Museum

A common occurrence in the profession of teaching business English is that classes are canceled rather often (sometimes with a few minutes notice even). Since my late morning class was canceled today, I decided to visit an art exhibition within la Casa de Cultura Ecuatoriana as well as a museum there (el Museo Nacional del Banco Central de Ecuador).



I took notes like the big dork that I am and came away with some very interesting information...


The main exhibit was a collection of artifacts from the early inhabitants of Ecuador and other South American countries nearby. La Tolita people (600 antes de Cristo - 400 despues de Cristo) made clay figurines of men tied to platforms as either human sacrifices or as soon-to-be-circumcised youngsters. There were also a few erotic figures. The most interesting to me from this group were the figures of alligators and cats/lions because they reminded me of Chinese animal figures. We're all Asian!!! :)

The Jama-Coaque section (350 aC - 1533 dC) held a male figurine drugged and in a trance (probably from chewing coca). The Machalilla (1600 - 800 aC) exhibit included a replica of a device consisting of two small planks of wood strapped to a human skull (another replica) that was used to intentionally deform a person's head as a status symbol (beauty is pain, right?). The Panzaleo (500 aC - 1533 dC) people used huge round pots decorated with human faces chewing coca or even with shrunken heads (tzantzas). The Panzaleo people would shrink their enemies heads after killing them in an effort to quell any attempts of revenge by their enemies' spirits. They also got a bit of their mojo by doing so. Finally, one of the earliest cultures known to have inhabited South America, the Valdivia (3800 - 1500 aC), created pottery specifically for inhaling hallucinogenic substances. The shamans would use stone jars shaped like cats (a powerful animal spirit) to hold these substances. The Valdivia also produced numerous figurines dedicated to depict femininity in all its stages and forms: a young girl, a woman menstruating, a pregnant woman, a girl going through puberty, etc. Gee, thanks!


I snapped a few photos of the pottery before I realized that I wasn't allowed to. And then I snapped a few more in the colonial art area. Curse this faulty memory of mine! :)




The Chorrera people (900-100 a.C.) created the whistle bottle in which water poured from said bottle recreates various animal sounds.




A bat even made it to the whistle bottle.




The figures of Jesus I've seen here have been rather disturbing. I understand that the intent behind these figures is not to make me feel happy and fluffy about the whole crucifixion, but the wounds depicted on these Jesuses are quite reminiscent of rotting flesh or leprous wounds. In some, the blood oozing from his side is 3D and looks like Play-Do spaghetti. In this one, his arms did not stay intact with his body and creates an even more horrific reaction within the observer. Yikes.




A gold monstrance to hold the Eucharist. Adorned with gold, silver, 993 diamonds, 143 rubies, 1156 emeralds, 46 topazes, and 1147 pearls. The Catholics invented decadence!





A very elaborate diorama from the 18th century. The Virgin Mary is surrounded by small cherubim, musical archangels, and the 12 apostles. I've never seen anything like it!


Many more museums to explore... :)

¡¡¡Fútbol!!!

Yesterday, I attended my first official soccer game in Quito. For $8 each, we entered the Estadio Olímpico Ataualpa to watch la Liga Deportiva Universitaria play against Deportivo Quito. The pics I took were about a half hour before the game started so the stands don't appear to be too full. After the game had been in play for a little bit, my eyes drifted upwards from the field and I saw that the stadium was completely full: 35,000 fans. Most of the crowd was dressed in white jerseys for Liga, but there was a good handful dressed in red in support of the home team of that stadium.

























Liga scored a goal early on and the game stayed at 1-0 until the very end. I was quite lucky to be rooting for the winning team! :)



















The section of Quito fans here put on quite a show of their devotion. The red and blue smoke was accompanied by fireworks set off from the base of the stands and shot right over the field (we had a few from our side, too, that were a bit scary in their erratic flight patterns). This enormous banner engulfed the crowd sometime after the fireworks show. My new American friend Virginia and I asked our Ecuadorian compadres to write down one of the chants being shouted toward the Quito fans so now we've got at least ONE war cry to rely on. :)


One interesting thing I noticed was that there was a heavy police presence. As fans left the stadium, they chanted, "PIGS!, PIGS!, PIGS!" and threw their empty (or half-full) plastic bottles onto the field.

