500 Rainbows & 1000 Avocados - Notes from 9 Years in Loja Ecuador

Six years ago I wrote a guest blog for Jonathan about the surprising things I discovered in Loja. Here is a brief follow-up to share more surprises from our time in this great city.

I like playing with numbers, so here a few...

500 - Living on the west side of the valley means we look out upon the eastern slope which often has some bit of mist falling in the afternoons. So we see rainbows - LOTS of them. It is very rare for an entire week to go by without at least one rainbow, and often more than that. So a conservative estimate means we've observed at least 500 rainbows in our nine year residence.

1000 - Consuming at least two avocados (aguacates) each week (and often more) reveals we've eaten at least 1000 since moving to Loja. Not just on toast, but on salads and also soups (yes, soups!).

0 - Snowstorms, although we did have one heck of a hailstorm one day - and only the one hail event in nine years. 

1 - Number of mosquitos encountered each year. It's sort of a running joke among expats that every year some stray "skeeter" gets lost and shows up in the city.

Hundreds - of dragonflies, and all at once. One year there were clouds of dragonflies passing overhead. They headed down slope in the morning and then returned upslope in late afternoon. Dragonflies eat mosquitos so maybe that explains the previous statistic.

750 - We've seen at least this many works of art by visiting exhibitions and art events. Loja is known for its music but the visual arts are very well represented!

9 - Number of New Year's Eve fireworks displays we've enjoyed. These are amazing things to experience! Starting well before midnight - but becoming a cacophony at 12 am - and lasting until 12:30 or 1:00, the fireworks are shot off throughout the city neighborhoods. No rhyme or reason or planning to it as far as I can tell. Just everybody having a good time and putting on a show.

17 - Number of cents (centavos) to pay for a bus ride if aged 65 or older. Cheap transportation to get downtown where walking is easy on the flat valley floor.

17 - Dollars, the cost of high-speed fiber optic internet per month. Another perk for surviving to an old age. I may be slowing down but my connection to the world is blazing fast.

Numbers can be fun, and revealing. I hope to live many more years as a Lojano so perhaps I'll have some other interesting stats to share in the future.