Quality Quito Time
Day 12 (January 12)
Quito
As we were on our way to Quito we were given a little briefing of the overall city itself. Quito is known for its famously documented line of the equator. In fact, Ecuador is Spanish for equator. By using the stars as a guide, ancient Indigenous people were the first to actively search for the equator. In the 18th century, French astronomers came to Ecuador to also find the equator. As our tour guide explained it, the French marked the location of the equator in a different spot than previously believed to the equator by the Indigenous people. In 1979 the Ecuadorian government erected a 100 foot tall monument called Mitad Del Mundo, meaning “middle of the world”, and painted a yellow strip on the ground along what they thought was the center of the earth (Bland, 2013). Once more advanced GPS technology was invented, scientists realized that the true equator was actually located 240 meters north of the French line (Zibell, 2013). In the end, the astronomical-related predictions by the Indigenous people ended up being closer to the true equator than the scientifically calculated French equator.
At the top of the church, Basilica del Voto Nacional, it was easy to see that the city was still in a process of expanding. Our tour guide explained that Quito might not ever stop growing. We were able to see development growing onto the slopes and mountains, this can be an issue considering the lack of structural infrastructure these slopes provide. Many homes have a cesspool under them if there is any indoor plumbing present at all. The lack of piping for both water and sewage also causes issues between civilians and mafias. To use clean water the civilians will have to either buy the water in large amounts, or mafias will monopolize the use of tap in the sparse areas that it’s available. There may be one working tap in an area of 10 houses. This goes the same for electricity. In many other areas in the world that have this lack of infrastructure the poor pays more for water and electricity than the wealthy, the wealthy do not have to pay middle men for their necessities.
Quito has a huge issue with it’s abundance of photochemical smog from NO2 emitted from exhaustion. The smog creates a haziness in the city. From the rays of the sunlight, the NO2 separates into separate entities of nitrogen and oxygen. The nitrogen and oxygen do not recombine because of other reactions coming from exhaustion and factories. There are four types of smog present in Quito overall: carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulfuric oxide, and nitrogen oxide. The smog is created by varying factors such as anthropogenic activity (i.e. transportation, industrial processes), naturally occurrences (i.e. volcanic eruptions, and lower efficient technology due to elevation), and climate (i.e. year-round intense sunlight, year-round fairly warm weather). The health effects of these pollutants include lung disease, and exacerbated respiratory issues for people with heart disease or respiratory disease. A particularly important type of smog is sulfurous smog. Because Quito is built in a valley between mountainous landforms, the smog is even worse because of the lack of air movement. (Flambouris, 2017)
Facing the north side of the city is a giant statue of a famous Incan virgin princess. The construction of the city started on the North side so it could be protected by the virgin, this is why there are only big buildings on the north. When constructing the city, it did not occur to the engineers that the city would need to extend to the south side.
A Los heroes monument
While walking around Quito’s centro historico, or “Old Town”, we came across the los heroes monument which is erected in the center of the Plaza de la Independencia. The monument was erected in 1894 after the Ecuadorian War of Independence (1820-1822). The war was fought between several South American armies and Spain over control for the lands of the Royal Audience of Quito which eventually emerged as the modern Republic of Ecuador (2016). Each part of the statue represents something different. The lion represents the Spanish crown. The Spanish flag, guns, flag at the bottom represents conquistadors. The condor, the national bird of Ecuador, and the virgin, a staple presence in the Andes left by Incan tradition, both represent the independence of the country. Near the monument is the Cathedral and bishop office. The date of independence noted on the monument was only the first attempt at control, Ecuador only gained independence 6 months after that.
Church of Jesuits
Upon arriving to Compania de Jesus, it was evident that aesthetics was important to the interior designer. Inside, the amount of gold there is almost blinding. Another trait that I noticed was the obvious importance of symmetry. In addition, I found it interesting how many times a depiction of a catholic cross was paired with an Incan cross. A lot of the artwork there was from the local school of art. Despite the mixing of catholic and Incan traditions, in the past the Spanish government believed Inca souls were the equivalent of a 12 year old. Inca people were pushed to live in the foothills, and were paid next to nothing to build this magnificent church.
San Francisco Square
We quickly passed through Plaza de San Francisco. We took time to view the monastery there which was decorated with artwork dating back to the 16th century.
Pacari chocolate factory
To end the day, we visited the very classy Pacari chocolate factory. Here we got a presentation from a beautiful Ecuadorian man who worked for the company. From his presentation I learned that the logo of the cocao tree man represents balance between man and nature. I also learned that because Pacari is all organic, have about 20% loss of production. Pacari only uses finer aroma cocoa beans which is quite unique considering only 2% of chocolate on the world is made out of finer aromatic cocoa beans, 68% of that 2% is produced in Ecuador. The non-hybrid cacao, Arriba Nacional cacao, can be found in Ecuador only. This product won best bean for many years in a row. The most important part of the chocolate making process is the fermentation process which is when the pulp of the bean ferments the bean with all of its flavor.
