In one word: perfect. Let me back that up with some facts. Air-conditioning and whole-house heating are obsolete in almost every home in Quito. The high hovers around a mild 70 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius), and nighttime lows glide down to a prime range for sleeping deeply beneath a fluff
Are you one of those people who loves to pack your travels with as many experiences as possible? Maybe you’re like some of our students who, after morning classes, lunch, and afternoon cultural activities, are still searching to fill their evenings with as much excitement as possible. In honor of th
You fly into Quito between clouds that are creeping over the mountains into the valleys below you. Looking out the window, you’re tempted to parachute out the airplane emergency exit in that very moment just to start your adventure a little sooner. But, alas, you left your parachute at home.
Food poisoning hit me at 2 a.m. May 21st, 2018. I had arrived three hours earlier to the Quito airport after a full day of traveling from my home in the United States. Immediately, I blamed the cup of water my host mom had served me. It wasn’t until I called my family in the US that I found out they
A company in Japan just developed the Muamua Enence–a two-way, state-of-the-art, instant translator. It allows a foreign language novice to chat with a native speaker in more than forty different languages. Well, that’s it. No need to take that High School Spanish exam. It’s time to uninstall your
Qué leche – Win an all-expenses-paid trip to the Galapagos? ¡Qué leche! A possible translation would be, “What milk?” But here in Quito, it means, “What luck!” Es Papaya —“It is…Papaya?” Not quite. In Ecuador, this phrase means “It´s easy!” Learning Spanish? ¡Es papaya! La yapa, por favor – These ar
At Vida Verde, we feel very lucky to be located in the Floresta neighborhood. As one of the most popular and safest neighborhoods in all of Quito, we love to show our students around to take a look at the street art and experience its culture first hand. Almost more importantly, we love to show stud
The Teleferico is one of the most important tourist icons in all of Ecuador. It is a must see for visitors to the Capitol city of Quito. Inaugurated on May 24th, 2005 and located in the foothills of the volcano Rucu Pichincha, riders of the Teleferico ascend to an altitude of 3947 meters above sea l
The “Arrastre de caudas”, an ancient Catholic ceremony commemorating the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, is held every Wednesday of Holy Week in Quito, the only city in all of the world where this ritual still survives. This ceremony has its origin in an ancient Roman rite in which the
Fanesca, the traditional meal of Holy Week in Ecuador, has just about as many legends pertaining to its origins as the number of grains it contains. The majority of Ecuadorians that make the delicious soup have no idea where it came from; they only know the recipe they learned from their parents. Th
