Sinamune Children’s Orchestra, Inti Nan, the Equator, Downtown Quito

September 17, Tuesday Grand Circle Foundation visit: Sinamune Children’s Orchestra • Visit Inti Nan & the Equator • Explore downtown Quito

Destination: Quito

Accommodations: NH COLLECTION ROYAL QUITO
After breakfast we drove to the Sinamune School, our first stop of the day. On the way, our local guide Israel, told us some info about Quito.

People drive to work in the city and take their kids to school, etc., so traffic can be a big problem. In order to alleviate some of the congestion, the government said that If your license plate ends with a 1 or 2, your vehicle is restricted on Mondays. Ends in 3 or 4, it’s restricted on Tuesdays. Ends in 5 or 6, it’s restricted on Wednesdays. Ends in 7 or 8, it’s restricted on Thursdays. Ends in 9 or 0, it’s restricted on Fridays. If you were caught driving on a day that you weren’t supposed to, you paid a $200 fine. However, the plan backfired. People needed to get to work, so they got around the law by buying a second car with a license number different from the original. So in actuality MORE cars were on the road.

Another interesting tidbit Israel told us was if a family enters a vacant house, and stays for ten years without anyone evicting them… the house is theirs forever. Wow!

Israel said that Ecuador has 4 worlds. The Amazon, the Andes, the Coast, and the Galapagos. Each world is very different.

Ecuador uses American dollars as their currency and they also have their own coins that are not usable in the US. The United States mint had been producing Sacagawea dollar coins since 2000. The coins were not popular in the US, so they were sent to Ecuador, since Ecuador prefers coins over paper money. We wound up with two Sacagawea coins which we will keep for posterity.

Another fact that we have been made aware of is…most public bathrooms do not have toilet paper. We have learned that the hard way, so always pick up toilet paper whenever you can, and keep it with you.

We finally arrived at our first destination…the Sinamune School, to hear the Sinamune Disabled Children’s Orchestra, supported in part by Grand Circle Foundation, perform. The Sinamune provides disabled children and adults with the opportunity to learn music or the fine arts. It was founded in 1992 by Maestro Edgar Augusto Palacios and his wife Marcia, with the goal of rehabilitating special needs people as well as integrating them into mainstream society. The Sinamune project focuses on teaching orchestral groups, fine arts, song, art, painting, and handicrafts. (We saw some of the students’ handiwork was for sale in the gift shop.) Additionally, the school tries to reinforce math and language skills, according to the students abilities. Over the years, Grand Circle Foundation along with travelers, has donated $285,320 to Sinamune, which has helped refurbish the auditorium as well as helped towards the purchase of musical instruments, scholarships, school uniforms, food stipends, and much more.

The school is comprised of children starting from the age of 12, who have physical and/or mental challenges. These may include physical disabilities such as blindness, deafness, or motor and mental disabilities such as Down Syndrome. There is no age limit for ending participation at the school. Programs are formed based on individual needs. The goal ultimately is to give these students the tools they need to go out into the world to be on their own.

Maestro Palacios was there playing the trumpet with the orchestra today. The orchestra has concerts and travels around Quito and the world to perform. They were amazing and very professional and we enjoyed the concert immensely. We noticed that two members of the orchestra were blind. Some of the students came out to do dance routines and at one point, they invited all of us to dance with them. It was joyous.

After the performance, we drove through downtown Quito, which actually is a UNESCO Heritage site. The drive was an experience!!! The streets are like in San Francisco – and possibly with even steeper hills. Our bus driver had to really hit the brakes as we went down hill after hill.

We finally arrived at the Inti Nan museum. Inti Nan is the Quechua phrase for “Path of the Sun” and it sits directly on the equator. We didn’t tour the museum, but we had a great time anyway…standing on the equator, trying to balance an egg on a nail, walking a straight line with our eyes closed, and watching a demonstration of the Coriolis Effect.

Standing on the equator: We put our feet in huge shoes for north and south and posed for the picture op. Next we all tried to balance an egg on a nail. It’s very hard to do and no one in the group succeeded.

