tours were planned with UTE so that we could get free tours and tourism students at UTE could give the tours and provide information at different areas and museums as part of a practical exam. In essence this was their first practicum and authentic assessment. Each student was given a topic or location to which we traveled, and asked to create his or her own presentation in English to deliver.

On Tuesday we toured the old part of Quito. We visited la Basilica del Voto Nacional, which is still being built. There is a legend that states that terrible harm will come to quitenos if the basilica is finished. We climbed the torres and then walked across the top of the ceiling on a 2 foot wide wooden walk way with only two ropes to protect us from falling to the other side, and then climbed a steep metal later to the north tower. We had a great view of the city.

We then traveled down a north/south street with 8 churches into the town plaza. Some of the churches were built in this north/south orientation to take advantage of the sun coming in one side of the church and setting in the other (remember we are on the equator and the sun’s position and “movement” is fairly direct and constant). The purpose was to include parts of the indigenous people’s beliefs about the sun into Catholicism so that they would convert more easily.

Iglesia de San Francisco

Once in the city center we visited el Convento de San Francisco de Quito. This monastery is the largest in Ecuador and the first church built. It had a museum that we toured to learn about the religious traditions and history of the city. We then walked to la Plaza de Independencia, which had a church, municipal building, and the current presidential palace. The statue here is very interesting because part of the base sculpture had a lion with an arrow in it and a condor breaking a spear. These represented a separation from the king and Spanish control using the native condor as a symbol.

Directors on Basilica Tower

 We ten visited a wax (Centro Cultural Metropolitano Museo) museum to learn more about the city and its history. All along and in these different places, the students from UTE gave talks and presentations. We did tour the inside of La Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus, which is adorned with gold leaf and a painting representing all the moral sins found in the bible. This was my favorite painting due to the detail and subject matter.

On Wednesday we met at UTE to board the bus with 12 UTE students and travel down the Pan American highway to Banos, which is a town at the doorstep of the Amazon Jungle. We passed through the central valley and tried to see about 6 volcanoes but were denied the pleasure due to clouds. As we got closer to Banos, the land was more arid and we could definitely see volcanic rocks. We traveled past Banos and stopped at a waterfall called el pilon del Diablo, the bowl of the devil. We had to hike down to the bottom of the waterfall through lush tropical vegetation. Once at the bottom we stood on a rickety wooden bridge to view the grandeur of the waterfall. We then hiked up to the pinlon or bowl of the waterfall. The water spray was not cold since the water came from the nearby active volcano. The water temperature was 23 C or around 75 F.

 

After our hike we traveled to Banos for a walking city tour and lunch. Along the way we stopped at other waterfalls and sites. We ate lunch at a typical restaurant that served Ecuadorian food. After our tours we bought some fresh sugar cane, cana, and headed home. We were dropped off at UTE and quickly found an Internet café so that we could call our family and check our email. Some of the girls were even checking for job openings in the local school districts.

On Thursday we were picked up again by UTE and were accompanied by 13 students who gave us presentations on each site we visited.

Sorry about the pictures, but for some reason they are not loading. I will see what I can do next week. We are off to Otavalo to live with indigenous families. We are going native.