A little bit of old and a little bit of new

Thanks to some persistence from Marcela (my host mother) and a bit of luck, I stood in El Palacio del Gobierno (the equivalent of the U.S. White House) this past Saturday. To enter the Palace, visitors must present their célula (small card noting Ecuadorian citizenship) or an official Passport (which are occasionally stolen therefore I carry a copy wherever I go). However, neither of us knew this rule until we were in line for security so we decided that we would see what would happen. Our bags, belts, and jewelry went through the security scan (I was glad to know I didn’t have to take off shoes, sweater, and scarf like in the airport) and it was then that the security guard realized that we had not presented our identification upon entering. I told the guard that I only had a copy of my passport and as he began to shake his head, Marcela interjected saying that we didn’t know and that I wouldn’t have other opportunities to see the palace (which was not completely true…). But it worked and we received our visitor badges and we joined the rest of the tour as we were the last two! The palace had two main plazas inside with well-maintained gardens and flowers. As we went up the marble staircase, we passed the flag of Ecuador in a glass case and continued to see three of the main rooms. The first was where important meetings are held and consisted of a very long table, many straight backed chairs, two very large crystal chandeliers, and fancy curtains that lined the windows. Next we visited the Banquet Room and the “Yellow Room”; the Yellow Room contains portraits of every president (except the current, Rafael Correa, which is to come) and is used for important ceremonies. Along the way to each room there were several glass cases filled with different gifts presented by other countries; I distinctly remember the Russian stacking dolls but my memory is blanking on some of the other gifts from other countries. Overall, the palace was beautiful and I could not believe how lucky I was to see the inside of it, especially given that I have never even been inside the White House in the U.S.!

The palace was just part of our trip down to El Centro Historico (the historic part of Quito). I was absolutely blown away by the beautiful architecture of this part of the city and given we were only there about an hour and a half I already have plans to go back tomorrow! Given it was my first time there and I knew I would be returning, I didn’t take any pictures but I certainly will tomorrow. We went into two churches on Saturday that were incredibly beautiful and there are many more to see. We also visited the National Library with a Modern Art exhibition (mostly artists from Quito). Marcela and I agreed that we weren’t quite sure what the artists were going through when they were painting but we enjoyed looking at the paintings nevertheless. More on this historic part of Quito soon, stay posted!

You might be wondering how we got to El Centro Historico…by Trolebús! There are many buses that run all over the city and country but this specific one runs along one main street, from the north to the south of Quito. It is a bus with three sections linked by the same accordion-like folding of some buses in the United States. At orientation today, the program coordinator made a great joke: “How many people can you fit in the Trolebús?” “Fifteen more!” I found this to be absolutely true because as long as the doors can close, people continue to board. You should also know that even though I am only 5’4”I could see over almost everyone on the Trolebús, even most males. This was a new experience as well as I don’t think that I have ever really been considered tall in my life!

On Sunday morning, soon after getting up I was greeted by Marcela. She told me that “we” were leaving in 15 minutes to go to her mother’s house. “A mi tambien?” (Me also?) I asked. “Claro!” she said. Even though I hadn’t heard anything about this event until then I went with the flow and soon enough we drove down the one of Quito’s two valleys to the town of San Rafael, about forty minutes away. Marcela’s mother’s house was lovely and also was next to two smaller houses where family members lived…Did I mention that there were thirty family members at Marcela’s mother’s house? Yes, they get together quite frequently and yesterday were celebrating one of Marcela’s nephew’s 14^th birthday. I was overwhelmed with all of the new faces and did not remember more than a couple of names but was incredibly lucky to be included in this event. I met Marcela’s mother, six siblings and their spouses, all of their children (Marcela’s nieces and nephews), one of her other daughters, and two granddaughters. We ate delicious tacos in two rounds because there were so many of us. I ended up talking a lot with Marcela’s brother. He was very interested in the town that I come from, what its people are like (he was fascinated when I told him they all wear a light shade of blue all of the time), some of my beliefs, etc. He also tried to convince me to join his church’s “Single’s group” that he coordinates. It sounded like a great opportunity but I doubt that I will end up participating…most of the participants are older and of course, Catholic (as are at least 90% of Ecuadorians). But who knows, maybe I will try! After lots of conversation, the chocolate cake was brought out and we all sang “Feliz Cumpleaños”. I asked if it was typical that there is one candle on the cake and everyone laughed and replied that they simply forgot to buy more. It was such a wonderful experience. Later, I went to the movies with my host sisters and two cousins that are around my age. While the movie was sold out for earlier, we passed the time in McDonalds with lots of good conversation until 10pm came around for Mission Impossible 2 (in English with Spanish subtitles in which I tried to direct my attention for the majority). I learned so much, really saw my Spanish improving with all of the speaking with the family, and even taught one of the nephews how to play 20 Questions which he loved.

Today was Orientation for International Study Abroad students; the USFQ campus is beautiful and I will be sure to share pictures later! While we had many talks today about what to expect from living and studying in Ecuador, I most enjoyed the talk on culture and look forward to seeing what we talked about in action and then sharing. I commend you for reading all the way (it is a long post!) and will be sure to write about my first day of classes this Wednesday!

For many reasons, my blog post is titled "A little bit of old and a little bit of new". For the history of Quito, for the history of my host family's famliy, for the many new people that I have met in the past two days, and for the new university that I hope to get to know.