Hi! Greetings from Mitad del Mundo. I’m really busy but enjoying life J. My students are a joy to teach. Such curious children, it makes teaching really fun. We wrapped up our weather unit and now we’re starting migration. We’re going to be interviewing people from the school, finding out what it’s like to be a migrant-what do we keep from our culture, what do we adapt living in another place, what do we maintain. Plus the kids are going to do a country study. The social sciences are much more up my alley than natural sciences, so I think this new unit will be a lot more fun for me to teach than weather.

Although I’ve settled into life here in Quito, there’s still so much I haven’t done…sometimes I feel like a tourist in this country and that’s OK!

Last week, some friends and I went to the National Georgia Ballet in Quito. They did really acrobatic dancing, it was more folk dancing than ballet but still really neat to watch.

Friday night was an outing to La Ronda, one of Quito’s most famous streets in the old colonial part of the city. Cobblestone streets, white washed buildings, lots of hills, closed off to cars. Beautiful to walk around in at night. The typical thing to do at La Ronda is drink canelazo (a hot cinnamon/lemon drink w optional alcohol) It really warms you up on these cold Quito nights. Also there are strolling musicians playing old Spanish guitar music, dancing in the streets and typical old Quito foods: empanadas, potato soup with avocado and cheese. A fun evening.  It also happened that the Mama Negra festival was going on at the same time as this, so we got to see a really cool parade through the streets of La Ronda. Mama Negra actually happens in Latacunga (a town about an hour south of Quito). But the folks from Latacunga were offering their gifts to the Quitenos, that’s why they came. Folkloric dancing, kids on horses, the mama negra (a man with his face painted black) leading the parade, men dressed as Spanish conquistadores, indigenous people…there’s a ton of history behind this parade, a cultural anthropologist would have a grand time dissecting it all.

So, everyone in the US is gearing up for Halloween. Here in Ecuador, we’re gearing up for Day of the Dead. Some folks visit the gravesites of loved ones and put food offerings for them. Everyone else who doesn’t do that does make the Colada Morada and Wawas de Pan. Colada morada signs are everywhere in Quito. You stop into a little restaurant and ask for a big glass of the drink. It’s made from blackberries, pineapple, cinnamon and other spices and served hot with sweet bread babies all decorated with frosting (wawas de pan). It’s a fun tradition and I’m glad it lasts a few weeks before the actual day!

We get a few days off of school for Dia de los Difuntos so I’m going to go down to Vilcabamba in the province of Loja which is the most southern province of Ecuador. It’s known as the Valley of Longevity in Spanish because people in this valley live a really long time. There’s fresh air, really healthy lifestyles (kind of like the Colorado of Ecuador) I’ll do some hiking to old Incan ruins, maybe horseback riding, hot tub soaking and exploring. Should be a nice get away.

I love to take little short breaks from the hectic life of Quito, so I’m here in Casa Mojanda (do a google search for them and check out the website for photos-they’re breathtaking!) I feel like my descriptions of all these places don’t do them justice. This morning I took a long walk in the hills. It was so peaceful, very foggy, I smelled the eucalyptus trees, and fires because families in these parts cook a lot over the fire and use them to heat their homes. The place itself is a bunch of cottages and then a big open house where all the meals are. The whole place is filled with folk art from Ecuador and the Otavalo region. Just a really nice atmosphere to relax and recharge.

Hope you all are doing well and enjoying October and pumpkins (Ecuador does have a lot of amazing fruits and veggies, but no pumpkins, so enjoy some pumpkin pie for me J)