Zaruma
As per one of my friend´s requests, I am finally going to put captions on my blog. I think this is just a procrastination technique so that I don´t have to look for a job =)
Here are some photos from my November trip to Zaruma to visit Benito. Maggie came with me and we had a fabulous time. Here are Maggie and Benito demonstrating the cool way to make a "3" sign with your hands. The sign above them is very exact; we were exactly 303 meters away from the tourist mine.
Zaruma is famous for their windy streets, wooden buildings and sidewalks, coffee, and gold mines. This tourist mine is operated by one of the mining companies. Here´s me, Benito, and Maggie inside one of the mining shafts.
Maggie and Benito showing off those sweet red hardhats and rubber boots =)
Maggie and I were in Zaruma for the Dia de los Muertos (I think that´s what it´s called), November 2. This is a day to honor the dead, and is observed with a visit to the gravesites of family and friends. Also, for reasons I don´t understand, the traditional food and drink for the Dia de los Muertos is this bread in the shape of a baby, and a purple drink (colada morada). The bread was yummy, as was the drink, which had lots of fruit chunks floating in it.
As we were walking around Zaruma, we came upon a group of kids entertaining themselves by sliding down a hill. I hope they didn´t get yelled at for any grass stains!
My favorite fruit in Ecuador is maracuyá, or passion fruit. It´s really tarty, and grows on a vine. You can see some of the fruits in this picture.
This karaoke/discotech does not actually play Inxs music, but it would have been really cool if it did! Here´s Maggie striking an 80s pose.
Inside the Zaruma church.
Alli (another Peace Corps volunteer), Benito and Maggie looking tough on the stairs to the church.
Close up of a maracuyá =)
Here we are enjoying the baby bread and purple drink at Benito´s counterpart´s house. I used my self-timer to take this picture. Obviously, I need to practice a little more with this feature, so that the subject of the photo will be more centered.
Zaruma had a small fiesta on our last night in town. Here are some of the traditional dancers.
Wild pineapple! Pineapples are ground bromeliads (I think).
Me, Jeremy, and Benito, contemplating our place in the universe or thinking about what we are going to have for dinner.
One-eared goat! Pobrecito. We named him Van Gogh.
Looking down at Zaruma.
Zaruma looks like a Hollywood set of a mining town. Zaruma was unlike any other town I´ve been to in Ecuador.
As part of the town´s fiestas, they let off some pyrotechnics. I´m not sure if that´s the right word. They light these things that seem to be made out of very flammable material that float into the air and then away in the sky away from the crowds. One of them caught on fire, and fell quickly to the ground, which I thought was scary and a little dangerous. The kids, however, were delighted, and ran over to the fallen burning lantern thingie to play with it. Here they are stomping on the flames. Fun!
Here are the kids running to the burning lantern thing. You can see it above their heads.
Burning lantern thingie before it fell to the ground.
Benito, his counterpart (I forgot her name) and Maggie in front of the church steeple, which looked so pretty at night.
Here are some pictures of a fellow Peace Corps volunteer performing in the park as part of the town´s fiestas. Jeremy played a couple of songs on his classical guitar (I don´t really know what that means, even though Maggie has tried to explain it to me).
Here´s the link to my shuttefly album with these photos:
posted by Unknown @ Friday, November 09, 2007
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