El Panecillo!

The oldest cemetery in Quito.

The Virgin Mary atop the conquered dragon.

Alex and Eve.

Looking toward 24 de Mayo.

Painting of the house is coming along!

It was a very fun morning!  Ron and Sunitha came over for breakfast so we gave them a tour of the house and heard how they met (it was quite the romantic comedy with intensely involved parents, 3000 miles between them and discovering their families are good friends in India) over pancakes, fresh bread, and plenty of wonderful juice.  After we ate we took them down to see the "cafe" and promised to keep them updated with CV.  At about 10:30 Heather, Sydney, Eve, Alex and I went with their friend Sal up to El Panecillo, the small mountain with a post-apocolyptic Virgin Mary statue on top.  It's a bit of a hike, mostly just a lot of stairs, but led to a view of the entire city.  Quito is beautiful, very narrow and nestled in the valley but extends for miles north and south.  The legend of Mary is that she saved the world and stands on the slain dragon, facing the north with her hand raised, protecting this end whiling turning her back on the south.  Because southern Quito is more poor and troubled, this legend is widely believed, or so Sal says.  I'll let you decide and the pictures speak for the rest.   

We are now just relaxing and cleaning up a bit, and tonight I go with Alicia to her daughter's home in order to leave at 6 am tomorrow for 235 with Baggie and Gustavo.  I'm so excited!!!  Heather and Sydney said it was the best day they've had here so there will be plenty to fill in about upon my return.

A piano from the 1800s Huberto has been restoring.

Our own personal concert.

New friends.

Hot Chocolate at Khipus.

The Khipus cafe.

A hallway at Ron and Sunitha's hotel Alicia and I love and want to copy in our cafe.

Buenas Noches!  We (Alicia, Heather, Sydney and I) just returned from an evening venture down to La Ronda, a newly developed area that is full of restaurants, cafes, and stores.  It was a big spot about 100 years ago and the town hall recently restored it after it took a turn for the worse.  It's now a very fun place with a lot of tourists and attractions.  We went to get hot chocolate from a cafe called Khipus, which sells gourmet chocolates and drinks from Ecuador.  It was delicious!  However, on our way there we stopped in a store Baggie had found that restores old instruments and teaches music lessons.  Inside we found the composer Huberto Santa Cruz who happily showed us around to the two hundred year old pianos with open backs and performed with four of his students.  He mentioned he had wanted to teach classes at CV and gave Alicia a copy of his CD, asking to start at Casa Victoria this fall!  He then had one of his students perform for us, an original song that won a contest he recently entered.  It was rather impressive and very fun!  Much more than we expected, we honestly weren't sure we would be able to leave!  

Anyway, we eventually made our way to Khipus where we met a couple, Ron and Sunitha, who are visiting from Chicago.  Ron spent time in Ecuador during his residency and they are back for vacation.  We talked with them about the city, their work (he is a family practitioner who has done a lot of work with HIV/AIDS and she is a psychologist) and we told them about Casa Victoria.  It was fun to talk about the South American culture, family, weddings, and their experience here.  We talked extensively about family traditions, and how different it is in America.  Heather and Sydney spent most of this past week with their friend's family in northern Quito, where they met 150 people at 8 different reunion and spent days together eating, dancing, and talking.  Meals last for hours and parties for an entire day, which is very different from the typical American ones where everyone is rushing off to do something else.  About two years ago I was in Colombia for a family wedding, and certainly noticed how much longer and more relaxed interactions are, and how weddings go late into the night with everyone dancing.  Ron and Sunitha are Indian, and told us about her family and how they spend time together and visit very often for birthdays, graduations, parties, and reunions.  I really admire this type of family culture and tradition.  I love the big dinners in my family, partially stemming from our Italian roots, and enjoy hearing about other customs.  Afterwards they took us to their hotel on La Ronda, a beautifully restored building with gorgeous stenciling on each wall and above the doors with a beautiful view of the city.  It's a bit expensive but I hope to stay there one day (maybe).  We walked back afterwards, marveling at how the short outing had turned into something much more fun.  Ron and Sunitha are coming for breakfast in the morning.  We're very excited to show them Casa Victoria!

The past two days have been very busy!  Yesterday I went to the market with Evelyn and Alex, got to practice my Spanish, and then helped Evelyn make lunch.  We made a Colombian soup, mashed potatoes, fresh squeezed orange juice, and a meat dish.  That afternoon, a woman from Belgium, Baggie, came to the house to view the project.  She volunteers for Europe Third World and is visiting her boyfriend here in Quito.  She's also interested in getting involved with the cafe and 235, and I will be traveling with them and Alicia to the village on Saturday.  We spoke a lot about the cafe, and had an idea to make it a volunteers' cafe, to draw in individuals volunteering in Quito and making it a destination for them to connect.  That night I went with her and Gustavo to a show that celebrates Ecuadorian culture through dance and silent scenes from the coast, mountains, and cities of Ecuador.  It was incredibly colorful and high energy, and represented their love for dance and music.

Today we spent the morning pulling together fliers and information for a meeting this Sunday for AA that Casa Victoria is hosting.  We've had to send out letters, emails, and fliers to the community and prepare the room.  Afterwards I went with Esteban, a friend of Alicia's who's very interested in the cafe, to several cafes in the area.  Most are in churches or main plazas, and serve both coffee/tea and food.  The Tianguez in el plaza del San Francisco was a more touristy destination with an expensive shop attached offering local chocolate, coffee, and art.  I loved the architecture being under a church with open rooms leading into each other but want the CV cafe to be a less expensive and relaxed atmosphere.  Afterwards we looked into a few cafes in larger buildings that are more formal sit-down establishments, and then visited Cafeto, an Italian style cafe with high ceilings that has a large window overlooking a convent.  They served very good coffee, juice, and small plates and desserts.  We enjoyed that atmosphere more and it gave us some good ideas for our own.  Later this afternoon we had to clean up the volunteer quarters in the house and visited with Lenny, the only person from 235 to attend college.  He stopped by to check in and see Alicia, whom he's known since he was 5, and then the girls and I spent some time talking to him about the village and his upcoming trip to visit his brother in Belgium.  He speaks fluent English and is studying hospitality and tourism in school.  He may be there this weekend when we go to visit and is excited to help bring coffee to 235.  It was fun to hear about the village, which is only about 200 people most of whom are related, and his experience in the states.  He spent a month in D.C. last year to speak at the prayer breakfast and loved the city.  He hopes to return soon and is thrilled to see Europe this summer, his visa was just approved.  It was strange to hear how difficult it is more Ecuadorians to travel abroad, it took 6 months for Lenny to be approved for 3 weeks.  He said they worry people will leave to find jobs, in contrast to Americans being able to travel for the same amount of time easily without needing to apply (or at least I didn't).  Tonight we are hoping to finally be able to go to the hot chocolate cafe, we've tried three times since I arrived here, and then walk around the city a bit.  The painting is also coming along for the outside of the house, it'll soon be a goldenrod/maize yellow.  Until next time!

Pictures of the house where the cafe would be.

Casa Victoria's front door.

A fountain we hope to restore in the front yard.

The window we could expand to lead onto the lawn.

The area a raised patio could be added.

Right side of the house.  For the cafe we would close the door on the right and open the left-most window to become the door, leading out onto the "patio".

The house is currently being painted, but the left side of the house.  We could expand the current windows and add another in the middle arch.