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Old Town. We are staying in new town, so we decided to visit some of the old buildings and churches and stuff, which I actually find to be pretty outrageously boring. - IMG 2851 003
Mitad del Mundo. A monument erected on the equator, which is about 30km north of Quito. Quite impressive, even though it's about 100m off the actual mark, which they discovered only six years ago using GPS and GIS. Oops! - IMG 2852 003
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On the farm, all of the flower beds have seeping hoses that precisely control the amount of water and fertilizer delivered. These are the tanks that hold the fertilizer and the pumps and such that control them. - IMG 2856 002
Here is a veiw over a large part of the farm, which mostly grows one kind of flower, Liatris, which have long spikes which eventually bloom into purple flowers. - IMG 2857 001
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In addition to Liatris, he also grows Gerber daisies, which he has in some incredible colors. The pictures really don't do them justice. - IMG 2863 001
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While not a rose, this thornless flower is also grown and comes in colors you just can't get roses. - IMG 2868
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All of the unused plant matter is composted and used as fertilizer - IMG 2870
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Gerber daisies in buckets getting ready to be shipped out, with netting around the blooms to protect them. - IMG 2872
After being picked, the flowers rest in dark, cool rooms, and are then dried and refrigerated for boxing so that they will last the two weeks necessary to make them salable. - IMG 2873
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At his brother's farm, another kind of flower called "Million Stars." You can see why. - IMG 2878
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After visiting the farm, we went to Adrean's parents' estate in Cumbaya to spend the weekend. There were a total of three houses and seven dogs, one of which outweighed me (a bull mastiff named "Kaiser") - IMG 2881
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We visited Parque Carolina, a huge park in the middle of Quito, which was quite nice, though mostly bereft of people. - P6110008
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Jeff was delighted by this sign at the Jardin mall. I'll leave the translation as an exercise for the reader. - P6110015
Although this picture doesn't do a very good job of capturing it, there was a gasoline distribution strike going on most of the time I was in Ecuador, creating lines for gas over a mile long at every gas station in the city. Whether the lines were actually caused by a shortage or just a fear of a shortage, we were never able to tell.