Kela's Quito Report!
ECUADOR 2010
Dear Don and all,
On one recent day, I visited La Casa del Cultura in the heart of modern business district of Quito. It is a huge museum of antiquities and art: coins, vessels, historical artifacts, documents, musical instruments, Presidential Portraits, and much more.
The special exhibit is of abstract paintings by Jose Unda, an Ecuadorian, who works on various surfaces and who applies a mix of techniques. This exhibit is of five groups of paintings, each focusing on distinct subjects as follows:
Serie de los Jaguares
Serie de lasConstelaciones
Serie de la GeometriaAndina
El Virus Emergente
Zona Erotica
The works all are quite large and some invite close inspection of detail while others’ bold colors and strokes seem best appreciated from several steps away. The images often are microbial and nearly always organic. While his use of shape and line almost magnetically captures one’s attention, color adds mightily to the artist’s way of crating impact.
To you from Kela
Alfredo. Cayambe is at 9:00, Antisana is at noon and Cotapaxi is at
3:00. They tower over the mighty Andes that fill the vista between
them. Note that the dark area on the face of Cotopaxi is a sheer
cliff and not its crater.
Martes, 27 Julio, 2010
Apologies re: errata in earlier report: Correct spelling is “Chagra,” pronounced beautifully in Ecuador as “chagr-r-r-r-a.”
My Quito Ecuador home with Gilda and Alfredo is a spacious, elegant condo in a neighborhood on the west side of the city about a third of the way up the steep slope of the Pichincha Volcano. The condo is in a red brick, contemporary complex of 5-story flats that are stacked and set back so as to afford a spectacular view of the city and beyond. The residence is by far the most luxurious I have known, let alone been so generously allowed to enjoy as a temporary home each time I visit. My Indiana home which is “the home everyone wants,” according to a realtor friend, would fit in the same area as the entry hall, foyer with adjoining half bath, kitchen, laundry room and dining room of my Quito home. The difference is that this residence in Quito continues on to include a master bedroom suite; two more bed/bathroom suites; a den/study; a sewing room; a spacious office;a maid’s quarters; a large Jacuzzi room, with adjoining shower/dressing and bathroom facilities; three terraces; copious garage space and a storage area. The floors are marble and the reinforced concrete construction of the even the interior walls is confidence-inspiring.Gilda, I might add is an expert interior designer.
Pichincha is one of four volcanoes that surround Quito and it is one of two that remain active. So, you might wonder, why did the so many fine residential complexes get built on the slope of a volcano that is alive and well? The answer is that Pichincha has two craters! The one on the city-side is extinct, conveniently enough. The other ‘blow hole’ away from Quito belched ash big-time in 1988 but did not go on to produce full-blown, lava-spewing effects. The wind did, however, transport plenty of ash onto the city. Sweeping became a vitally important eventas citizens and the government strove to clear streets, walkways, gardens, parks and rooftops. The memory of the black haze descending over the top of the volcano to blanket the Capital has not, however, cleared the minds of those who saw it.
Family time has been precious these recent days. On Sunday, my hosts Gilda and Alfredo and I joined one of their two daughters, Ana Maria, her husband, Ricardo, and their two daughters for a lovely outing to the Quito Zoo. Another daughter’s child, Andrea also joined us. The little girls respectively are Estefania (4.5 yrs.), her sister, Isabel (2.5) and their cousin is 10 years old. The importance of family in the Ecuadorian culture cannot be overemphasized. It is powerful and beautiful to behold, let alone be ‘adopted’ into as I have been during my several visits.
The Quito Zoo is, in fact, not in Quito but rather it is in Guayllabamba, a town on the city’s outskirts. (My spell check program may have a stroke any moment.) We had the most fun in the kiddie area where the most gentle of animals seemed happy to greet people of all ages.
Following our zoo visit, our two-car caravan lunched at The Quito “Tenis y” Golf Club, a luxurious and vast layout that was established long ago in a remote area north of the city and is now entirely surrounded by fine homes and then by the busy El Condado part of Quito. Besides dining, tennis and golf, the club offers equitation, swimming, workout facilities, salons and a spa, among others. In keeping with the demographics of the country which is 95% Catholic, there is a lovely, small chapel on the grounds. Lunch with the dearest of people overlooking a quiet and artfully kept landscape…aaahhh.
