Right now, we’re in Quito, the capital city of Ecuador. Quito is in the northern middle-ish of Ecuador. We got here two days ago and have been exploring since. The first day we got here we walked around and had some vegetarian food for dinner.
The second day we walked around the city and went to the old town. Some of the buildings in the old city were built in the 1500s, hence the name. We visited a museum about Ecuadorian history which showed a set of armor with no protection in the important parts. If you have to use the bathroom in the armor I would understand, but really, if you’re going to get shot in any place, I’m pretty sure there would not be your first choice. We learned about the history from the 1500s until now, but the museum kind of skipped from the 1800s to the 1920s. We then walked around the city and rode the subway. For dinner we ate Indian food, which is my absolute favorite kind of food and it was SO delicious.
After dinner, we’ve been watching movies, specifically Pirates Of The Caribbean. We watched the Curse Of The Black Pearl the first night and last night we watched the Dead Man’s Chest, which isn’t nearly as good as the first, but a little bit of pirate mayhem is never turned away here.
Today we woke up, got ready, and headed out. We walked to La Carolina park where we walked around towards the botanical garden of the park. The botanical garden was a bit like a maze and had so many cool plants. We saw a cactus garden, a Bonsai museum full of Bonsais and information about them, and Syd’s favorite, a carnivorous plant garden. The plants were in cases so you couldn’t touch them, but it was still very cool to see. We saw one plant that looked like a succulent, but was covered in a sticky syrup to trap insects. After the carnivorous plant garden we went to the Orchid Garden. We learned there that Ecuador has one of the most biodiverse land in the world. We also learned that it is home to hundreds of Orchid species. We saw some of these and it was also cool to learn that some of them imitated things to get insects to come pollinate them. One looked like a mushroom and another had a part shaped like a fly. The botanical garden was so much fun and very cool.
I had said that I wanted pasta for lunch, so we went to an Italian restaurant for lunch and I got Spaguetti Al Carbonara. After that we ate cake and then took the subway home. Tomorrow we leave Quito to keep moving north, but I was really happy with my experience here and loved all of the things we did (and ate :).
3 Responses
Audrey, I really like your dry sense of humor. It sounds like you are still enjoying your learning adventure in South America. You have also been eating some vey interesting food. When I was about your age, I used to listen to Radio Ecuador which broadcast from Quito on shortwave radio. Frequently at night I would retreat to my room and short-wave radio and explore the world. Radio Ecuador from Quito almost always came in quite strong. The broadcast was in English so I could understand what they were saying. They had local music and news. I believe that they were on the 20 meter band which is also the band that I now use most in communicating with other ham radio operators. Enjoy your extremely interesting trip and save some memories to share when you return.
REALLY excellent writing! Descriptive, funny – and I can almost taste the food you’ve been eating. And orchids are so cool and there are so many varieties of them! Keep the entries coming!
You made me chuckle when I read your description of the armor 😂 Botanical gardens are a reflection of climate and soil type – always find to read about and see your pictures!