Here is a REAL shrunken head... much smaller than the former (about 3" high). Note: they just shrink the skin not the skull). Ok, ok, I'll stop!
A little more refreshing... here is a beautiful carving of a deer within a piece of wood. a true masterpiece that exudes peace, tranquility and natural beauty.
Here is a boy using a traditional loom for weaving the colourful cloths behind him (all conveniently for sale!).
And... this museum also had it's share of llamas too (this place had everything!!).
The guide told us we could be kissed by the llamas, but I much prefer Dave to this animal.
And here's another that we named "psycho llama", due to its protruding bright blue eyes.
On another day, we went for a day trip with our hostal manager, Bernardo, to the Ecuador/Quito Military Museum and through the neighbouring mountains. I believe this was a grave for an important general. Here you can really see the presence of religion on the Ecuadorian culture.
Also in this museum, were some truly colourful and powerful murals... painting out symbols of Ecuador's history, etc.
The military museum of course also has various traditional weapons that were used in their battle for independence.
Another unique weapon. What an interesting shape -- scythe like almost.
And here's our drive on the other side of the mountains that surround Quito. The capital is right in the middle of the line of Sierra mountains.
Taking in more beautiful and tranquil scenery.
And the cows here, in the mountains are unbelievably lean... milk cows mostly. The reason? They are constantly leaning/standing sideways right on the side of a mountain. All of this cannot be good for their knees at all!
And so that is probably one of the reason for this sign. Just kidding... they don't fall from the mountains, from what I have learnt so far.
In our driving adventure, we passed a monumentous quarry, where they were digging for various metals (silver, etc). Look closely for the crane just to get a sense of its awesome size.
We stopped at this house next to thermal baths... and found it was a convenience store!
So, for our long drive over the rocky road (and I mean rocky!!), Bernardo and Dave deserved this beer! Don't they look happy for it!?
And Dave still can't get over the large size of beer bottles here in Ecuador! The picture doesn't do it justice, but it is about 30% bigger than in North America.
Trotting up the road, we met up with a couple of young kids on horse back, followed by their dogs.
After a brief ten minute walk up the trail, we finally came upon the thermal springs (which is warmed up by the heat of earth... or at least my bet is by nearby volcanoes).
To our surprise, it was a man-made concrete structure...and to our dissappointment, the water was lukewarm, and full of algae... we'll just have to find another one.
For lunch, we bought roasted chicken from a Quito-ean food chain "Gus Gus". The chicken was great, but the most interesting part of lunch was the plastic gloves that the food outlet provided us! What a perfect idea! I know that Dave appreciated it !!
I just had to take a picture of this "middle of nowhere" area with a taxi... Quito has 8000 of them in their city of 1.5 million (people), but I never expected one out here!
