HThis has been a very busy past three days.  Saturday, one of the young women in my host family, Lissete, took me along with her sister and her boyfriend on a wild goose chase to try to find a place that would unblock ( disbloquear) the phone I bought in Nicaragua.  Some of you might recall that my iphone was stolen there ( my fault for being too cavalier with my cosas) and I bought a NOkia with a good camera.  The funny part of the story is that I did not take my glasses with me when I went shopping in Leon for it and saw the price as 375.  I assumed it was 375 cordobas ( which now would be about 13 US dollars) so clearly I was not thinking correctly but I knew it was not a lot and I don't really know what the exchange rate was then.  Anyhow, I bought the phone and its camera was very good but when I got my VISA bill i realized the mistake I had made.  So, now I owned this very good phone which fortunately I was able to use in Bulgaria and Liberia and took some very good pictures.

I brought the phone with my to Ecuador, thinking surely it would work here but NO, it is blocked here.  But, hopefully, I will be able to find someone to unblock it so that I can use it as a phone and as a camera as I have in so many other places around the world.

But, I have the iphone that my sweet sobrina loaned to me which I am using as a camera ( and Ipod) but cannot use as a phone as it is locked into Verizon.  So, I have some good pictures to post here for your viewing pleasure....should you so desire:)

On Sunday, Lissete took me and another volunteer, Natasha, to La Mitad del Mundo and on Monday we all went to a mass led by my host mother's brother who is a sacerdote.  After the mass, they prepared a deliciosa almuerzo for us and we had a lovely time afterwards to chat.  Finally, on the way home, the family drove me to a tourist attraction of which they are very proud, La Virgen, which is high on a hill overlooking all of Quito and we continued through the Historic District which is amazing.

This lucky country has never suffered internal ( civil) so they have not destroyed their country as so many other countries have. At least as far as I know other than the Incan and Spanish occupations.  Nor, have they been attacked/bombed by extranjeros so many of their old buildings are still in tact.  Also, another thing in their favor is that they do not seem to suffer earthquakes, hurricanes or other natural disasters.  They do have 16 volcanos within their boundaries so that is a threat ( 3 or 4 of which are currently active)

The Historical District, of which I only have one or two photos since we were in a car on the way home after a long day, is very very charming and many of the buildings have been restorado and are just absolutely beautiful.  Others, many others, are in various states of disrepair and are awaiting an investor and restoration.  I can't imagine how anyone could assess the internal integrity of the foundation and adjacent buildings but there must be a way.  A lot of money appears to have been invested already.

 One aspect that is so so charming, which was present in Leon Nicaragua's few remaining colonial buildings, is the interior plazas with the surrounding balconies and windows going up several floors, all looking down into the interior plazas.  This combined with Quito's very pleasant and mild climate explains the appeal of the place.

Now, for some photos:

The pictures above are of my host mother making humitas...a delicious cosa made of corm meal,a little fresh cheese and wrapped in corn husk, then boiled to cook and served warm...Yummmmmm !!!

These are the three sweet young Ecuadorianos who took me to this mall to find a place to unblock my phone.  The two girls are part of my host family and the young man is Daniel,  a very nice fellow.   The Mall could have been in any city in the US..  The mall store could not unlock my phone so we tried to find another place too, in the city, but it was closed for Carnaval....and that is another story.

 Lissete at Le Mitad del Mundo ( the middle of the world)...it started out very hot and sunny.

They had a colobri ( hummingbird) painting contest like many cities have cows, bulls, horses, etc.  The entries are now housed at the Middle of the World.

This is the entrance  to the Middle of the World

This was a display that showed how they used triangulation, using a sexton, to find the location of the equator.  This actually was the most interesting part of the whole outing.....I never thought about it before.  I learned that the aborigines had determined where the equator was thousands  ( or hundreds) of years earlier but the French led an expedition in the 17 or 1800 using sextons etc and guess what....they determined the aborigines were right.  :)  Gotta love that.

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A view from the top of that monument...I think to the West.  The big bldg to the right ( white and black) is the UN building for South America UNASUR

I took this photo to show the money plant.  This is a display of a woman of an indigenous tribe, not sure which one, but she has her baby and some money plant.  Our grandmother in Juniata County grew the money plant too.

This shows the clothing of a indigenous tribe....jaguar skin.  Apparently there are still a lot of them in the Amazonian part of the country.

Fortunately for all, I had one lovely foot in the northern hemisphere and one in the southern, at least for a few seconds.

This one is for Ramelle.  He told me to watch out for the shrunken head sellers along the road. Hopefully you can read the words...tells the story.  Have not seen any heads...peoples or monkeys.

Natasha and me, she is another aspirante, near the monument that houses a museum of sorts.  There are a lot of pavilions on the grounds with various emphasis.  You could spend a lot of time there reading everything which fortunately is in Spanish and English.

These two photos of our dinner on Monday at the home of the sacerdote, Juanita's brother.   He is the one in the cap and Juanita is the small lady in the red shirt.  They are lovely people.  We had a very nice dinner.  On the table in front of us is a bonsai arrangement and a nativity scene.

This is a view of part of Quito and the Andes in the background . Those folks in the photo are just other extranjeros.  The Ecuadorianos never wear shorts.

This is a quick shot from the car of the Basicila in the Historical district of Quito. I want to get inside.  It sits on a knoll and is huge.

So, thats it for now,
Love to all,
Pat