After Christmas Eve in Quito we flew to Loja. (Ahem...well, after a LONG wait in the Quito airport. HINT: If you're ever waiting for a domestic flight in Quito, head over to the International terminal. Waaaaaaaaaay nicer.) It was truly wonderful to see my parents and have the opportunity to see first hand all the things they've told us about.
We went to Parque Jipiro (the coolest city park I've been to in a while - full of replicas of famous buildings in which we had fun playing around), an orchid garden, the city zoo (though we're told it's really not worth it anymore since the giraffe died - random!), and both ends of Parque Nacional Podocarpus - the high altitude end (ridgeline/cloud forest) near Loja and the rainforest-esque low altitude end (near the city of Zamora).
We ate frogs legs and guinea pig and Ecuadoran corn cakes, and we saw a lot of interesting (and random) sights, such as sections of road covered in rocks and small trees, to keep people from driving on them until construction is done. (Driving in Ecuador is only for the fearless. It doesn't matter how many lanes there appear to be - there's always only one lane: the one going your direction. My favorite memory? Passing another car on the left while being passed on the left. Oncoming traffic, schmoncoming traffic!)
After five days with my parents we had to head out, so we took a bus north to Cuenca. The city is full of beautiful colonial-era buildings, most noticeably the "new" cathedral (1800s), which has three blue-tiled domes. We saw some real (and really eerie) shrunken heads at a local museum, bought some cool handicrafts, and listened to some great ethnic music. On December 31 we passed numerous sidewalk stands selling yellow women's underwear (brings good luck if worn on New Year's Eve), and made our way to the airport. It was a fantastic trip!
Me, coming down a cement slide on the miniature Kremlin at Parque Jipiro.
Parks outside the US are so fantastically, dangerously fun! :-)
My mom, with her half-guinea pig (cuy).
Visiting the Sotomayor family with my parents.
The new cathedral in Cuenca.
I couldn't have said it better myself.
2 comments:
Robb looks insanely tall next to the family you are visiting with your parents. Holy cow!
That cathedral is beautiful. Love the park- I know, US parks are so lame, bc some lame-o parent sues over a kid that fell while they were talking on their cell phone. That park looks amazing. Looks like you guys had so much fun! (sigh!)
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