Day 2

Painting by Guayasamin

Day 2 in Ecuador started out bright and early at 7 in the morning. After a quick breakfast of Zucaritas (Frosted Flakes Hispanic style) the group took two different buses to the city of Quito to go visit the infamous Guayasamin museum, a museum dedicated to the paintings of the famous native Ecuadorian who depicted South America in general through his works. Now, let me be honest here. I get as excited to go to museums as little children do to eat their vegetables. It is just something that does not interest me. So when I got chills after the first few paintings, I gotta say I was impressed. Guayasamin does an impeccably excellent job of capturing true suffering of the indigenous people not only of his country, but around the South Ameican continent. He really draws you into the paintings. So after the tour of the museum, where little replica painting souvenirs were purchased, and a visit to his house, which included us asking little Ecuadorian children to take pictures with us because yes, apparently we are creepy, we left for the city to do a little bit of shopping.


Dome of Guayasamin's Chapel of Man


View of Pichincha volcanoes from the Chapel of Man


Guayasamin's painting of the Pichinchas


Guayasamin's house

Around noon we ate at a delicious little open restaurant in town. Now while many of us got watermelon juice and chicken sandwiches, the rest purchased hot chocolates with grilled mozarella cheese sandwiches to dip them in. Uhm. I am never eating hot chocolate without a cheese sandwich ever again. Delicious. So after that awesome meal we did what all the girls, and probably guys too but they won´t admit it, have been anxiously awaiting. Shopping. We had one hour to go around to all the little shoppes and bargain the heck out of prices until we got a decent price for our item. Super successful. I got about 20 Ecuadorian gifts for 60 dollars for friends and family members back home. After that we were taken to a DVD store where movies were sold for a $1.50. Old and new, even ones that were still in theater. Needless to say the day in Quito was a highly successful bargain hunting spree.

After all that activity we went to the El Centro de Manna to see what we could do. Some played games with the kids, while I helped out Hannah, one of the MPI leaders, teach basic English to a class of about 12 children. They were restless and tired from already having gone to school earlier that day but watching them practice their English and see how excited they got when they got the answer right was probably one of my favorite experiences in Ecuador. They were hilarious but very bright. After class was done they all scattered around, many begging to play UNO games while others asking you to color with them. Playing with the kids was probably the best part of the day.

The hardest part would have to be the exercise class that Natalie Rubel, a fellow UGA Manna volunteer, and I agreed to participate in to help the participants see what they were supposed to do. Let´s just say we could barely keep up, much less raise our arms after the class was over. It was a great class and it´s an awesome way for the local women to have a little time to themselves and also to socialize with each other in their busy schedules. After the exercise class, around 8 at night, we headed back home to a delicious dinner of beans, sausage, and rice and relax and chat around the kitchen table. All in all, an excellent day.

Post written by Ana Lopez, a volunteer for UGA Manna