Foooood!!

Probably my favorite topic! Since I'm staying in the capital of Ecuador, there is a multitude of culinary offerings to whet the appetite. I've enjoyed Mexican burritos & tacos, American salads & sandwiches (sánduches), and several other tasty items. Yet, as far as Ecuadorian food, I've only tried a few items.

Two nights in a row this past week, my Ecuadorian friends took me to a neighborhood called La Floresta in which lies a string of street carts operated by folks wearing green aprons. This was a great place to enjoy really yummy food for very little money.















This guy is preparing sweet empanadas.















I think this was a soup with some stuffed intestines. :)






















































No matter how long I chewed, I could not swallow the tripe samples being offered at this stand.






The man at this stand was like, "This girl is taking a picture of the fish!" Haha! I told him, "I know, I'm a weird American!"











The first night I went, I tried llapingacho which was quite delicious: potato pancakes of sorts with chorizo and beef garnished with shredded red beets and lettuce. Sorry, no pic. I was concentrating on eating! :) The second night I had chicken and rice with a few potatoes. Also, quite yummy. The next goal in my gastronomic quest is cuy (pronounced "kwee"), AKA guinea pig. I'm a little nervous about this one for a couple reasons. Someone told me (with vivid gestures) how the little guys are killed. Ick! In addition, I had a pet guinea pig named Gracie a few years ago. Granted, we didn't get along very well as she would bite me and eat holes in my towels or clothing, but still! We shall see...

Brief blog about prices

5 Liter bottle of H20 = $1.10

Vanilla cappuccino = $1.80

A huge and heavy plate of Ecuadorian food = $2.00

A bus ride = $0.25

One gallon of gas = $1.84

A taxi ride into the center of town from the airport = $6

A cocktail = $3.50

Ecuadorian Pilsener beer = $2.00

Primetime movie ticket = $3.50

General admission to soccer game = $8

Entrance to museum = $3.00

Traveling to a place where the dollar actually works in your favor = PRICELESS!!! :)


*Granted, some things are the same price as in the U.S. or more expensive even. So far, though, I'm lucky that the things I'm consuming are relatively inexpensive. :)

Cool Peeps

So I've met some pretty interesting people in the week and a half that I've been in this city. Here are some pics of new friends and acquaintances. I really hope I get everyone's name right. I'm much better at remembering faces!!! :)

Pablo, Me, Pablo's buddy Alex

Pablo's friend Angel and I


Jonathan and Carrie from PARKER, COLORADO
(right next to where I taught for 4 years for those who shrugged their shoulders)

Francisco, Francisco's girlfriend (he's going to kill me that I don't remember her name, but she was super nice!!!), Me, Moritz (Couch Surfer from Germany)

El Gato, Francisco's brother Manuel, Francisco, Manuel´s friendwho reminds me of my friend Ricky!

Moritz and I acting out a piece of Francisco's art (right behind us, not the creepy one)

Carlos (at the Sweeney Todd musical we saw together, hence the paper barber razor)

I've met some other cool people, too, but I think this is a good sampling for now. :)

Bendicion de casa

Correction to the previous post...apparently my theory AHEM that was mine and mine alone AHEM that the broken glass on top of the walls was to keep birds away was not quite right. It is actually to keep burglars from climbing the walls!! Ah, if only it were just for the birds... :)

Another correction would be that Pablo only lives by ONE all girl school, but one color track suit attends morning classes and another color goes in the afternoon. I forget if blue or red goes first.

