Quebradas and Arrows

The other day after Caleb arrived home from school and ate a hefty snack, he, Jens, and I took a little excursion to the Parque Metropolitano Guangüiltagua in the car Helen and Gene have lent us, the Hyundai Atso. We call it “Atso” for short and could say that it’s named after the famous Finnish orchestral conductor Atso Almila, but I prefer the meaning “Ability To Survive and Operate.” Driving in Quito can be nuts. Here’s a picture of this small, fuel-efficient vehicle that lacks great oomph, but does a fine job getting us around.


For a city, Quito has a good amount of green space, which is wonderful. The Parque Metropolitano, with its forest cover of planted eucalyptus trees, dominates the long crest of a hill (not a mountain by Ecuadorian standards, but certainly by New Jersey ones) on the eastern side of Quito. It faces the long, high ridge formed by Pichincha Mountain on the western side of the city. The blog “Positivo Ecuador” says, “Considered one of the largest urban parks in the world, with an area of 1,410 acres, the Parque Metropolitano is a space for recreation and relaxation for the residents of the capital city who live consumed by the stress of the city” (my translation). Here’s a view of the park’s forest from the roof of our house.

Although not feeling “consumed by the stress of the city,” we had a really nice walk in the park, working our lungs a lot to continue acclimating to the altitude, which up there is close to 10,000 feet above sea level. Jens is full of stories of how Ecuador and the city of Quito used to be and especially loves to tell of the “quebradas,” the huge ravines cut into the volcanic dirt by water, many of which have been filled in for urban development. In the Parque Metropolitano we could see the tops of ravines that widened and gaped down into the valleys miles away. We could imagine Jens scampering along underneath the brush, following the tunnels where the water rushes when it rains, and encountering many exotic natural and human-made items of interest.

As part of his sharing his past, Jens taught Caleb how to make an arrow using a hollow stalk of sawgrass reeds and a eucalyptus acorn. Eucalyptus acorns are shaped a bit like an arrowhead with an indentation perfect for fitting snugly onto the tip of the reed to make a nice point for the arrow. Here’s a picture of Caleb throwing his arrow into a quebrada from the look-out post.

-Spee