Growing on me

Here is a picture from the top of one mountain, where a huge statue of El Panecillo stands. It is the thing that I love most about Quito--the feeling of being a tiny detail in a giant oil-painting. My first days here I was repulsed by everything reminding me Quito is a big city--along with a lot of noise, the buses let out big black clouds of exhaust so at the end of every day my nose feels like an exhaust pipe. Also, I walk through the great big Parque Carolina twice a day on my way to or from school, and this bothers me more than the traffic, because the whole park is filled with litter. Aren't parks supposed to be a sanctuary from the busy roads and outside world? In my mind I call the trees here Boo Radley trees, because every one big enough to hold a mysterious piece of trash, does. I saw two diapers in one the other day. And then there are the guys, the machismo, the whistling and clicking and stares and greasy smiles. The little boys pausing from their futbol game to whisper "Mira, la gringa! Gringa!" The older men in business suits turning 180 degrees. Grr.

I am only writing about these things because I have good news--Now I am noticing all kinds of things I love about Quito, things I did not notice at first. Like how all the trees here have great big colorful flowers! How every place that has any kind of vegetation, is blooming and gorgeous. Walking through the park now I realize that not every whistle is for me, and my head is not looking down long enough to notice all the trash so I notice the blooming trees. Things are looking up.

Maybe this changed because of my visit to Papallacta this last weekend. It is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to, and I think it may have changed my idea of Ecuador a bit. Set at the top of a not-extremely-active volcano at maybe 10,000 feet, Papallacta seems to be swathed in the bitter-cold of garua, Spanish for a type of fog or mist that just stays for months. But it has natural hot springs, which makes the cold worth it--and it has lovely views. My host mom Lali took me to meet up with her eldest daughter's family--so it was Mari-Aulalia, her husband Mauricio, their 12 year old son and two 11 year old boys visiting Ecuador for a month long summer camp. Here is a site to some pictures of Papallacta: http://s336.photobucket.com/albums/n349/arwalton/?albumview=slideshow

!Ciao!