Day 2
I woke up at 6am (a combination of the time difference and the early night) to a lovely sunny morning, like a good summer day at home even though it’s the cooler season here.
I spent the time between waking and breakfast reading the guide book, and decided to head out towards Parque la Carolina- it has a shopping centre with a supermarket, so I can get food and bottled water and a few other things, and also the Museo des Ciencias Naturels and Jardin Botanico (also the vivarium, unfortunately closed on Mondays).
None of the three new bus systems with their glowing reviews went to the right place, so I took the ‘bog standard’ bus which was actually fine- provided, as the guide books say, you’re just going straight along one road.
The shopping centre was clearly more for the wealthier population judging by the goods and prices, although the Supermarket itself was noticeably cheaper than in England. I also picked up five fruits I hadn’t seen before- one looked like a cactus fruit (and appeared to be called a ‘tuna’!), the others I wasn’t sure at all.
Then onto the park itself. The natural sciences museum does, as the guide book says, look a little dilapidated and under-resourced, although there was an area in the middle of a redesign. Despite the lack of resources, the displays were all quite well thought out and well put together, with wonderful painted backgrounds and 3D paper illustrations, but the cases were loose and dusty, the paleao specimens not mounted (the mastodon split between six cases), the taxidermy often lacking (no glass eyes, skins not joined up underneath), the furs looking motheaten, and the labels printed on paper glued onto card and cut out with scissors. However, these were largely presentation issues (occasional questions of specimen care but the damage may have predated acquisition by the museum), the content being very good; it was just a shame to see the under-resourcing causing presentation issues that detracted from the good content: as a case in point, my own guidebook rather overplayed the limitations, and suggested the main saving graces were a couple of the larger specimens on display, rather than mentioning the good displays on taxonomy, thoughtful arrangements and good use of specimens to demonstrate scientific points, and excellent art work.
Next door, the Botanical Garden was a stunning contrast- new interpretation panels, well-maintained paths and bridges, and greenhouse/conservatory building with a new-looking central roof, a café, seating, and maps of the different zones. Good to see botany coming out on top, resource-wise, for once…
It was divided into the different habitats found in Ecuador, plus the orchid collection in the greenhouse. Slightly concerning was the presence of a few all too familiar ruderals- dandelion, vervain, white clover, yellow oxalis, groundsel, common field speedwell- do they all have genuine worldwide distributions or is this my first taste of invasive aliens here?
A lot of the other plants I had seen before, at Kew Gardens and the Eden Project, but there is a whole new feeling to seeing them growing outside, and knowing that far from just being a ‘wow cabinet’ collection of anything big and showy from around the world, these were all from within Ecuador, and there is a real meaning to the assemblages.
It was rather smaller than Kew or Eden- I got round in about an hour- but all very well thought out, and generally an excellent place.
After that, I walked further down into the park. It’s a vast park, split into four zones- educational, aquatic, aerobic and active. The museum and botanical garden were all in the educational zone, so I wandered down into the water park zone (the other two zones contained various sporting facilities)- a long winding lake, edged with tree, crossed by several footbridges, and with pedalloes for hire. It seemed very popular with courting couples- who seemed quite happy to display their pairingness in public, not quite the conservative Catholic country about which I had read but then again this is the capital city, I suspect the rural areas are another matter.
I then walked back, having seen how short the bus ride was on the way, but somehow went a little off route, and ended up on a rather poorer-looking road- missing paving slabs, graffiti, people not dressed in smart working clothes- not a comfortable experience. Not that I felt threatened- it was daylight, on a wide pavement with plenty of people passing but not too closely packed, visible from the road just below- more just feeling completely out of place, and knowing I looked it, too. To be honest, the biggest danger was crossing the road. Crossings are painted like zebra crossings, but don’t let that fool you into thinking that a car would ever stop for a pedestrian- the best strategy is to find a local waiting to cross, and go when they do. Here also were more street traders- newspaper stands, key-cutters, sweet-sellers; an indiguena family (couple and young girl) were all out selling together, I hoped that perhaps she has just joined them after finishing school but realistically this was probably unlikely. Anyway, let’s just say I had ventured briefly out of the tourist-land bubble, and that was as far as I was going with that, as anything else really would not have been entirely safe for a lone female ‘gringa’.
Back at the hotel, after some quick emails, I prepared the food I had bought (having found that the way to make the little papery matches work was to strike two at once), then braved the mystery fruits: the tuna definitely looks cactussy, nice taste but very pippy; maracuya turned out to mean passion fruit, unfortunately the reason I didn’t recognise it was that it was unripe; the toronja, with it’s smooth, black-speckled skin, was actually a grapefruit, and possibly the nicest of the lot; tomate dulce, a tree tomato, a layer of flesh under the skin was like a slightly less sweet cape gooseberry, then a rather unpleasant black seed layer, then more of the physalis-like flesh but more bitter, so overall quite bitter and unpleasant; and pepino dulce, which turned out to be a ‘sweet cucmber’, plum-shaped, pear-sized, pale green with purple stripes, and resembling a less-sweet honeydew melon.
Overall lesson: interesting as ever to try new things, but there may be good reasons why some of these are not widely-eaten in Britain…
Tonight, being in Quito at nightfall, the drop in temperature was quite sudden, but it did also seem to get rainstormy at that point.
A school group arrived this evening, for a mountain-climbing trip (some school trip!), and a pair of American teachers travelling in their summer holiday. I talked to some of the other guests for a couple of hours- the two American teachers, a Scottish chap on a Spanish course, and a Texan-Philipino medical student leaving the next day for another mainland Jatun Sacha reserve- before bed.