Hola,Sabado, 17 Julio, 2010
Friends Cumanda, Cecilia, Xavier and I drove from Quito this morning 40km south to MachachiEcuadcor, a small town edged by haciendas. The terrain surrounding the town is green and mountainous and parceled into an undulating, quilted patchwork. Dairy farming is an important enterprise here and in earlier visits to the area, I have been a guest in what is now the modern and comfortable country home of dairy farm owners; they are generous and loving people.
Today, Machachi held the town’s annual ‘El Charga Fiesta, ‘cowboy festival,’ that draws 1000 horses and riders (each in full, traditional regalia both horse and rider), far fewer but still a significant number of bulls, and a cheerful and excited, shoulder-to-shoulder crowd of spectators. Most of the latter were dressed in jeans and graphic t-shirts, including “I Love NY,” while a small percentage wore Ecuadorian ponchos and felt hats with narrow brims.
The festivities began with a parade through town along the main street. We arrived early enough to establish ourselves in perfect positions for the parade that began with flag-bearing horsemen followed by bands, a few floats and dancers interspersed with groups of people on horseback. The groups of riderswore matching ponchos with each representing a specific hacienda, Ecuadorian province, or neighboring town.
Vendors worked the crowd throughout the parade selling cowboy hats, candy apples, fruit and miscellaneous ’other.’ Café owners took full advantage of the day by offering portions of entire roasted pig and cuy from the sidewalk in front of open-air store fronts. Cuy are also known as guinea pig; the meat has somewhat the texture and color of chicken breast. The preparation of cuy meat is chancy since the slightest overcooking produces vulcanized rubber to my way of thinking.
Our little group needed to be back in Quito by mid-afternoon, including time for lunch at Café de la Vaca (think Holstein milkers), a terrific place where there is seldom enough parking. Senora Guarderes nearly always is there to welcome her guests. The cuisine is ‘tipical’ of Ecuador and splendid. I recommend the locro. You have to have some to understand all of the excitement that is created by Ecuadorian potato soup.
Our early departure from “El Charga Fiesta” meant that we missed the amateur bullfighting that is best compared to the free-for-all involving bulls and daredevils that takes place every year is Spain. The Machachi version is staged in a huge open area with multiple bulls and countless not-ready-for –the- ring “matadors.” The fighters’ “capes,” wielded by the few who have them, range in color and size from red and official-looking to the merest scrap of cloth.
Please pass the locro.
Yesterday was quiet with lots of rest and family time. Lovely meals prepared and served by Maria who comes weekdays to be in charge of such matters. Today has been interesting motoring around the city on errands with Gilda: picture frame shop, pharmacy, supermarket. Hosts’ daughter, Ana Maria, son-in-law Riccardo, and granddaughters Estefania (4.5) and Isabel (2.5) will join us for lunch.
The flight to Quito via Houston ARR in Mariscal Sucre International Aeropuerto only 12 minutes late. Maneuvering the crowded maze inside the terminal, claiming bags, clearing customs and finding my dear friends, however, took another hour and a half. Having watched my plane land, Gilda, Alfredo (my hosts), and Ruth another good friend were wondering where I had fallen in by the time I reached them. About four flights had ARR in close order so the scene was irregular, to say the least.
In the middle of all that we four staged a full-blown, jump-off-the-ground reunion as did countless other little knots of people around us.
Through all of that, I saw only one distressed soul, a full-grown bulldog in a huge pet carrier stranded in baggage claim and complaining loudly. The pup had, understandably, messed in his kit and wanted very much to get on with his life. There was no consoling him.
More about Sucre International landings: Quito, the capital of Ecuador with a population of 2.3 million and the same shape and compass orientation as California, is surrounded on all sides by towering volcanoes (dead and alive) and mountains. A pilot friend and neighbor in Indiana who has flown everywhere described Sucre as ´´The scariest airport in the world.´´ Picture an aircraft carrier on dry land smack in the middle of the city. The runway is short and narrow and wind shear is always a factor. Too, the altitude is comparable to Denver, still another feature of interest at this landing site.
In actual fact, only one airliner has overrun this runway and that was in 1959 when a Cuban craft, maintained by Russia, came to rest in a hanger beyond the red line. No one was injured.
Our landing on Wednesday night required a lot of reverse thrusting, a bit of wallowing and considerable nosing down. One of those carrier steel cables that snag arriving craft came to mind.
The drive home was brief and restful though I remained charged with excitement just to be with members of my Quito family.
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