It only costs 50 cents to get into the zoo, which is not very large but still contains a wide enough variety of animals to be exciting:
Bears (osos):
The smaller bear has a bad case of mange. Without its hair it kind of looks like a warthog.
There was also:
This really interesting squirrel like creature which may actually have been a squirrel, but we weren’t quite sure:
A giant tortoise (tortuga) from the Galapagos:
Ostriches…
who weren’t very friendly:
This tiger:
Parrots that said Hola to us!
Llamas:
These odd rodent things:
And monkeys!:
We think this one was whispering dirty secrets:
There was also a lioness but we ran out of space on the camera to snap a photo. A government confiscated lion, in fact. Most of the animals were collected by the mayor from circuses accused of animal cruelty and from animal traffickers. I am told that every-time the circus comes into town, all the stray dogs in Loja disappear. Lion food, it’s assumed.
Conspicuously absent in one of the cages was Chelito, the lone giraffe of Ecuador who the country is now in a state of national mourning for after her sudden and unexpected demise on Friday. (http://globalvoicesonline.org/2008/10/14/ecuador-residents-mourn-the-death-of-chelito-the-giraffe/) The mayor, I am told is particularly devastated by this. Now whose going to give Ecuador another giraffe with such a poor track record?
We crossed into a horticulture center connected to the zoo which featured a labyrinth of orchids which was really pretty amazing.
We returned home for lunch (fried pork) and then went off in search of a memory card for Ryan’s camera so that it can hold more than 15 pictures when we go to the rainforest. We were both getting very tired of having to deliberate over which picture to delete before snapping another. It turned out to be a hell of an unexpected undertaking, especially when Ryan had to head to class and I was left with a mission to find a proper memory card and acquire rations for our trip tomorrow so we don’t starve on the bus. This led me to many computer shops, many confused conversations in Spanish, and after I had attained the memory card to a Super Mercado (the supermarket) where Saula dropped me off and said she’d be back in twenty minutes. I stood in the aisle completely confused as to where to start but ultimately exited successful with banana chifles, yucca chips, two bottles of agua, some bran bars, bananas and a $3.80 bottle of wine from Chile.
I had dinner with Saula’s really delightful children (13 and 15) and Stephanie her daughter afterwards showed me how the glass window on the rooftop reflects Loja at night creating an abyss of city lights across the bottom of their stairwell. It’s really a pretty cool effect.
Ryan came back from work and we acquired boots and raincoats from Saula and further worked out the details for tomorrow. We went to Sendero, a café run by an Australian couple that focuses on spreading the English language through a Conversation in English club. It’s apparently a mecca for most gringos in Loja and a good place to know if I ever want to go anywhere to speak English. There we shared an amazing crepe dappled with chocolate syrup with kiwi, strawberry, banana and topped with a scoop of chocolate ice-cream ($2).
Colin, one of the owners informed me that his friend Diego was desperate for native English speakers to cover a few of his English classes at Canadian House, apparently a rival school for Fine-Tuned English. This school in particular only employs native English speakers and several of their teachers had to return home for various reasons, leaving them with a serious shortage. I offered to cover a few of the classes when I am available. Colin called up Diego and he was there in five minutes informing me of all the possibilities being a teacher for his school could entail. Room and board for $50 a month plus $4 an hour (pretty decent salary for Ecuador—you can live pretty well on that here). I don’t know if I’ll take him up on getting a two year visa to teach in Ecuador—but I’ll probably teach an English class or three on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to get a feel for it.
I have been here less than a week and Ecuador doesn’t want to let me go. Or at least, the people here don’t. Given that I am far ahead in acquiring living accommodations in Ecuador for November than I am in Philly—it wouldn’t be difficult to extend my stay here until December. But I am torn because I feel like if I am going to leave Philadelphia after November (if that is the case)—I would like to be in Philadelphia in November and some of December. My plan right now is ideally as follows:
Philadelphia (November)
Austin, TX (December)
If I get an internship with New Dramatists (NYC for 20 weeks).
Then after that—wherever. But if New Dramatists falls through—perhaps in January and February, I will be back in Ecuador.
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