Day 3 - Addendum

This is a pretty boring place if one doesn't speak Castilian well.  That's OK, I need a new type of boredom.  One that makes my feet sore, my heart thump, and can occasionally lead to backspasms.

Quito is for wanderers.  It suits me.

After writing this afternoon it was too early to retire.  And, I knew I'd need something else to eat.  I wandered.  What'd I see?

Stuff like this, a gigantic convent on Plaza San Francisco.  Don't ask, I cannot remember which order  of nuns.

That last shot is the best one I've taken so far, in my estimation.  It really captures the moment and place.  What I see is what I was experiencing.  That's cool.  It was not altered other than a crop.  That's the untouched colors and exposure.  So cool.

Not bad for a phone camera that I do not like.  I do appreciate that it is making me think compositionally.  A lot.  Wide angle lenses are new to me.  My thoughts on photo equipment in the future are being reconsidered.

Oh, a condor - which is something I had hoped to see here.

;) Hopefully that will not be the only one I see.  I'm considering a day trip out of town to a preserve.

Some more cool art on the street:

There's a "plaza" around every corner.  Here's Santo Domingo:

There's a joke to be made about clocks and "twice on Sundays" here, but it escapes me.  As does a pun about "Sunny."  I'm really T-I-R-E-D.

Some more art that I find inspirational.  Especially since today marks the beginning of Pride Month,

The tree blocks the letter "N";"Nacimos Libres."  "We are born free."  The rest is incredibly clever and well done.  It took me a minute to understand.  Just know that Las and Los are the definite articles for feminine and masculine words in Castilian.  And most nouns correspondingly end with "A" or "O."  I'll leave the rest of the work for you to ponder through.  It's a message worth understanding and sharing.  I believe in it.

It's hard to show how "lumpy" the city is.  I was expecting much more "verticality."  I was expecting the contours of the city to be more "monotonic."  The terrain does feel as though it's generally "continously differentiable" though.  Why, yes, I am still familiar with Calculus!  Thank the Vincentians for what the Jesuits failed to drive home.  (Happy Birthday, Dad!)*  

I think that's because I keep comparing it to La Paz in my mind.  It's not La Paz, nor like it.  I'll wrap my head around that soon.  Maybe.

This is the Andes.  Potatoes are perhaps the most common element in the cooking of the whole range.

$4.50 including the water.  Prices vary wildly by neighborhood.  The same serving could cost as little as $1 a few blocks away.  I was hungry, did not want to walk after dark, and they had the ECU v KOR soccer match from the U20 World Cup on TV.  (It was 2-3 with 5 min to go when I left.)  Really good fries.  And, the salad is a great touch.  Dinner!  Starch and fiber have fed the people here as long as people have been here.  And, it's what my body wants right now.

My laundry just came back; $2.50.  :)

I'm tired.  I managed to get a LOT of sun today.  I think because the climb to the Cathedral Nacional had me warm, very warm, I went too many short periods without wearing my hat.  I have to be careful.  Sunburned scalps suck.

Darkness has fallen here.  Bedtime comes early when the daylight shines for only 12.5 hours (everyday of the year - it's equatorial here!) and one has walked more than 10 miles at elevation in less than that.  I'm going to start a post on my lodging, but do not expect to post it today.  I am exhausted in the best way.  And, smiling.

Further!




Jim

P.S.,  A "rainy days and Sundays" joke about Santo Domingo is failing me too.



* An incredibly inside joke about calculus and a famous drive with my Dad, a mathematician.