I spent the time between waking and breakfast reading the guide book, and decided to head out towards Parque la Carolina- it has a shopping centre with a supermarket, so I can get food and bottled water and a few other things, and also the Museo des Ciencias Naturels and Jardin Botanico (also the vivarium, unfortunately closed on Mondays).
None of the three new bus systems with their glowing reviews went to the right place, so I took the ‘bog standard’ bus which was actually fine- provided, as the guide books say, you’re just going straight along one road.
The shopping centre was clearly more for the wealthier population judging by the goods and prices, although the Supermarket itself was noticeably cheaper than in England. I also picked up five fruits I hadn’t seen before- one looked like a cactus fruit (and appeared to be called a ‘tuna’!), the others I wasn’t sure at all.
Then onto the park itself. The natural sciences museum does, as the guide book says, look a little dilapidated and under-resourced, although there was an area in the middle of a redesign. Despite the lack of resources, the displays were all quite well thought out and well put together, with wonderful painted backgrounds and 3D paper illustrations, but the cases were loose and dusty, the paleao specimens not mounted (the mastodon split between six cases), the taxidermy often lacking (no glass eyes, skins not joined up underneath), the furs looking motheaten, and the labels printed on paper glued onto card and cut out with scissors. However, these were largely presentation issues (occasional questions of specimen care but the damage may have predated acquisition by the museum), the content being very good; it was just a shame to see the under-resourcing causing presentation issues that detracted from the good content: as a case in point, my own guidebook rather overplayed the limitations, and suggested the main saving graces were a couple of the larger specimens on display, rather than mentioning the good displays on taxonomy, thoughtful arrangements and good use of specimens to demonstrate scientific points, and excellent art work.
Next door, the Botanical Garden was a stunning contrast- new interpretation panels, well-maintained paths and bridges, and greenhouse/conservatory building with a new-looking central roof, a café, seating, and maps of the different zones. Good to see botany coming out on top, resource-wise, for once…
It was divided into the different habitats found in Ecuador, plus the orchid collection in the greenhouse. Slightly concerning was the presence of a few all too familiar ruderals- dandelion, vervain, white clover, yellow oxalis, groundsel, common field speedwell- do they all have genuine worldwide distributions or is this my first taste of invasive aliens here?
A lot of the other plants I had seen before, at Kew Gardens and the Eden Project, but there is a whole new feeling to seeing them growing outside, and knowing that far from just being a ‘wow cabinet’ collection of anything big and showy from around the world, these were all from within Ecuador, and there is a real meaning to the assemblages.
It was rather smaller than Kew or Eden- I got round in about an hour- but all very well thought out, and generally an excellent place.
After that, I walked further down into the park. It’s a vast park, split into four zones- educational, aquatic, aerobic and active. The museum and botanical garden were all in the educational zone, so I wandered down into the water park zone (the other two zones contained various sporting facilities)- a long winding lake, edged with tree, crossed by several footbridges, and with pedalloes for hire. It seemed very popular with courting couples- who seemed quite happy to display their pairingness in public, not quite the conservative Catholic country about which I had read but then again this is the capital city, I suspect the rural areas are another matter.
I then walked back, having seen how short the bus ride was on the way, but somehow went a little off route, and ended up on a rather poorer-looking road- missing paving slabs, graffiti, people not dressed in smart working clothes- not a comfortable experience. Not that I felt threatened- it was daylight, on a wide pavement with plenty of people passing but not too closely packed, visible from the road just below- more just feeling completely out of place, and knowing I looked it, too. To be honest, the biggest danger was crossing the road. Crossings are painted like zebra crossings, but don’t let that fool you into thinking that a car would ever stop for a pedestrian- the best strategy is to find a local waiting to cross, and go when they do. Here also were more street traders- newspaper stands, key-cutters, sweet-sellers; an indiguena family (couple and young girl) were all out selling together, I hoped that perhaps she has just joined them after finishing school but realistically this was probably unlikely. Anyway, let’s just say I had ventured briefly out of the tourist-land bubble, and that was as far as I was going with that, as anything else really would not have been entirely safe for a lone female ‘gringa’.
Back at the hotel, after some quick emails, I prepared the food I had bought (having found that the way to make the little papery matches work was to strike two at once), then braved the mystery fruits: the tuna definitely looks cactussy, nice taste but very pippy; maracuya turned out to mean passion fruit, unfortunately the reason I didn’t recognise it was that it was unripe; the toronja, with it’s smooth, black-speckled skin, was actually a grapefruit, and possibly the nicest of the lot; tomate dulce, a tree tomato, a layer of flesh under the skin was like a slightly less sweet cape gooseberry, then a rather unpleasant black seed layer, then more of the physalis-like flesh but more bitter, so overall quite bitter and unpleasant; and pepino dulce, which turned out to be a ‘sweet cucmber’, plum-shaped, pear-sized, pale green with purple stripes, and resembling a less-sweet honeydew melon.
Overall lesson: interesting as ever to try new things, but there may be good reasons why some of these are not widely-eaten in Britain…
Tonight, being in Quito at nightfall, the drop in temperature was quite sudden, but it did also seem to get rainstormy at that point.
A school group arrived this evening, for a mountain-climbing trip (some school trip!), and a pair of American teachers travelling in their summer holiday. I talked to some of the other guests for a couple of hours- the two American teachers, a Scottish chap on a Spanish course, and a Texan-Philipino medical student leaving the next day for another mainland Jatun Sacha reserve- before bed.