Pam's Blog

I took the city bus north to Mitad del Mundo, literally “Middle of the Earth”. I think riding any bus here is a crowded noisy proposition. I stood for a while and then, as we got further and further north, more and more people got off. I sat for a while next to a woman in tradition clothing: hat, wrap and all. I don’t know how she could stand it. The sun made it a very warm day here. And we were on the sunny side of the bus.

There are several bus systems in town. The one I’ve taken up until now has three lines that run north and south. There are other buses, all blue, that run criss cross the city. The way the bus usually works is that you pay a quarter when you get off … although not always. I observed that yesterday while waiting for the hop on – hop off bus. All of the buses have a driver and then a guy who rides in the front of the bus on the steps. He collects your quarter when you get off … and if you get off at the back entrance, he gets off and you pay him in the street. Sometimes the bus takes off and he’s not even back on it and he runs and hops on while in motion. Passengers do that too, especially when getting on in the middle of the route (not at a stop – in Spanish “parade”). You can flag a bus anywhere. No need to get on at an “official stop”. And passengers will get off in the middle of the route, too, while the bus slows but still in motion. Most of the money collectors are men. I’ve seen just two women who are the money collectors. About three quarters of the way to the equator the money collector guy came through the bus collecting the fares. I gave him a dollar and he gave me forty cents back. All I could think was “Wow. I went to the equator for 60 cents”.

The monument is a big thing that even houses a museum. Entry to the grounds is $2 and entrance to the museum is $3. The grounds are full of restaurants and souvenirs shops. It’s really the most “organized for tourists” place I’ve seen so far. There’s a stage where there was some live music. The real fun, though, is to watch people take their pictures on the line and have your own picture taken. I asked a woman if she’d take my picture by the sign that says 0-0-0. Later I asked a young man to take my photo on the “E” (east side of the monument) with the line. All the photos at the equator turned out great. It was a glorious day there; sunny with some clouds to keep it cool. I’ll upload them as soon as I can. I took a few by myself and I really wanted to do a yoga pose on the line. I spotted a guy sitting on a bench. He was about my age. I went up and told him in Spanish, that I was a yoga teacher and asked him if he would take my photo doing a yoga pose on the equator (that part was in English). And, he was kind enough to do so.

Ivan is a Columbian with “muy bonito ojos”. He’s a bus driver, speaks great English and was glad to help me practice a little Spanish while he waited for his bus load of people to take photos. He’s applied for a visa to the US three times and has been denied. He’s a pilot but can’t get a job flying because he doesn’t have a visa. I hear that it’s difficult to get visas. He’s not the first person to tell me that. We chatted a few minutes and then he was off with his group.

I toured the monument, took the elevator up and walked down, browsing the exhibit. The explanations were in Spanish and in English and they included information, clothing, and items of the different indigenous people of Ecuador. After lunch I wandered into the town of Mitad del Mundo looking for the Museo Solar Inti Nan but couldn’t find it. So, I hiked back up to the place to catch the bus. A bunch of blue buses drove by but not the one I was suppose to take. And then, a white bus pulled up and driving it was Ivan! He asked me if I wanted a lift to Quito so I hopped on. His group was going to El Panecillo, where I was yesterday on the hop on hop off tour bus. I rode along to the top and, while we were chatting, some clouds rolled in and it started to rain and then hail!! The touristas hopped back on the bus, waited for it to quit, and then got back off to resume their sightseeing. When they were done, Ivan drove to the bottom of the hill and I hopped off. I walked through Old Town to the city bus and got back to Hipatia’s just before dark. I did my best to practice my Spanish with Ivan and when I said “No hablo espanol” he said “Si”. I laughed. Lucky I have another week of Spanish school.

Today was a dream come true. I’ve always wanted to go to the equator, never thought I would, and today I made it happen. While having lunch I got a little emotional. It’s an empowering feeling making a dream come true. It feels like anything is possible now.

Half the fun getting to the monument was the ride. The bus is huge, the roads narrow, so there can be some tricky maneuvering. There were great views of the densely packed housing that is Quito from the open air top of the bus. When I got off I told the driver her was “fantastico”!

The statue itself is 148 feet high and is at 9,840 so it is visible from many vantage points in the city, especially Old Town. It’s an enlarged copy of Bernardo de Lagarda’s “La Virgen de Quito” sculpture that’s on display on the alter of the San Francisco church in Old Town. The recommendation is to take a taxi up the hill. There’s a set of stairs but it would be quite a climb and there’s a history of muggings on the steps. This was another selling point for taking the hop on-hop off bus.

In addition to the statue, there’s a series of huts selling junk, some people playing music, an open air place to eat, and vantage points to take in the view.

New to Quito is the double decker red tour bus. It’s $12 and stops at 12 places. It’s a steal, if you ask me. I could have spent twice that much in taxi fares. Because the bus is new, it gets as quite a lot of attention from people on the street. Today people looked, waved and smiled as we went by.

All the recorded narrative was in Spanish so I didn’t pick up much. My plan was two fold: Hop off at the Winged Virgin and the cable car (el teleferiqo) to the top of Mount Pichincha and to see if there were other places I wanted to visit in the coming week.

It is Martha’s birthday today and she turns 50. You wouldn’t know it to look at her. I don’t think she has one gray hair and her skin is bonita. She showed up today with a new hair cut. Yesterday she had hair at least halfway down her back and today it was cut as short as mine. I took another pic of her new look.

