Today, we moved from the small town of Cuenca to the modern city of Quito. I am excited to see the difference in the cities in Ecuador. I think that Quito will be much larger than Cuenca and also have more modern looking buildings. On our way to the city, we got to stop at the equator. While we were there, we got a short lesson on the science of the sundial that is located on the equator. While here, I learned that different hemispheres see different parts of the Milky Way and the equator is the only place you can see the whole Milky Way. Our first stop in Quito was at an art museum. Although the tour was in Spanish, it was very interesting to see the diversity that was expressed in his art. This is an example of a culture gap that our group had to overcome. Since the majority of us don’t speak Spanish, we had to interpret what our guide was saying through her motions and what she was pointing out on the paintings. Since the artist recently passed away, we know what he was trying to say through his paintings, so there is little room for our own interpretation. Our second stop in Quito was at a modern mall for lunch. I was not expecting the mall to look so much like an American mall. Although the stores had different names, the clothing looked very similar, and very different from the market clothing in Otavalo. Our last activity of the day was a city tour through old Quito. While on the city tour we got to see a plethora of churches. They were all very different, yet very beautiful. I loved all of the architecture of the buildings. There was so much detail in the churches; I didn’t know where to focus my attention. While on the tour, I learned many facts about the city of Quito and the Ecuador culture in general. But, one of my favorite parts was being able to go up and see the city from atop. Even though Quito is a large city, it is still possible to walk around it and explore the city. For dinner, I ate at a very Americanized restaurant. The packer game was even on!
