Yesterday was our very first day off since arriving to Loja
and we decided to spend the day exploring the city (because our work makes us
travel so much we rarely have time to actually see the city we are living in
during the daylight). To be honest, after living in and visiting so many cities
in Ecuador all of them are starting to feel more or less the same. We always
find a big indoor market with fresh vegetables, fruits, and meats, and then row
of little stores selling clothing. As far as markets go, once you see one
you’ve pretty much seen them all.
We did find a few unique areas of Loja, including one little
street dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes which was filled with little artisanal
shops. The churches here are beautiful as always but I have found that the art
here in Loja is especially graphic. Latin American religious art is known for
their gruesome depictions of the crucifixion in general, but Loja takes it to a
new level…it’s is incredibly powerful (I don’t have pictures so use your
imagination).
In our exploring we also found a park known as the “Epcot of
Loja” (actually it was called Parque
Jipiro). The park took famous monuments from around the world and turned
into a playground for kids. Even though we were about 2 feet taller than every
Ecuadorian (the adults included) there we tried to blend in and channeled our
inner child for a few hours. We rode a slide from the top of St. Basil’s,
climbed Chichen Itza, and paddle boated around Big Ben.
After our fun filled day of travelling around the world, we
ended with an incredible meal at a steakhouse here in Loja. I have to admit the
food here has gotten a little monotonous, especially with so much rice, but a
huge steak was just what I needed to wake up my taste buds…it was soo
delicious!
Our time in Loja is dwindling down and we will soon be
heading back to Cuenca, but we sure are enjoying our time here in this fun
city.
Lots of love from Ecuador,
Jen
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