Semana Santa

So I took a two week break from the blog during my spring vacation, and quite the vacation it was. For the first week my parents and brother came down during Isaac’s sprink break. My parents and I thought it was a fantastic week, Isaac may not exactly share the sentiment as he was sick for most of the week with altitude sickness and sinus trouble; Fanta in a glass bottle, essentially liquid gold, really makes up for a lot though, even altitude sickness.

We started off in Quito at beautiful converted mansion where we stayed for three days. After exploring Quito a little on Sunday, my family got to meet my host family on Monday without me to translate, which seemed interesting for both of them. At my house we also made some Ecuadorian friends, cousins of my host family, who were fantastic tour guides for the entire week.

(Converted hotel mansions are the way to go)

Tuesday through Thursday we slept on top of a mountain.

(View from where we stayed)

Thursday we returned to Quito to stay in Centro Historico, or the Colonial center of Quito. On Friday we got to see one of the most spectacular, disturbing, and interesting things I have ever seen, the Good Friday procession through Centro Historico. Thousands upon thousands of pecadores, or sinners, strolled through the streets of Centro Historico for a good 4 or 5 hours wearing KKK like(but with no actual association) purple outfits, some without shoes, some with sharp cactuses strapped to their backs, others wrapped in barb wire, you know, typical Good Friday attire. The procession was really the highlight of the week and as someone that is not catholic, really showed me how powerful religious belief can be.

After my parents left on Sunday, I headed to the beach for a few days to smoke some South American cigars and enjoy the Pacific Ocean.

It was great having my family here and I’m so happy they were able to come down and that we got to share a week in Ecuador together.