Yantzaza

The days are beginning to pass more and more quickly and I want to stop time. Today I arose early and ran around Loja one last time. I packed up all my belongings and enjoyed a lingering complimentary breakfast with friends in the café next to the hotel. We took a cattle truck to the terminal with all our belongings and rode once more for over 3 hours to Yantzaza.

Our hotel in Yantzaza is called Oriental Hotel and it is a quirky little joint. It is three stories with rooms that smell a little funky, some damp, some mild-dewy, and others a more non-distinct odor. It has a common space on the second floor that has couches, green and white with a tacky floral design. The décor is fake plants, flowers, and two paintings (or prints?) of an ocean landscape. There is no air conditioning and I feel perpetually sticky. It certainly has its charm---the “oriental” hotel in the middle of Ecuador.

We all had a 3:30pm traditional lunch and had a simple orientation on the small town of Yantzaza. We then all walked around the city, if you can even call it that, which is about 12 blocks long and 4 blocks deep. I love it though. The streets are wide, clean, and filled with people. It a lively place and there are joyful children playing everywhere. Because there is not tons of development you can see the beautiful mountains surrounding this valley town. We were able to walk all over the town and poke our heads in most shops in the matter of a couple of hours. Wherever we walked we were certainly a spectacle. I have a feeling we are the most gringos this town has seen in a while. At dusk we sat at a small restaurant, enjoyed some drinks, and shared life stories. I am fairly confident this restaurant saw significantly more business tonight because people wanted to observe us. Oh my. At one point I ventured to the bathroom which required walking through the kitchen where the family was preparing the food, some sitting playing cards, and another woman doing laundry. There was a gorgeous golden retriever sitting in the garden. I had to restrain myself to not pet this friendly animal that reminded me of home.

I truly love this city and I am really looking forward to the time we will spend there. It is quite possible for us to eat at the majority of the good restaurants and for my morning run to easily cover the entire town. This week is much less hectic than the last, partially because we just have less time in transit to and from different locations and partially because we will be able to recycle consultation presentations. I am excited for a little slower pace and more time to explore and relax with one another.

Hast luego,

Cate