Frutas!

On our one full day in Quito we got to go to the local grocery store. Grocery stores in Quito are very similar to those in the United States, with one big difference: the selection of produce. Last time I visited my sister I bought one of every kind of fruit that I had never even heard of before. I left the store with over twenty different fruits that were completely foreign to me.

At this grocery store I didn't buy every fruit that was new, but here are some of the pictures from the store. From left to right in this picture are coconuts, guanabanas (goo-ahn-ah-bahn-ahs), and babacos. In the background are watermelons.

This is a picture of the bananas and plantains, which are a very common side dish here. Most of the time the plantains are fried. You can see more pictures of fried plantains in my blog about Mindo!

Once I got home, I took some of the fruits (frutas in Spanish) and cut them open to see what they looked like inside. Then of course we tasted them. Some of the them taste better plain, others are better in a fresh juice drink.

First, we have a sweet cucumber, which tastes pretty much like a sweet cucumber. It has a slight taste of a honeydew melon.

Next is the sweet tomato. This one tastes like, you guessed it, a sweet tomato! I like it better in juice than eating it plain.

Next we have the tuna fruit, which grows on cactus. It has lots of seeds, but the fruit is sweet and tangy.

Then, we have papaya, which is pretty easy to find in the States. It has a creamy thick texture like an avocado, but it is sweet like a melon.

Of course, there was also a green fruit that turned out to be an orange!

Here they all are, waiting to be juiced! We had a great batch of juice for dinner, including the babaco, which tastes a little like apples. Mmmm... Nothing like fresh fruit!

Papallacta Hot Springs

One of the most beautiful parts of Ecuador is the mountains. One of my favorite places to visit are the hot springs in Papallacta. The water comes from the mountain streams and are heated by the heat from the volcano in the mountain. This is called geothermal heat.

Here's a picture of some of the pools:

This one is pretty hot. When you sit by the stream that fills the pool it can get so hot that it will burn you. The air cools off the baths pretty quickly. Some of the baths are shallow, like this one, which makes it a cooler bath.

We went on a rainy day, which made it cold when we were out of the water, but made it even better to be in the warm baths! If we got tired of sitting in the water, they also have a playground to use.

When you visit the springs, there are also beautiful plant life like these trees. (A)

And these bushes: (B)

This one looks like it has been spray painted white! (C)

And these flowers: (D)

And these neat bushes were in bloom: (E)

When you leave the park you can go to the "duchas" which are the showers, which also come straight from the mountain springs.

Before we left, I took a picture with my husband on the bridge that goes over the rushing river.

On our drive home, we almost ran into a cow that will milling around in the road! We said hello.

Then we finally got back home. What a day! (Who knows the names of the plants? A, B, C, D, and E?)

Teleferico

After a long trip getting to Quito, which involved an extra day in Miami, Florida due to bad weather on our connecting flight in New York, we finally arrived! It was a beautiful flight. Flying into Quito we were surrounded by mountains. Quito airport has one of the most technically challenging descents for pilots.

Our first day in Quito we went up the Teleferico, which is a cable car that takes people up Pichincha mountain. Here is a picture of the cable car:

The ride up the mountain takes about ten minutes, and it is breathtakingly beautiful!

Here you can see the city, which is HUGE and spread out over the mountain valley.

When we got to the top of the Teleferico we were 14,000 feet above sea level. It gets harder to breathe up there because there is less oxygen so we had to go slowly as we hiked farther up the mountain. On our way back down we stopped at a Catholic church that is near the top of the Teleferico, and we visited a little grass hut. 

Here's the grass hut:

We also stopped to throw my niece, Evangeline, up in the air!

Here I am with my sister at the top of the Teleferico!

It was a great start to our day!

This blog will take you on my adventure as I travel to Quito, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. Through a grant from Fund for Teachers, I am able to visit for two weeks, telling the tale all along the way. Follow me as I take a trip of a lifetime and be surprised by what we discover together!