Backtrack: May 5 ❤ Mindalae Museum, Sorbetto, and Yoga

Since Joshua had a fever, we decided to put off going to La Mitad del Mundo so Leah could take him to the doctor.  She dropped me off at Mindalae Museum so I could keep busy while they saw the doctor.  This museum displays the artesenia of the indigenous people of Ecuador.  I was pretty much the only person in the museum.  The exhibits were set up in enclosed rooms and had motion-sensored lights that lit them up when I walked in.  It was sort of scary walking into a dark room alone and then having carvings like the ones below light up with just an eerie glow beneath them.

Wood carving in the Mindalae Museum.

Decorative llama in the Mindalae Museum.

Statues in the Mindalae Museum.  These were especially spooky after walking into a dark room.

Indigenous instruments.  The one on the right is made from an armadillo!

An indigenous chest covering for males.  It's decorated with feathers and a toucan head.

Indigenous women's outfits, made from different-colored seeds.

A shrunken head.  There is some controversy over which museum has an authentic shrunken head.

The museum had a store like the one we had gone to in the Centro Historico.  I looked around and got some jewelry that was made from seeds like the indigenous women's outfits.  I sat at the cafe out in front of the museum, ordered guanabana juice, and wrote postcards while I waited for Leah to come pick me up.  I waved at her and Joshua as they walked toward me and she told me that Joshua got so excited to see me.  I suppose it would be exciting for a two year old to recognize someone along the street.  :)

Later on, Leah and I went to meet Gina for a Sorbetto ice cream.  We had wanted to get margaritas for 5 de Mayo, but since Ecuador was having a vote that weekend, they enforced Ley Seca (Dry Law) a few days before the vote.  So we settled for ice cream instead of margaritas.  I got dark chocolate sorbetto and was very happy with it.  Probably more happy than I would have been with a margarita.  ;)

After dinner, Leo was watching You Tube videos of Shakiro, the Chilean man who can sing like Shakira.  If you haven't checked him out, it's pretty funny and amazing how much he does sound like Shakira.  :)

That night we met up with Gina again to take a yoga class.  It felt really good to stretch and get my muscles heated up.  Plus it helped me sleep better at night.  :)