Walking the equator with eyes closed: You can feel the pull left and right so it’s very hard to walk the straight line.

Coriolis effect: The guide stood on the equator and filled a basin with water. When he pulled the plug, the water went straight down the drain. But when he went to South side, the water drained clockwise and at the north side, it drained counterclockwise. Pretty amazing to witness.

We then went to a demonstration and tasting of the chocolate grown in Ecuador which is said to be the best chocolate in the world. Switzerland and Belgium buy chocolate from Ecuador we were told.

It was time for lunch so we walked to the restaurant which was right near the Presidential Palace. Imagine our surprise when we weren’t allowed to get to the restaurant because the street to walk to the restaurant was being guarded with police in riot gear. Apparently, there was a protest and strike going on by the taxi cab drivers. Our guide Pablo tried in earnest to convince the police we just wanted to get to the restaurant since we had reservations. But, it was to no avail. Finally the chef came down from the restaurant and said he would accommodate us in his other restaurant a few blocks away.

As I mentioned, the streets are very steep so we had to navigate up, up, up the hills to get to the restaurant which wasn’t easy because of the altitude of over 9,000’. We arrived at the beautiful eatery and were served a wonderful meal. The chicken soup was the best soup I’ve ever tasted. The main course Allan and I chose was fried pork and it came with a lot of sides. But it was too much to eat. We told Pablo to please tell the restaurant owners to serve smaller portions in the future. We just don’t want to waste the food.

After lunch we walked through Quito’s colonial nucleus – Independence Plaza, with a winged statue representing freedom. In the plaza is the San Francisco Convent, the oldest and most significant religious site in Ecuador. Israel told us a great story…a myth…that supposedly, the builder of the convent, Cantuna, was told he must finish the building within three years or he would be killed. He took the job, but realized, he would never be able to complete it in time. So he made a deal with the devil. He would sell his soul to the devil if the devil would help him complete the building in time. The devil said it’s a deal and rounded up his helpers to get the building completed. But Cantuna was sly. Just before the midnight deadline, he removed a single stone from the structure, meaning… the church was never completed!!! Cantuna told the devil he hid the stone so it would never be found. The building was basically done, so he wouldn’t be killed, but the devil would never get his soul because the devil never officially completed the structure. Great legend.

We walked to the Presidential Palace because by that time the protest was over and the police had dispersed. We saw the guards in traditional uniforms keeping watch.

Our last stop was the most beautiful and ornate church in Ecuador … Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús. This Jesuit church is one of the greatest baroque masterpieces in South America. Construction started on the church in 1605 and it took 160 years to complete.

Everyone had to take their hats off to enter and we were very lucky since a new bishop about a month ago agreed to let visitors take photos inside the church.

Everywhere you looked, there was gold. No one knows exactly how much gold has been put on the walls and columns, but it must be a staggering amount.

While returning to our bus, we took a detour to a place that Israel’s daughter calls “Happy Heaven”. It is a candy store. We tasted caramel corn and then we had a taste of mistalis candy. Popularly known as borrachitos, these are candies of different flavors that are filled with liquor. You put one in your mouth…wait a second or two…and then experience the “pop” as the sugar coating disintegrates and the liquor oozes into your mouth. They were divine. These sweets date back to colonial times when women were not allowed to consume alcoholic beverages, so they made these candies and no one was the wiser.

We returned to the hotel and had to talk with the management to fix the hot water situation we’ve had since the morning. We didn’t have enough hot water this morning to shower and when we came back from touring, it still wasn’t fixed. We have hot water now, so fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Dick, Sharon, Allan, and I went to a wonderful Italian restaurant for dinner. They gave us a complementary appetizer and we ordered pizza which was so delicious. Our waiter was the manager and he was great! He recommended a delicious wine from Italy that was just the perfect accompaniment to our pizza and then he surprised us by giving us a complementary dessert. It was a great meal!

Tomorrow we don’t have to start touring until 10 am, so we can sleep in for a change.