Quito and Shell

Last Friday we were proper tourists and saw as much of Quito as possible, taking the teleférico up an extra 2000ft to get amazing views of the city, exploring an artisanal market and taking a horse-drawn carriage ride around the Old Town after dark. Saturday was the end of the luxurious living as we got on the bus to Shell – arriving 6 hours later.

The vastness of Quito (or a small part of it), the Basilica and street sellers in the Old Town - click on the photos for larger versions

Shell is built on one side of the main road to Puyo – the other side is the airstrip. It’s a small town divided in 2 by a steep river valley but there are several suspension bridges crossing from one side to the other. Everywhere I tend to go is walkable in about 20 minutes (depending on how hot it is and whether it’s raining). There’s a lot of missionary history and quite a big American population.

The street outside my house looking west towards the mountains,  my route to work.

It looks like we’re going to be spending quite a lot of time in the jungle – usually at least every second week which means the time in between is a scramble to catch up in the office. We work with Alex (English) and Alfredo (Ecuadorian) who are married and somehow manage to cope working together as well. Alfredo’s English is about the same level as my Spanish so we speak a funny mix of both. We’ll need our Spanish for work in the communities – particularly as plans are to do some hygiene teaching in the next couple of weeks.

Steph and Stephy in the office

Steph and I live with a lady called María – we have our own rooms but share the living room and kitchen with her although we do our own cooking – I’m hoping to learn some local recipes. For lunch we usually go to a local cafe for almuerzo – a set meal of soup followed by meat and rice – for the bargain sum of $2.  So far we've been dashing home for dinner then out every evening - I don't think this pace will continue!

This weekend we're off to some hot springs for a relaxing few days before going into Macuma and Mutints next week with Water for People (the USA equivalent of WaterAid) to see how their money has been used in projects.