An Ecuadorian Experience

Returned safely from Quito, Ecuador! First off, let me say that conferences are strangely strenuous, especially when you're in an unusually large group of people for socialization & really don't get any down time in a day that lasts from 7am-9pm. That said, so much fun, and so many great people!

Purpose of Conference: Gather all the Andean fulbrighters together to talk about our projects with like minds, see the similarities, differences between our countries, our experiences, have time to network, and potentially get feedback. We were put into groups of "like" topics. I was in Arts, Education, and Archeology. In our group was one archeologist studying Inca sacred sites in Peru, 2 girls from Ecuador studying education and class issues in the education systems (between indigenous populations and the hispanic schools), one musician from Columbia studying Afro-Columbian precussion, one anthropologist studying tea rituals & storytelling in the jungle in Ecuador, an artist doing an art history project on the history of women artists in Paraguay, and me. Very interesting discussions about language barriers in Quechua vs Spanish commuinities, indigenous rights and discrimination, how to stay objective in an immersion situation, and many other things (so many similarities).



There was also a "sight seeing" portion of the trip, where the Fulbright Coordinators wanted us to see the city and near by historical things. We went to the Colonial district of Quito, where we toured a few buildings (our tours lead by reenactors), took an Afro-Ecuadorian dance class, and saw a performance of traditional Ecuadorian dances.

Quito Cathedral

We went to the Equator and the monument to the Equator (the monument was built before GPS and when GPS was invented, was discovered to be in the wrong place). The Equator is a line on the ground. Woo.





Jeff (the glacier guy) doing a handstand on the equator


Monument that was not in the right place...


We went to an artisan market where most of what was there was just like what's here in Peru, except for these filigreed pieces of silver jewelry. We went to the hot springs.... We were supposed to go to the Cloud Forest in the Jungle to do volunteer work and go hiking and then a landslide happened blocking the road, so instead Hot Springs!!

Part of the experience of getting to know the country was eating lots of different types of Ecuadorian foods-- with which they took every chance they had to stuff us. Had an adventure to go with this part of the trip, as I warned them I'm allergic to Shellfish and for dinner one night were 3 dishes with shellfish. Managed to eat a bite or two of octapus before I realized what it was (I'd asked what it was and I heard "papas" and not "papas y pulpo," pulpo meaning octopus). So I ended up with an allergic reaction to dinner, had to go hunting for meds, not the best way to end the evening.

Last day was just for us to go running around before our flights. Went to the Telifereqo, a ski-lift like contraption that took us to the top of the highest mountain in Quito, where we could hike at 4100m and get a good view of the city.





What was left of our group Saturday Morning....


Then off to the Art Museum of Guayasmin. Guayasmin is the most famous artist to come out of Ecuador. During his life, he traveled around South America and the world and painted about the suffering and the hardships of the people. The paintings themselves were on a grandiose scale and were absolutely visceral in your experience. You felt the pain and hardship of the people he painted.