Tuesday, 15 May 2012
Cold and Cool Quito
Polluted, busy, casi expensive, standing at an altitude of 2,800 metres (9,200 ft)… I absolutely love Quito!
My school is in a pretty, colonial building on a quiet street with a ‘gourmet’ café just down the road. I have lessons from 8 30 to 1 Monday to Friday, and I have the afternoon free with the city as my playground. There are loads of museums, art galleries, coffee shops for people watching, parks and narrow streets with lime green, sunflower yellow and ruby red houses.
The other students at my school are very multicultural, indeed. We have people from the States, Korea, Japan, Holland, Switzerland, Denmark…and they are all very friendly as well. The teachers are locals and all really engaging, and it’s so nice to be improving a language which I have to use as necessity every day! I’ve been putting my hair in bunches and sharpening my pencils. Well, not really.
On Saturday I went with a friend from the school to Otavalo, the town which hosts the biggest open air market in South America. Obviously it was pretty easy to find upon arrival, but not thanks to the locals who responded ‘what market?’ when I asked for directions. Ecuador has so much produce; there were piles and piles of bananas, melons, pineapples, potatoes, avocados, tomatoes, chilies, peppers…The meat sections displayed chicken heads, pig heads and the liver, stomach, kidneys, feet and tongue of cow. A haven for the strong hearted, and for the street dogs. I found a chicken foot in my soup, which I avoided, but decided it made for a nice broth!
I’ve also been seeing a bit of live music. We’ve made friends with a group of musicians who play Jazz on a Tuesday night (the most talented fingers I’ve seen dancing around bass strings to a 12 bar blues), and some pop in a local bar on Wednesdays. On Saturday we went for a drink to Cumbaya, a local city, where I couldn’t help a quick rendition of the classic hymn choice of Christ Church School (Kumbaya).
Last week I was staying in the host family. It was just a grandmother and I, who was a very neat person and also very patient with my telegram style Spanish. She lived a 10 minute bus ride from the school, up a huge hill, in a small, cosy apartment with gorgeous views of the city. Her two children had moved out, but I got to meet her grandaughter on the day I arrived- little Amelia, whose best friend is also called Sophia! On my first day there, she took me to KFC for lunch in the shopping centre. Despite having decided that I would avoid those kind of places on account of them being so abundant in England (and because I never go there anyway), I thought 'if this is authentic Quito life then bring on the chicken´!
Quito is a very diverse town. On Sunday, I went with my flat mate to do some aerobics in the park (Dia de la Madre incidentally, too). It was hilarious. A relatively older man stood at the front in fluorescent lycra shorts, and us lot frantically copying his insane dance moves and singing along to Kylie and Barbie Girl. I think my stomach muscles had a better work out from all the laughing than from the exercises. It was a really nice atmosphere – there were people hanging around chatting, going for a cycle, and the other people in our group were yummy mummies, old men, kids kicking the air, and the odd passerby that just thought it looked fun!
Tonight we are having a film night thanks to the extensive collection in the student residence. It’s a bit grey outside, but I’ll venture out to take my clothes to be washed. This wouldn’t be an English blog without a quick word about the weather – it’s mad. In the morning, glorious sunshine at 23 degrees…for about ten minutes, before the sun goes behind the clouds and it drops to the temperature and the grumpiness of late teens. It usually rains in the afternoon, flinging it down after hours of heavy, pregnant clouds ominously hanging overhead. And then the evenings are pretty warm again. Rest assured, I’ve still managed to get sunburn a bit.
On Saturday I am heading to Buenos Aires for the second time! Looking forward to seeing more of the buzzing city!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Dear god I miss these antics... Guatemala in December??
ReplyDeletexxx
KFC?? isn't that a programme often shown late at night and featuring martial art battles?