After his talk I was so excited to find out we were able to taste test a whole array of award winning chocolate! While smelling chocolate that I’ll never be able to afford, and pretending to notice the “nutty undertones” that the beautiful Ecuadorian man was speaking of I couldn’t help but think that I will never do something as bourgeois and fancy as this. After taste testing all of the sample chocolate, I was going in for seconds. As I was taking my time to look for those “obvious” floral aromas, I look back at my plate and realize that all of my chocolate is gone! I turn to the left of me to see my friend, or who I thought was a friend, John who was in the middle of putting the last bite of my chocolate into his mouth. He peers up at my white, shocked face and utters the words “Oh, were you going to eat that?”. To this day I am still traumatized by this experience.
As we were on our way to Quito we were given a little briefing of the overall city itself. Quito is known for its famously documented line of the equator. In fact, Ecuador is Spanish for equator. By using the stars as a guide, ancient Indigenous people were the first to actively search for the equator. In the 18th century, French astronomers came to Ecuador to also find the equator. As our tour guide explained it, the French marked the location of the equator in a different spot than previously believed to the equator by the Indigenous people. In 1979 the Ecuadorian government erected a 100 foot tall monument called Mitad Del Mundo, meaning “middle of the world”, and painted a yellow strip on the ground along what they thought was the center of the earth (Bland, 2013). Once more advanced GPS technology was invented, scientists realized that the true equator was actually located 240 meters north of the French line (Zibell, 2013). In the end, the astronomical-related predictions by the Indigenous people ended up being closer to the true equator than the scientifically calculated French equator.
At the top of the church, Basilica del Voto Nacional, it was easy to see that the city was still in a process of expanding. Our tour guide explained that Quito might not ever stop growing. We were able to see development growing onto the slopes and mountains, this can be an issue considering the lack of structural infrastructure these slopes provide. Many homes have a cesspool under them if there is any indoor plumbing present at all. The lack of piping for both water and sewage also causes issues between civilians and mafias. To use clean water the civilians will have to either buy the water in large amounts, or mafias will monopolize the use of tap in the sparse areas that it’s available. There may be one working tap in an area of 10 houses. This goes the same for electricity. In many other areas in the world that have this lack of infrastructure the poor pays more for water and electricity than the wealthy, the wealthy do not have to pay middle men for their necessities.
Quito has a huge issue with it’s abundance of photochemical smog from NO2 emitted from exhaustion. The smog creates a haziness in the city. From the rays of the sunlight, the NO2 separates into separate entities of nitrogen and oxygen. The nitrogen and oxygen do not recombine because of other reactions coming from exhaustion and factories. There are four types of smog present in Quito overall: carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulfuric oxide, and nitrogen oxide. The smog is created by varying factors such as anthropogenic activity (i.e. transportation, industrial processes), naturally occurrences (i.e. volcanic eruptions, and lower efficient technology due to elevation), and climate (i.e. year-round intense sunlight, year-round fairly warm weather). The health effects of these pollutants include lung disease, and exacerbated respiratory issues for people with heart disease or respiratory disease. A particularly important type of smog is sulfurous smog. Because Quito is built in a valley between mountainous landforms, the smog is even worse because of the lack of air movement. (Flambouris, 2017)
Facing the north side of the city is a giant statue of a famous Incan virgin princess. The construction of the city started on the North side so it could be protected by the virgin, this is why there are only big buildings on the north. When constructing the city, it did not occur to the engineers that the city would need to extend to the south side.
A Los heroes monument
While walking around Quito’s centro historico, or “Old Town”, we came across the los heroes monument which is erected in the center of the Plaza de la Independencia. The monument was erected in 1894 after the Ecuadorian War of Independence (1820-1822). The war was fought between several South American armies and Spain over control for the lands of the Royal Audience of Quito which eventually emerged as the modern Republic of Ecuador (2016). Each part of the statue represents something different. The lion represents the Spanish crown. The Spanish flag, guns, flag at the bottom represents conquistadors. The condor, the national bird of Ecuador, and the virgin, a staple presence in the Andes left by Incan tradition, both represent the independence of the country. Near the monument is the Cathedral and bishop office. The date of independence noted on the monument was only the first attempt at control, Ecuador only gained independence 6 months after that.
Church of Jesuits
Upon arriving to Compania de Jesus, it was evident that aesthetics was important to the interior designer. Inside, the amount of gold there is almost blinding. Another trait that I noticed was the obvious importance of symmetry. In addition, I found it interesting how many times a depiction of a catholic cross was paired with an Incan cross. A lot of the artwork there was from the local school of art. Despite the mixing of catholic and Incan traditions, in the past the Spanish government believed Inca souls were the equivalent of a 12 year old. Inca people were pushed to live in the foothills, and were paid next to nothing to build this magnificent church.
San Francisco Square
We quickly passed through Plaza de San Francisco. We took time to view the monastery there which was decorated with artwork dating back to the 16th century.
