Ecuador

First, the not-so-good news. This morning Melanie texted me to say that her wallet was stolen the day before while she, some Mayo Clinic staff and some orphans were recreating at a pool. Fortunately, the thieves didn't take her camera. But she's still out about $300. By the end of the day she had cash in hand via a credit card, which fortunately wasn't in the lost goods.

The rest of the first day for me and Wilson was pretty normal. Along with providing Melanie with emergency contact information and how to find her way to the home stay, I spent a lot of it getting oriented, sleeping and shooting some photos of the area. Today's blog is primarily photos that give an indication of what the capitol city of Ecuador -- at least parts of it -- is like.

I should start by saying that when I came in last night about 11 p.m. it became clear that this was like no other city I've been in. As the highest capitol city on earth, it's situated in the mountains, and that means a lot of ascents and descents right within the city itself. There was a moment when we were driving down some really winding streets that I noticed how high the house lights on the  steep hillsides were. You had to crane your neck to see them. The photos follow.

La Casa:

The bedroom where Wilson and I spent the night. The kids stayed in the suitcase in the shadows at the right.

Dining area, breakfast nook, and fridge, with magnets.

The living room with display case, big screen TV, and ornate mirror in hallway.

Kitchen utilitarian knick-knacks, just like yours.

Well above the street, the living room window is nevertheless reinforced.

Staircase and trophy. This is hilly country, the staircase to the controlled entry goes down a way. There was only one sports trophy--for soccer.

  La calle:

People build up and live cheek-by-jowl with their neighbors. That's Olga Espin, the ama de casa at the railing on the second floor.

This method of recycling glass at the top of walls discourages prowlers.

Steps like this are not an unusual site in Quito. You'll see why as the photos progress. That tiny figure you see at the top of the staircase is the individual who was probably very used to climbing them.

Many of the homes and buildings cling to the precipice.

In the United States, geography like this would be considered country, not the heart of a capitol city. The verticle wall below the house on the right appeared to have some sort of reinforcements driven deep into the hillside. Far below the road visible on the left, a noisy stream flowed.

A taxi makes its ascent along a cobblestone street.

So: Do these disheveled buildings signify extreme poverty, or so they reveal a gritty people who are on their way up? Quito has a vitality that showed up right off the plane -- the freeway into town was smoother than I-5 in Seattle.

Through a crack in the doorway slightly visible in the preceding photo, a lovely flowering vine quietly but defiantly finds its way into the daylight.

There is a rose in Spanish Harlem

A red rose up in Spanish Harlem

It is a special one, it's never seen the sun

It only comes out when the moon is on the run

And all the stars are gleaming

It's growing in the street right up through the concrete

But soft and sweet and dreamin'

 Love, 

Robert, and

Wilson

 Outtakes