weekend in Quito

Hola,

A weekend spent in Quito this time. The first week of working was quite exhausting for us, so we decided to stay here this weekend, and its not like there isn´t anything to see here either. Most locals seem to find Quito quite unimpressive, but a saturday morning in the old town impressed me alot. It is beautiful with historical buildings, lots of hidden plazas and statues. We just walked around for a few hours, the buildings are quite magnificent, not always in good shape, lots of the buildings are really colourful and generally the feel is a little like in the centre of Vienna, but of course different, with lots of little allies etc.
We also visited two big churches which were very, very decorative, lots of Gold, icons, a bit more sombre paintings of Jesus and his life, lots of people praying and lighting candles. There is something very distant and glorifying in the catholic religion with ritual and much more feeling of respectful bowing, religion here is very strong, but there is also a big movement of reformatist churches so the statistics of pure catholicism are not quite correct.
There are always street children around churches wanting to polish your shoes, sell you gum. Usually if anything we buy them food. Giving them money just isn´t productive, although not doing it is also not encouraging for them to go to school, its difficult.

The best way in Quito as there is a lack of programmes in the city about events, is just to venture around and ask alot of questions. Today we encountered a free ballet of the nutcracker in the house of culture here, which was a really nice experience. Yesterday we went to a Chaplin movie, today to a small market in a park in Quito. The weather has been very rainy here so I think the city is a bit more quiet and more restricted in what you can do. Usually there are alot of street artists in the park. Some things are really hard to find here cheap, books and there just seem to be no postcards of Quito.

You don´t sense the perfectionism that people strive for more in Europe. Nothing really is punctual or scheduled, in a way there is some carelesness, but in another things are just alot more relaxed.
I don´t use a clock, only in the mornings to know when to get up for work.
We are thinking of moving from the hostel as its just quite expensive and a little empty.

The work is progressing and with more time spent in a place comes more awareness of details. I don´t even know where to start by what needs to be changed. We are going to meet with people to discuss to what extent things like children working etc. are really necessary, just more information about how the project really works. At the moment the children hardly have class and the idealistic picture of the project painted by the organization just is false. It said the main task of the volonteers is to help with homework, but the project hasn´t even progressed to the point of having homework for the children. We are also going to do a fundraising to buy the children things like underwear and shoes which are in horrible conditions. There is little organization in when and what the children are taught and the excuse that we often encounter is that the children are present for too little and unspecified time, but I think more than a reason not to teach the children it is the opposite, to give them a chance to enter routine a little and visit a "school" when it is possible.

Everyone seems to be getting robbed and me and Dela are kind of wondering when its our turn..
I will ask about the donation money for christmas, probably best sent to Ecuador Volunteer, I´ll ask for the number of the account.

okay,
take care you all,