The mountain in the background, directly west of the city, is Pichincha, very close. Pichincha is very big here in Quito. You can get your money from Pichincha bank, eat Pichincha pizza, get a Pichincha haircut.
This mountain, Cotopaxi, is just south of Quito. It last erupted in 1877 and it is currently emitting gas, so the mountain and I have something in common. (That we don't erupt very often. What were you thinking?)
I've been in Ecuador for a little less than a month now, and I've not adjusted to the elevation yet. I wonder if I ever will... Quito, Equador is some 9200 feet above sea level, about one and 3/4 miles up in the air. For comparison, Northstar-at-Tahoe peaks out at 8610 feet, Diamond Peak, 8540. In the Tahoe region, only the tippy-top of Heavenly is higher than my sixth-floor apartment in midtown Quito.
So the act of just sitting around takes more air sometimes than seems to be available. It's a weird feeling, not being able to breathe all you want to breathe. I fight down the panic, I breathe deep, I survive.
Strangely enough, walking around, getting mild exercise, not so much a problem. More strenuous exercise, however, and you feel like you're gonna die. I live on the seventh floor of a condo, and sometimes I go up the stairs just to see how long it takes me to breathe normally after.
I live at a place called Spanish Immersion House, which is in reality a nice two-bedroom apartment with a Spanish teacher/entrepreneur named Ceci. She runs three businesses as well as cooking every day. Makes her own soy milk, the best stuff I've ever tasted.
The "Spanish immersion" part of the deal is that she speaks to me in Spanish, then I respond in such poor, mangled Spanish that she finally gives up and uses English to get her point across. It's a great program!
I went to a five or six Spanish language schools here in Quito, looking for a good place to learn. For whatever reasons, I think cheap labor among them, they only offer one-on-one classes. Just imagine, four hours a day of direct, unrelenting lessons from about three feet away. Nowhere to hide, no relief as the teacher picks on other students, no escape from the steady, intense, and frequently disappointed gaze of El Profesor. Maybe better for your Spanish, but hard on the psyche!
I like group lessons, not just for the opportunity for some slack in the classroom, but also a chance to meet and hang with other expats. Back in Guadalajara, there was a big group of expats at the IMAC Language School, and we'd go to lunch or sightseeing or free concerts throughout the city. At the end of the third week at IMAC, my roommate and I hosted 16 students and friends at a lunch at my apartment in Guadalajara.
But here, there is not the opportunity to rub shoulders with expats or others, and I walk alone for the most part.
Well, not totally alone. One of Ceci's businesses is a facility for children without means, in an economically challenged neighborhood of Quito. I moved here with two weeks to go in their summer school program, and I got a chance to volunteer at a couple of events.
This first photo is of a bunch of us on the way to the Quito Zoo. The second photo is one of the zoo population taking a snack break. We counted the children over and over that day...
I'll be in Quito for a few more weeks, if not longer.
I'm finished with the 300 or so essays for my masters' degree, by the way. I have only the thesis project, a green business plan, to go. Currently researching a business idea I've tentatively names Hydrogen for the Home, but I'm a bit out of my element. (Really, no pun intended.)
More later!
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