APDH, Tour of El centro historico, and Guguas de pan

I would like to start with a few WTF moments I've had this past week, hope you like them they are quite funny now that I look back at them:

1. During the tour of Old Quito my eyes were a little irritated so I took my contacts off, next day I go to the doctor’s because my eyes hurt and are still red and I am told I have BOTH eyes infected...wtf!
2. On Friday I go to my Gender and Society class thinking I am going to take a quiz, when the girl next to me asks me if I am ready to take the examen parcial ( mid-semester exam)...wtf!
3. Friday night was a failure, one of our friends never showed up (we were going to celebrate her birthday) and then Hannah and I go into a club called Blues something because we think some of our new friends are there...we pay $2 to get in, and then call the girls only to find out we are in the WRONG Blues club...wtf!
4.  I was on the Ecovia (bus/trolley thing) on my way to my ICRP when this couple gets right infront of me and start a MAJOR PDA session, and mind you its crowded and I can't move, and then they wouldn't move so I missed my stop and had to get off 2 stops later...wtf!

October 20^th:

I went to APDH to start my ICRP and it was great!! The people there are so cool and enthusiastic about having me there, they even gave me a bracelet to welcome me into their family. One of the first things we did was go over the hours I was going to do and filled out an agreement for my program. Then Anaite was like “tienes algo para escribir?” and then she told me to make her a spreadsheet and then an itinerary (and dictated things she wanted on each) …needless to say I felt a tad overwhelmed. Then she took me to the volunteer desk and I went straight to work. However, at one point (while waiting for a page to load) I felt like I was in the right place and feeling like this was going to be a great experience. I mean when I think about some of the projects she wants me to do, which involve doing a presentation for the organization and writing an article for the next issue of their magazine, it all sounds so cool, but also carries a lot of responsibilities. I will keep you updated as to how day two goes, here is the website in case anyone is interested in checking them out: http://www.apdh.ec/

Later on that day…


View of El Palacio Presidencial ontop of
La Catedral Metropolitana. 

Originally I was signed up to go on a tour of old Quito, or Centro historico, at night on September 30^th but that was canceled because of the protests that were going on, aka attempted coup e’tait. So, we had it rescheduled and it was GREAT!!! I feel like I’ve gone to a lot of cool places in Ecuador, but I forget that there is so much to do here in the city. El centro historic is so cool, and it was great having a guide to tell us the story behind the churches and the architecture of everything. We even got some VIP treatment by going into churches during closing hours and we were escorted around by 5 policemen who frequently stopped traffic for us. Here are some interesting facts of the tour (in no specific order):

• On the top of the La Catedral Metropolitana there is a roster and our guide told us that it was something that the Spaniards brought with them, and that the roster is suppose to call in people to mass (specifially for Christmas mass), he also said something about how men usually give their respect to the roster right before serenading a girl (for good luck).

• There was a point when our guide told us that there were things he couldn’t say, but that he did want to say something now because we were alone, he said something about the bad rep. that the church has had in the past and about the politics behind past bishops, like Gabriel Garcia Moreno. He made Ecuador a better place but he was known as a tyrant because he imprisoned and/or kill those that were against him. He also gave the church a lot of power, and supported them in everyway he could.

This is a monument dedicated to the heroes that fought for the independence of the Ecuador
from the Spaniards in the battle of August 10, 1809.



These are figures of animals, which were the Gods of the indigenous and
was a way for them to put a little bit of thier own beliefs into this new religion
that they were being submitted into beliving by the Spaniards.



• Oh and underground of the two churches we went into there were underground tombs, we got to go under and see them in La iglesia de San Agustin

• La iglesia de San Agustin had a few interesting legends, one of them was this legend of how the church was made. As the story goes there was an indigenous man named Cantuña who was told to build a chapel before sunrise the next day. There was no way he was going to finish, and then the devil appears to him in the shape of an old man and makes a deal with him, he would help build the chapel but the man had to put ALL of the rocks into place and in return Cantuña would have to give him his soul. Cantuña makes the deal, but gets the last rock and engraves in it a phrase saying “he who carries this rock acknowledges that God is better than he is” (or something like that) and so refuses to carry it out of pride. Hence Cantuña was able to stay with his soul and there is a place in the church where you can see that there is a rock missing.

October 23^rd:

My host dad, Jorge, had a conference/exhibition and I was invited to go check it out, I roamed around for about 45 minutes and had a lot of fun looking at the different booths. Afterwords I left to go have dinner at Iggy’s house, which was sooo much fun. We had dinner, and then went to the roof to look at the city lights, walked to a Colombian panaderia but the men working there were a little sketchy…but good night overall. J

October 24^th:

My host family took me to a family friend’s house for dinner and some pan de guguas y colada morada which is a bread in the shape of a baby (and some cheese in the middle) and this warm drink that is a mix of strawberries and other fruits and lots of herbs.

October 25^th:

I went to APDH for my second day of volunteer and was given an assignment: read up on plurinacionalidad and the writings of Boaventura de sousa santos and write resumes of his writings. So I did, people kept coming in and out and got to meet all of the other volunteers and next thing I know it’s time to go home. I say it was another good day at APDH, I get to go back on Wednesday and I hope to have something to show Anaite by then.