On the way to school I stopped to buy some sweet treats for her. She was pleased I remembered and thrilled with the treats. She keeps telling me she likes sweets and, as she pats her belly, says “mas kilos”. Today she was wearing a shirt from the States someone had given her. Something from Buffalo NY.

There’s a mishmash of cultural dress here from the very traditional skirts/wraps/hats and braids to American t-shirts and ball caps. I see a lot of Hollister t-shirts.

Martha and I worked hard on verbs, conjugating them and learning their meanings. She has a variety of ways from conversation (asking each other questions) to describing the meaning of the words to each other in Spanish and then guessing what we are trying to describe, to just plain practicing conjugation, out loud, the exercises in a number of work books.

My homework this weekend is to memorize verbs. “Verbos, verbos, verbos”. I think progress will only come if I can get more verbs under my belt.

Kathleen and Carrie, the other two Americans staying with Hipatia, are spending the weekend in Mindo at Barbara Wilson’s place. So, tonight I was with Hipatia on my own. We had a conversation about the weekend. I told her my plan to take the Hop on/Hop off bus. This is apparently something new. She hadn’t heard of it so we talked about that. And then we talked about my plan for domingo (Sunday) to go to the equator. I had a little boost of confidence being able to exchange that little bit of information via Spanish. Celebrating the small successes…

After class I felt like getting out of the urban setting so after a big lunch ($4) I set out for Parque La Carolina. It’s a huge place and within just moments of entering the din of the traffic reduced. Some days the noise pollution is overwhelming. I’m sensitive to sounds/noise as it is and there just doesn’t seem to be a moments rest from the bus, car and air traffic.

To get to the park, I took the bus. There are three lines that run north and south. The bus stop is in the middle of the street. There’s a turnstile sort of thing that allows you to pass after you put your quarter in the machine. It’s just a quarter to ride the bus, which is part of the reason they are so jam packed. I was a little late getting into the bus and the doors closed, me on the inside of the bus and the backpack on the outside of the bus the door trying to close between the two of us! I said, in English, will someone help me? A couple of guys wrestled the door open enough for my pack to get in the bus. The buses are so crowded I feel like those photos I’ve seen of subways in Japan. No breathing room at all.

I wandered through the park for a while and found a snack bar sort of area and sat there for an hour doing my homework. The only Spanish materials I brought with me to Ecuador are a Spanish/English dictionary (Mom gave me for Christmas) and a little electronic translator (Barb gave me). Both have come in handy. I’m using the dictionary every day both to translate my Spanish homework and to figure out how to express my English thoughts in Spanish.

On my walk back to Hipatia’s I passed an art installation at the edge of the park. In Fargo they had painted buffalo. Was it painted cows in Chicago? In Quito there must be more than 50 painted hummingbirds. Next time I get an internet connection I’ll upload the photos. Interestante.

We’re moving into new Spanish territory, so to speak, and it’s a good challenge. It feels slow and I keep reminding myself that it’s not a race, I’m not being ranked, and I have nothing to prove. Still….

About three quarters through our session today, in a low voice Martha said something in Spanish and then said “Son of a bitch” in English. I laughed out loud. It sounded so out of place, so surprising. Then she said “Shit”. It was hilarious. She hasn’t taught me any Spanish swear words yet.

Earlier in our session we both got a laugh when she asked me what I usually take to a party. I said “jugo” (juice) and what I meant to say was “juego” (games). We got a chuckle out my mistake! I could tell by the look on her face that she thought juice was an odd thing to take to a party. This is indicative of my difficulty pronouncing double vowels in words. In English they usually combine to make a sound, but in Spanish, they usually both get pronounced. Another successful discovery.

I took the bus to Old Town, the Historic part of town. Using the Frommer’s and a map from the tourist information place, I figured out how to take the bus. The buses are crowded, probably because the fare is only 25 cents. And, if you’re a senior it’s half price.

The narrow cobblestone streets are busy with people going to and fro. There were quite a few students, all recognizable as such because they are all in uniform. Indigenous people in their garb sell a variety of things from lottery tickets to beautiful scarves. The stores are mostly tiny.

I headed to the main plaza and visited three churches; La Compania de Jesus, Iglesia de la Merced, and Iglesia de San Francisco, all with incredible gold leaf work.The amount of gold at the alters is over whelming. I wandered until I got tired and then headed towards the bus stop. Somehow I got turned around and when I asked a man on the street where we were/which direction was the bus stop, he told me to take a taxi. So, I did and in about 10 minutes I was back at the host family home.

Today Martha and I covered conjugating AR-ER-IR verbs. This is the very last thing I did in the class this fall so everything from now on will be brand new. She and I actually had a little bit of a conversation today but it’s all in the context of what’s in front of me in writing. The only thing I understood today while I was out in town was when I asked the woman if I could use the bathroom she said “Vente cinco centavos” and I gave her a quarter.

During the quiet falling sleep and waking up time, the words in my mind are Spanish words. I’m working on conjugating them and trying to remember ‘yo como, tu comes, nosotros comemos’ (“comer” is to eat) as well as trying to ‘no olvido’ (not forget) vocabulary words. There are so many new words to learn and remember. That will take some time.

I felt good about the homework that required me to take five or six words and organize them into a sentence. One I couldn’t get at all and one other I think was OK, it just wasn’t the standard format. All the rest I got in the right order. Another small success in my progress to learn Spanish.