Pacari chocolate factory
To end the day, we visited the very classy Pacari chocolate factory. Here we got a presentation from a beautiful Ecuadorian man who worked for the company. From his presentation I learned that the logo of the cocao tree man represents balance between man and nature. I also learned that because Pacari is all organic, have about 20% loss of production. Pacari only uses finer aroma cocoa beans which is quite unique considering only 2% of chocolate on the world is made out of finer aromatic cocoa beans, 68% of that 2% is produced in Ecuador. The non-hybrid cacao, Arriba Nacional cacao, can be found in Ecuador only. This product won best bean for many years in a row. The most important part of the chocolate making process is the fermentation process which is when the pulp of the bean ferments the bean with all of its flavor.
After his talk I was so excited to find out we were able to taste test a whole array of award winning chocolate! While smelling chocolate that I’ll never be able to afford, and pretending to notice the “nutty undertones” that the beautiful Ecuadorian man was speaking of I couldn’t help but think that I will never do something as bourgeois and fancy as this. After taste testing all of the sample chocolate, I was going in for seconds. As I was taking my time to look for those “obvious” floral aromas, I look back at my plate and realize that all of my chocolate is gone! I turn to the left of me to see my friend, or who I thought was a friend, John who was in the middle of putting the last bite of my chocolate into his mouth. He peers up at my white, shocked face and utters the words “Oh, were you going to eat that?”. To this day I am still traumatized by this experience.
Day 13 (January 13)
Equator
Originally the plan was supposed to spend most of our day at the equator. Unfortunately, one of our classmates (*cough* *cough* Hunter) wasn’t feeling well so he had to go to a clinic in Quito. We ended up spending around 3 hours waiting on the bus for his appointment to end. Darn you and your stomach issues! Anyway, once we got to the equator we got to tour the little museum there. The main focus of the museum was the lifestyle of the ancient indigenous people who originally predicted the position of the equator. The indigenous tribe believed in a ceremony of life after death. For example, their cemeteries are dome shaped to represent the womb of a woman. In the cemetery would be all the things the soul would need once enter the new realm of life. To them, dying is like being reborn. We also toured around a model hut of what historians think homes of the tribes looked like. The typical home of an Inca is made out of bricks, bamboo, and mortar made from animal excrement and mud. The smoke from the fire inside the home helps preserve the roof and make it water resistant. Normally the people in the home would live with cuy, or guinea pig, they use this as food. Once we finished the tour of the museum, our tour guide explained to us the interesting facts about the equator. On the equator there is only a shadow from a sundial during 3 minutes of the entire year. In the summer the shadow is in the north, in winter it's in the south. A different square sundial can show the time of the day, rather than the day of the year. From these basic sundials ancient civilizations were able to deter that there is actually not 24 hours a day, there is 23 hours, 56 minutes,and 4 seconds a day. We have leap year so we can compensate for the time not counted for. Our tour guide also explained that on the Northern hemisphere, which is north of the equator, there are counterclockwise hurricanes. On the Southern hemisphere, south of the equator, there are clockwise cyclones. This goes the same for water draining: the water drains counterclockwise on the Northern hemisphere, clockwise on the Southern hemisphere (look at videos for visible examples). At the equator the water drains straight down. There are no hurricanes at the equator because the forces of both hemispheres cancel each other out. Some other cool things about the equator is that you can balance an egg on a nail there, it’s incredibly hard to walk in a straight line along the equator because both forces of north and south are pulling you, and there is less resistance in your muscles because there is less gravity at the equator. After our equator visit we headed straight for our last destination, Mindo in the cloud forest! |
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Works Cited
Bland, A. (January 2013). Much Ado About Nothing at the Equator. The Smithsonian. Retrieved from:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/much-ado-about-nothing-at-the-equator-8514125/
Zibell, M. (August 2013). Chasing the equator in Ecuador. BBC News. Retrieved from:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-23797904
Flambouris, S. (September 2017). Air Pollution in Quito. Delft University of Technology. Retrieved from:
https://sflambouris.weblog.tudelft.nl/2017/09/18/air-pollution-in-quito/
Political Revolutions Group Category Managers. (June 2016). Monument to Heroes de la Independecia- Quito, Ecuador. Waymarking.com. Retrieved from:
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMRE91_Monument_to_Heroes_de_la_Independecia__Quito_Ecuador (2016)
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/much-ado-about-nothing-at-the-equator-8514125/
Zibell, M. (August 2013). Chasing the equator in Ecuador. BBC News. Retrieved from:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-23797904
Flambouris, S. (September 2017). Air Pollution in Quito. Delft University of Technology. Retrieved from:
https://sflambouris.weblog.tudelft.nl/2017/09/18/air-pollution-in-quito/
Political Revolutions Group Category Managers. (June 2016). Monument to Heroes de la Independecia- Quito, Ecuador. Waymarking.com. Retrieved from:
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMRE91_Monument_to_Heroes_de_la_Independecia__Quito_Ecuador (2016)