Yesterday was pretty amazing. Pablo took me and his friend Angel to a grand opening ceremony of a daycare/school center in Peguche which is near Otavalo and north of Quito. On the way, we stopped at the equator, la mitad del mundo, in a town called Cayambe. That's Pablo's friend Angel on the other side of the globe. :)



The drive up was beautiful at times and at others, quite sad. We passed lovely hills with different-colored patches of fields as well as some very impoverished communities struggling to make do. There were a lot of "houses" people lived in that were just unfinished or abandoned buildings...concrete frames and cinderblock walls with rebar jutting through the tops; some had roofs, some didn't; no glass in the holes for windows; no insulation; lines of drying laundry were the only signs of life in some of these houses.




Some stellar ladies from Holland created the children'center in an attempt to better the community and offer a safe place for young indigenous children to stay. Apparently, parents would lock their children in their houses while they went off to work without any supervision and many would die due to fires or drowning. So sad. But this colorful new center is a positive step forward.




A brass band that started to play just as Pablo, Angel, and I pulled up to park. Reminiscent of Everything Is Illuminated. :)



Pablo's at the top left posing with some adorable kids who will be going to the center.


The opening ceremony was more of a blessing of a new house. A Catholic priest did a quick prayer and blessing. Then an indigenous shaman blessed each side of the house as well as the inside by saying a prayer in quichua (a language spoken by the indigenous people here) and sprinkling rose petals at each section of the house. Those sprinkling rose petals wore a few petals on their heads as well. Three handmade decorations were placed on the roof, as well.



It was so interesting to see the mixture of modernity and tradition there...people dressed in modern clothes seated next to people wearing very traditional clothing. The women's clothes were quite lovely: a blue skirt made of linen or cotton (not sure), a white blouse embroidered with colorful flowers, a blue or white shawl of the same material as the skirt, and a head covering of either another blue shawl/scarf or a fedora-like hat. I LOVED their jewelry: collar necklaces made from several strands of gold-colored seed beads as well as multi-strand bracelets of orange seed beads. It was quite stunning to see all the women wearing these.


These sweet indias prepared a ton of food for the guests: a really hot soup that I think was made of cornmeal, some chicken, boiled potatoes, and white hominy. Pretty tasty.

It was a day unlike any other I've experienced. Hopefully, there will be many more of those to come. :)

different

I climbed that steep street to get this view and realized that 9,000 feet is tough...and that I am extremely out of shape! :)

Quito is huge, that pic is just a fraction of the view, but hopefully I will climb something a bit more formidable than a hilly street to get a better view of the city.

Here are some funny things I've seen/experienced so far:

- people put broken glass straight up and down on the ledges of their walls to keep birds from perching and pooping



- i definitely need to wear sunblock every day (got burned on my nose, cheeks, and chest yesterday...then again i did walk around for like 4 hours!)

- there were honestly at least 500 people (probably more) in a huge park playing soccer yesterday (even men in their sixties!)



- the parks aren't quite like ours...tall fake rock formations for kids to climb on with cement below to break their fall...anti-aircraft gun and cannon for kids to play with...actual airplane with a face painted on it, but was so decrepit they had to put a fence around it..but lots of areas designated for futbol...a noteworthy botanic garden (where i became some woman's personal photographer, but at least she took one of me :) )



- no recycling...NO RECYCLING!!! i don't know how i'm going to cope since i have to drink bottled water here

- more people drank and talked with friends in the streets than inside bars and clubs last night

- pablo lives next to two all girl schools...at lunchtime, they flood the streets with their red or blue track suits or sweaters with plaid skirts (scary memories of catholic school surfacing here ;))





- i have to get re-accustomed to strange people kissing me on the cheek whenever i am introduced to someone (my personal bubble is deflating rapidly!)

- taxis honk whenever they see a potential fare...it doesn't mean i'm looking foxy that day

- the psuedo-official ecuadorian alcoholic beverage is canelazo...i still don't know what's in it, but it was served hot (i, of course, had to wait till it became luke-warm because hot + alcohol = gross)

- i have to swap several of my castellano and mexican spanish words for ecuadorian ones (i.e. sorbete = straw, saco = sweater, and many more)

- more interesting observations and experiences to come... :)