AudgePodge

"I fell into a burning ring of fire..."  The rough rhythm of Johnny Cash booms. My body whirls. Lunges. A heavy weight is shifted to the side, then back again. Screams surround me. It's hot here. My mouth dry from the spinning, from the permissible enjoyment of "Wipeout." Clusters of faces, blurred at the edges, like a wisp of indecipherable grins; teeth baring wide.  It's busy here, at the amusement park...though this is to be expected during the sunny season. Blue murmurs, rays of heat stab the hot metal my arm is lying on. I remember this place well; look back on it with fondness.  A place to which I came to visit most summers.  The monotony of "Pirates Cove," stepping through the pilled curtain into the inky atmosphere, inhaling faux ocean and its staleness of years.  Paper mache swashbucklers hold an intense, lingering gaze.  "Aye, ye mateys." Crunched, noise-polluted audio.  Expectation of the next room, full of smudged mirrors and ...

  When I left the country for the first time, it changed my life. I flew into Ecuador’s capital, Quito , on April 10, 2023, with my mom at my side. She had visited before; 18 years prior, before I came into her life. She was reminiscing about her time spent in Ecuador — the people, the landscape, the food, the experience — and wished to share that same experience with me. Quito currently has a population of over 2 million people and is the world’s second-highest administrative capital sitting at 9,350 feet. Here, the elevation plays its tricks on you. Quito is approximately 16 miles away from Cuidad Mitad del Mundo (or, Middle of the World City) where the altitude is, extraordinarily, 0 feet exactly. We’ll touch upon this monumental place in a moment, but first, our attention lies on Quito. Art Plaza Hotel , Quito Photo Credit - Audrey Linder One of the most prominent visual takeaways of Quito is the persistence of graffiti throughout the city. Art is quite populous and holds gr...