¡Hola!
When last I wrote, I had just spent two days in bed with the flu. Well one week later, I´m still struggling with a head cold. And Sunday I came down with pink eye, or in my case, red eye. My left eye was as red as a tomato, and was swollen. And it itched so much that I was ready to remove it from my head. On day three it spread to the other eye, although the medication I put in my eyes prevented the right eye from getting very red. All in all I spent four days in bed with my eyes closed, listening to podcasts and books on tape downloaded on my iPod. I love my iPod. Currently my eyes are a little itchy, but they are definitely better than they were earlier in the week.
On Saturday, our Ecuadorian guide took me and the new volunteer John to Otavalo for the day. Otavalo is about two hours north of Quito, in the Andes. Otavalo is famous for native handicrafts. It is also where many local indigenous people live. You may have seen photos of female and male indians with a single long braid, and wearing woolen ponchos and a felt or panama style hat. They speak quechua in addition to spanish.
The city of Otavalo itself is not very attractive, but the surrounding area is beautiful. In addition to the mountains and valleys, there are five big lakes. We visited one called San Pablo. The area is similar to Cayuga Lake back home in Central New York, only CNY doesn´t have such huge mountains. As in CNY, there are also small waterfalls. We visited the falls in Mt. Peguche.
The handicraft market sells typical native handicrafts. The indians weave brightly colored striped cloth for scarves, bedspreads and table cloths. They crochet table cloths and table runners. The make hammocks. They knit sweaters, hats, gloves, scarves and ponchos out of llama wool. They make felt and panama straw hats. (Panama hats are made in Ecuador, not Panama.) They carve figures out of wood. They make wood, macramee and silver jewelry. And you can buy touristy stuff, too, like t-shirts, key chains, caps, wallets and so on. You can find the same stuff in the local weekend handicraft market here in Quito, too, but the Otavalo market spreads for blocks and blocks.
On Sunday, before my eyes turned red, I rode the teleferico (cable cars) to the top of one of the local mountains in Quito. Quito is over 10K feet ASL, and the peak at the top of the teleferico is over 14K feet ASL. They sell oxygen just in case you need it. Once at the top of the teleferico, you can continue to hike even higher. Walking uphill at 10K feet in Quito is challenging enough for me, so I decided to enjoy the view at only 14k feet. And an amazing view it is. There are houses and buildings everywhere, as if the mountains and hills were leaking houses.
Between the flu and conjunctivitis I have missed five days of school. That´s one third of the time I had planned to teach. I feel bad about this.
The foundation that governs the school arranged two weekend outtings in the Amazon for certain people associated with the foundation. I was invited to go this weekend, but decided to pass. Given my weakened immune system, who know what awful disease I might catch. With my current luck, I´d probably get Dengue Fever. The director at the school couldn´t understand why I didn´t want to go. Battling the flu and conjunctivitis didn´t seem like a good excuse. Besides, part of the trip included a cleansing by a local Shaman. Now, I´m a believer in natural medicine, but I draw the line at Shaman spit. Part of the cleansing process requires the Shaman to spit in your hair and smack you leaves. I decided to pass on this opportunity.
It´s hard to believe that my time in Quito is almost over. Only one week left, then it´s on to the Galapagos Islands.
cheers,
Stacey
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