First Excursion from Quito

By Robin Fillner - SALUD Program Guest blogger traveling in Quito. I can't really figure this keyboard out very well. In Espanol they don't use very many apostrophes and I would have to push some alts and controls and some numbers to get to it... So I apologize for the mist punctuation. This weekend was really amazing! The Salud group took a hired bus around the Otovallo valley, which I had already visited and told you about a couple of weeks ago. But, we went to so many more places with our guia (guide) Juan F. He took us to Calderon, where the village is famous for making dough figures. Yes, they make little figurines out of dough and then bake them and paint really bright colors on them. Then we continued on our journey through a town called Cayambe, passing by an incredible snow capped mountain called Guayllabamba. There are several rose farms there grown for export to mainly the United States. Did I mention that roses are about 1 dollar a dozen here? In Cayambe, we tried bizcochos which are little sticks of yummy buttery bread that are meant for a spread of "caramelly" milk and sugar. After about five each, we visited a cemetery across the street where a funeral was just held. I think it's interesting to view death, wedding, birth, eating, etc.. rituals in other countries because these basic parts of life are so pertinent to each culture. At the cemetery they had dressed the tombstones, usually crooked crosses, with wreaths of silver foil and black flowers. Then, we went to Otovallo and visited the artisan market for 2 hours. The sun was directly overhead and extremely hot. I immediately bought a wooly hat to cover my part. It was too late unfortunately and I had already received a sunburn. I also scorched my eyes. Like snow blindness, but market blindness. It really hurt and even today, two days later, I still see a haze, although it is improving quite quickly. Then we had lunch in a family home with an incredible view of the valley and a huge mountain. The meal was delicious and they even did their best to cater to us veggies. But, the real deal came when cuy, or guinea pig, was served head and all. We all took a little piece, fur still attached, and tried to separate it's little bones from the scarce meat. Well, needless to say I was really grossed out by the whole thing and only had a microscopic piece. It was like greasy chicken.