El Primer Dia

Hola from Quito!  My first day here has been incredible.  At Casa Victoria everyone begins the morning by having breakfast together, including delicious tropical fruit, banana bread, and yogurt.  Currently living in the house are Alicia, Alex and Evelyn (the house parents), and four other American visitors.  Alicia took Susan (a strong supporter of the CV family from Richmond, VA) and I into old town, Quito following breakfast.  We walked through the city and saw many new developments the community has been working on, such as repaving the streets, building new hotels and restaurants, and cleaning up the plazas around the city.   This growth is now right next to CV's neighborhood, and will soon join it!  This is great for the cafe because by the time it would open in just a few years the neighborhood will have the patrons necessary for the cafe to succeed.

The architecture here is beautiful, with balconies and flowers decorating the old colorful buildings and lining the streets.  There has been a strong influx of French and Italian ideas and style that can be seen throughout the city.  We stopped in a few hotels and made our way into a very artsy section of the old town where we visited the Munoz Marino watercolor and drawing museum.  He does beautiful pictures of both the city and other European destinations, and currently offers free workshops to the community.  Following our venture into town we returned to CV to help make lunch.  We were joined by the other three visitors, recent graduates of UCLA and one of their parents and cousins, native to Ecuador.  (They've been traveling around the country a bit and will return to CV this week!)  The girls are here for three months, and have been working and helping with every aspect of CV.  I'm slowly picking up more on the language, despite having taken Spanish for many years, the speed and vocabulary are hard to master.

This afternoon I spoke with Alicia about the cafe and am very excited!  They have space in the house on the bottom floor, some of which has already been redone, but is large and open, with doors and windows leading into the garden in the front of the house.  There is an entrance from Plaza Victoria on the street that can be used rather than thru the front gates, and we have the freedom to recreate the space, open it up, add windows, and create a raised patio on the right side.  (Pictures are to follow.)  With this space, CV won't have to rent or buy a new location, and as I said above Plaza Victoria is next on the cities rennovations as tourists already come through.  What's next is to discuss masons, costs, and providers.  That will take place over the week to determine the feasibility of the project and how to get all the funds.   We will be going to 235 on Saturday to visit and talk about possibilities there for coffee and other crops.  It's supposed to be beautiful out there, I can't wait!