We are in Ibarra, Ecuador! It was a long, but uneventful flight. Blue and I arrived in Quito about 10pm Sat night. The time is the same as our Central Time. We were met by Karen and Allan of World Vets (though the sign said “World Vest”!). Waited for a few more people to arrive, then loaded all our gear (there was lots of it!) and headed to the downtown area of Quito and our hotel. Several team members had arrived earlier in the evening and they were all settled in for the night.
It was quite late when we got there, almost midnight. You wouldn’t know it by the waves of activity where we were!! The streets were PACKED with taxis, cars, pedestrians and police. The traffic was very slow moving because it was soooo crowded! And very noisy. Traffic, people and lots of car alarms going off.
We got checked into our rooms, Blue and I shared with Caroline, she works for Pfizer. We did not have any water to drink, and are warned against drinking the water, so off we went to find the little market that sold water! We walk a few blocks and got water. Found out that Ecuador uses American Dollars for their currency! No exchange needed. Some of the change is in centavos, but they use it as “cents”. Got two five litre bottles of water for only $2.40 (though they write it with commas: 2,40).
We didn’t have any set plan for this am, most people were wandering into the reception area about 7:30 or 8. We walked around the town area (much quieter this am!) and saw the aftermath of city running competition! Many fit athletes, kids, people in wheel chairs and everything in between! Quite a turnout.
We all gathered for a nice breakfast then loaded onto the bus to head for Ibarra. The initial area that we drove through was very crowded and appeared poor. Lots of graffiti, garbage, old buildings. Lots of disrepair. Once we got into the countryside it was gorgeous. Unfortunately the windows of the bus are tinted and we couldn’t get good photos. Steep hills, lots of beautiful green, pastures and crops. The main crop that I recognized was corn.
We stopped at the equator! There is a park set up with museums, shops and a huge monument marking the equator. We walked the equatorial line. Went into the insect museum: man, there are some HUGE bugs here!! Hope I don’t see them out in nature! Also some beautiful butterflies, would love to see them! Lots of shops selling trinkets, souvenirs and scarves, ponchos, jackets, jewelry, and tons of other stuff. I will probably buy some clothes. They are very pretty and all made in Ecuador.
More time on the bus then we stopped in old town Quito. Visited the “palace” and the square and a church. Lots of people, a top place for pickpockets, we were warned repeatedly. There were police and military guards everywhere, many carried machine guns. For some reason I didn’t think it would be that bad here… thought wrong! Had a nice lunch (I had a platter of beefsteak, pork chop, chicken breast, sausage, potatoes, beans and rice and an ice tea for only $7!!) then wandered some more. Saw a cute young dog in the square eating scraps. She ended up following us for quite awhile… so we took her with us!! After barfing on the bus, she settled down as if she was meant to be a lap dog. Slept the entire way to our hotel on two of the girls laps. She is a cutie!
It was a LONG drive to our hotel at the TOP of some mountain!! It was a scary drive up! We are above the clouds! I think we are over 9000 ft! The hotel is very nice. Had a nice dinner of potato and cheese soup (which also had little sprouted beans and tons of avocado!!) and an avocado and palm salad. Scrumptious! The appetizer was little toasts of garlic bread with a type of pico de gallo sauce that was spectacular. Lots of visiting with the other team members, it is a really neat group. As I get to know them, I will introduce them all!
No internet access yet, will try tomorrow, at least I got this written!
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