When Peru fell through, I had extra time in Quito. So after a couple of days, I went back to Yanapuma to say hi to my professors, and decided not to leave -- I became a student again. And lucky me, I was assigned the same professor I'd finished with last time. We get on very well, and it was great fun. So much so, in fact, that we turned one class into a field trip, then opted to plan an excursion together for my last Saturday. Since August is culture month, many museums were having free days on Saturday, and there was one in the historic center that neither of us had yet been to. We didn't have time during the week (and it wasn't free then either), so we said we'd meet there at 3 on Saturday.
I had a long leisurely breakfast, wandered the Dance Quito and little arts festival in the Mariscal, and did some organizing. It took nearly an hour, but I finally got the next issue of the New Yorker to download, which I knew I'd need on the plane on Monday. While the day started slowly, the rest was a blur. A little after 2, I headed out, taking the Ecovía on my own to the center and navigating my way up to the museum. I got there right at 3.
The museum is in a historic house, which is really lovely. The house is several hundred years old; the museum, only two. It's devoted to pre-Columbian art of Ecuador, and I was really looking forward to seeing it. Sadly, the last tour of the day was at 3:15; I made it, but Olga was late. The guard was expecting her, so she was let in to wait for me, but she missed the tour. :(
I love when museums allow photography, and I have no problem with not using flash. This little museum is really lovely and has some beautiful and stunning pieces.
Turns out that I really like art from the ancient Valdivian culture. I'm going to have to look them up. I don't know if it's the shape or the figurative style, but nearly every time I liked something, it was tagged 'Valdivian.'
This whole case was devoted to female figures. I thought it was really powerful and beautiful.
Their cases were also among the best I've seen in the museums here.
This warrior vessel was in a case full of Inka-period objects.
Yes, this is gold. It's a stunning headdress with beautiful and intricate patterns.
Isn't this a sweet little bird? I also liked that you could see the huge wall of greenery outside this room. They did a lot with windows, skylights and glass to bring in natural light and highlight the stunning architecture of this old house.
From there, we headed to a bus station that I'll never find again on my own. Our destination was Itchimbía Park, up on the side of one of the mountains and with stunning views into the old town. It didn't disappoint.
It was overcast and breezy, so a great day for kite-flying! And kites were everywhere. There are also tons of fields, bike and jogging paths, a school!, and tons and tons of space.
One of the highlights is this glass house designed by none other than Gustav Eiffel, of Eiffel Tower fame. It really is a lovely building.
Yes, orchids!! I had really hoped to see many orchids this trip, in part during my excursion to Mindo, but that didn't happen, so this was a lovely treat. Yes, that's Pichincha Volcano in the background.
Me and Olguita.
I have no idea what this flower is, but it's very pretty. Actually, I say that a lot about the botany I find in Ecuador..... Next time, I'll have to do that better.
Suddenly we realized the time, and had to get moving in order to meet Fernanda, another professor from the school and the other professor with whom I'd traveled to the Amazon last time. She and her girl friends had an evening planned and we'd been invited. I only had an hour, but again, next time.... It had started raining, and they were going for beer and karaoke. Since I don't know contemporary Latino music well, it probably wasn't bad that I couldn't stay. They were having a good time though.
I ran back to the hotel to change because, as we all know, the third time is the charm. We'd had back luck for the past two nights in trying to get to a concert downtown, so we were trying again tonight. Unfortunately, this was not the night to forget my camera, but it was in fact the very night that I did just that. Juan Carlos took a number of images though, and I'll add them in when he sends them along.
We grabbed the Ecovía back to the historic center, and headed to the Theater Plaza. There, we caught the end of the free concert by the National Orchestra, and the Orchestra of Andean Instruments was next. We saw an entire concert by them last time I was in Ecuador, and they are incredible! I've not had luck looking for a disk of their music, but I'm going to keep trying. They were joined by a famous Japanese violinist who apparently got tired of Japan several years ago and moved to Ecuador. It ended after just a few songs, and we were ushered/pushed/pulled/jammed into the theater so that we could see the 40-minute free presentation of favorite scenes from West Side Story which had just completed its run. Back outside, more free concerts. Next, it was a Chilean band called Los Bunkers, in their first trip to Ecuador. They weren't Juan Carlos's most favorite, but I liked them a lot. We hung out for a bit, then, since it was about 10p, we went in search of food. There were actually concerts in nearly every plaza in the center. We wandered over to La Ronda, and in passing the Presidential Palace noted that they were setting up for a 'gimnasio.' We wandered and ate, wandered some more, and then remembered the Palace. We got back there about 11.45, and thought we'd missed it all. But we did catch the end of the Grenadiers of Tarqui. These are the honor guard of the palace, and their uniforms commemorate a famous battle in Ecuador from 1829. Not only was it really fabulous, but after -- fireworks!! Amazing, beautiful, lovely fabulous, and directly overhead. Literally. Pieces fell around us, in our hair, everything. It was incredible. An amazing, packed day, with a wonderful evening to close it out.
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