"Corré, corré, corré..."

An equipo photo of Therese, Jeff, Andrew and me before the Ecuador/Venezuela game on Saturday at the the Stadium in Quito.

I haven't gotten the chance to write in this blog for a while, partially because I've been running, running, running around Quito...

Last week alone, I visited the Guayasamin Art Museum, called the Capilla del Hombre, which examines man's suffering in Ecuador and throughout the world. His paintings are very powerful and are worth taking a look at. (guayasamin.com) We also visited the Panecillo and got a great view of the city of Quito, which stretches from North to South between the mountains. The city itself takes about an hour or so to cross by car and from the view of the large Virgin Mary statue, nothing is left to the imagination. On Thursday, we went to the Jardin Botanico in Parque Carolina (my favorite park to visit). The Gardens featured a number of different species of orchids and indigenous plants that are only found in Ecuador and its surrounding regions. Finally, on Friday, we visited Old City "El Centro" de Quito and were able to walk around and see the President's Palace, the Egas museum and climb to the top of rickety ladders to see the view from the Basilica de Voto Nacional, which stands tall in the center of the city.

Saturday was the big day and as we walked through Old Town, we realized that we should've bought the yellow jerseys and not the white and blue jerseys, but alas, even at 9AM, you were looked at strangely if not wearing some sort of national pride shirt for the Ecuadorian team in their debut in the elimination round of the World Cup 2010. The game's energy was incredible and old men and young girls alike were thrilled for the game to begin. Unfortunately, Ecuador had control of the ball the entire game but never scored and somehow Venezuela was able to make the only goal of the game. All in all, it was still an unforgettable experience of how sporting events should be. [Meanwhile at home, BC went on to beat our rivals Notre Dame and move to the 2nd place position in the country.]

Sunday, we were able to visit my aunt Patricia in her home in Conocoto, some 45 minutes from my home near the Airport. We ate a seafood lunch and played with her dogs. She has her own mini Noah's ark ready, with a variety of dogs, a cat, parakeets (at least 30), a horse, bunnies, chickens and a parrot. This Wednesday, we will visit the Mitad del Mundo with them and experience a little more of Quito's tourism.

Today, I began my second week of classes and will be teaching Time & Weather at SECAP to my two classes of 45 students and 32 students. It has been an interesting ride and I can't wait to continue on exploring.

PS--The headline for this blog entry is a borrowed phrase from the one and only David Naranjo, the 3 year old boy I live with who is obsessed with "dar-ing vueltas" and running through the house...I hope to steal just a bit of his energy to continue on experiencing Quito the way it should be experienced.