Guayaquil Airport

Edgar Palacio school for Disabled Children

A few weeks ago we visited a school for children with disabilities.  They go to school in the morning and then in the afternoon they take classes in music, art or dance.  They are so talented and each week they put on a performance for tourists who come to their school.  They have a little shop and sell things from Ecuador.  Above is a tagua pod from a tagua tree.  Each huge pod may have dozens of seeds in it covered in a hard woody substance.  They peel it off and use the seeds inside to make jewlery.  It's very pretty.  Of course I had to buy a necklace and earrings that the students made.

Some of the paintings done by the students at the school.  They are really good and some had a price tag of $100!

Another painting with the picture of the artist in the left hand corner.

Some shots of their store inside the school where they sell items to make money for the school.

Some masks for sale for $3.00

Two of the student teachers from the university putting together some baskets made out of foam.

One of the students putting together a puzzle.

The sound proof ceiling made out of egg crates in one of the music rooms.

Edgar Palacio is the founder of the school.  He is an Ecuadorian musician.  Here the students had just finished their program for us.  Some of them in native costumes.

A classroom.  All the students were at recess.

Some more of their art work.

Taking a bow.  There were about 50 seniors there who were with a tour group from the U.S.  This was one of the stops on the tour and one of the highlights!  These kids were amazing and they loved performing for us.

Here is a sample of one of the dances!

A young man and woman in traditional dress.

More dancing.  We sure were smiling when we left the school that day!!

Odds N Ends & Parque Metropolitano

Cool turtles we found on our walk!  Too bad they are made of concrete.

Odd architectural stuff!

No idea what this is supposed to represent.

We thought these were real neat trees until we realized that they are just uprooted trees stuck in the ground upside down!

We call this the bottle brush tree!  They are all along the sidewalks in Quito.  It must be one of their favorites.

Outdoor amphitheater!  Probably works ok unless it's wet.  It rains a lot here.

Cotopaxi is one of the most famous volcanos here in Ecuador.  It's the one that gave everyone a scare a few months ago because it started erupting.

Here's Cotopaxi!  So high it has snow at it's peak year around even though we are at the equator.

Hard to get good pictures of the volcanos because they are typically shrouded in clouds.  For a minute we were able to take a fairly clear picture but then the clouds moved in again.

Little fungi growing on the bark of a tree!

Lots of pretty flowers in Equador!  Supposed to be the best place in the world for humming birds but we didn't see any.

We were walking on a seldom used road.  Police patrol area on horseback!

Ferns at the side of the trail.

Strange stump we thought was pretty!

Pretty flowers along the way!

View from the park!  Down below is the park we walked to last week.  We live up over the hill on the right.  If you can find the red building we live on the other side down below.  We walked from the park all the way home!!

On the way home we passed the fire station!

Cute couple out walking!  They were holding hands and the gentleman had Parkinson's.

Mom stopped and gave them $5.00 for their picture. I'm sure it made their week.  Normally we don't give people any money but they were so cute.

Walking home from the park.  Looking towards the cement jungle of Quito!

A lot of construction going on in Quito!  The supporting pillars are filled in between with cinder blocks.  Probably, not the best construction in an earthquake zone.  Can you see the bucket used to haul up construction materials?

Love the name!  Haven't tried the food!