Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Quito for the weekend

Hi Friends and Family!
The Fiestas del Napo were last week in Tena. On Wednesday night I went to the main plaza and watched the fireworks with my friend, Carmen, and her husband and three children.  There was live music, food stalls and toy vendors, and there were so many people. Unfortunately my camera died while I was out and I didn’t get one picture!
Last week I worked in the office in Archidona through Thursday and then went to Quito to file paperwork to register my visa on Friday. Thanks to my coworkers, Nick and Cass, I was able to do some of the paperwork online so when I got to Quito, I didn’t have to run around too much.
On Friday night, Xavier and I hung out in the Old Town of Quito. We visited three churches: La Iglesia de San Agustín, La Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesus, and La Iglesia de San Francisco that were all built over many years from the late 1500s to mid 1600’s.  I wasn’t supposed to take pictures within the churches but I here is what I got.
 Quito was founded in its present location in 1541 and the Old Town is one of the largest and best preserved colonial centers in the Americas. Here are some monuments and pretty buildings in Quito: 
On Saturday I accompanied Xavier to Santo Domingo de los Colorados for a work meeting. It is a commercial city between Quito and the coast and there are some gorgeous waterfalls along the road.
There is also sculpture of the face of the devil carved into the side of a cliff.
We stopped to buy some mangos at a fruit market outside of Santo Domingo.
On our drive back to Tena on Sunday we could see part of the snowy top of Antisana (a 18,714 ft volcano).
We stopped to check out this lagoon near Papallacta.
We also watched two great Ecuadorian movies this weekend, which I highly recommend: Cuando Me Toque A Mi and A Tus Espaldas
 Next week is Carnaval and Runa gets Monday and Tuesday off for the celebration. The tradition here is that everyone attacks each other with water balloons and water guns for four days! I’ll have to make sure to carry dry clothes with me! Good thing it’s hot here in the jungle :)
Happy Valentine’s Day, friends and family!
Love,
A

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