The Muddy-Pants Diaries

27 September 2005 (Tuesday) – Quito, Ecuador

Ismael had suggested that today we would go to Pichincha early early early early in the morning, to avoid the clouds. So, we dragged ourselves up by 7am only to find the rain pattering away, a sky entirely devoid of blue. An even more shitty day today than yesterday! ¡Que lastima! (What a pity!)

We decided instead to have lunch and go to La Capilla del Hombre or Museo Guayasamin. Oswaldo Guayasamin is Ecuador’s most famous artist. I had seen some tourist souvenirs which were reproductions of his works and I was quite keen to see the actual paintings by this artist, as I personally find surrealistic art very interesting. Thank goodness, Patricia drove because the way to the museum was up a hill opposite Pichincha.

The minute we entered the museum, we were floored. We were all staring with our mouths wide wide open. Ismael was snapping pictures at nearly all his paintings. Ismael remarked that he had never been to this museum, because previously he did not like the paintings as he had seen thousands of reproductions in souvenirs and T-shirts that he was bored by them. But to be here right in front of the gigantic originals, staring at his amazing mix of colours and seemingly casual bold strokes and looking into the eyes of the faces in his paintings and seeing anguish, misery, pain, suffering, loss of hope, innocence, pleading, etc… and even the drawings of the hands speak a thousand words, gosh… it was thoroughly moving. We were especially fascinated by ‘Rostros de America’ where he drew many pictures of suffering and pensive Indian faces. The word ‘anguish’ kept popping in my head as I admire these paintings. Gosh, how he managed to capture the pain of the unseen people who lives in his country and everywhere else.

“Yo llore porque no tenia zapatos
hasta que vi un niño que no tenia pies” (Oswaldo Guayasamin)

[I cried because I did not have shoes
until I saw a child who did not have feet] (Oswaldo Guaysamin)

There was a fire burning permanently at the basement because he once said, “Mantengan encendida una luz que siempre voy a volver.” (Maintain a light because I am always going to return)

And, to me, the most beautiful message he left behind was:

“De pueblo en pueblo, de ciudad en ciudad,
fuimos testigos de la más inmensa miseria:
pueblos de barro negro, en tierra negra,
con niños embarrados de lodo negro;
hombres y mujeres con rostros de piel quemada por el frió,
donde las lágrimas estaban congeladas por siglos,
hasta no saber si eran de sal o eran de piedra,
música de zampoñas y rondadores
que describen la inmensa soledad
sin tiempo, sin dioses, sin sol, sin maiz
solamente el barro y el viento” (Oswaldo Guaysamin)

[From town to town, from city to city,
we were witnesses to the most immense misery:
towns of black mud, on black land,
with children covered in black mud;
men and women with skin burnt by the cold,
where the tears were frozen for centuries,
until it is not known if they were of salt or of stone,
music from zampoñas and panpipes
that describe the immense solitude
without time, without gods, without sun, without maize,
only the mud and the wind] (Oswaldo Guayasamin)

Take some time to have a brief sampling of the magic of Oswaldo Guayasamin.

We left the museum, thoroughly humbled and touched, and both Patricia and Ismael had written in the guestbook that they are truly proud to be Ecuadoreans.

Ismael and Patricia brought me to a few other places to have traditional Ecuadorean snacks like helado de paila, which is ice-cream mixed on a huge pan and Papas de Maria, which are tiny boiled potatoes with some pork but smothered with very, very spicy chilli sauce! Heavenly!! I had been surprised that people here eat spicy food, something I hardly ever saw in Chile, Argentina and Brazil in my previous trip here to South America. But, the Colombians and Ecuadoreans do seem to enjoy very spicy aji.

The weather throughout today remained very cold, the sky was just a spread of white. As Ismael and Patricia had run out of ideas on where to take me and since I would be leaving Quito soon and also, tomorrow, Ismael had to work, he decided that, despite the clouds and the extreme cold, we should go to Pichincha.

We drove up the hills to the teleferico (cable-car) station. They pointed out the much hated hospital they both used to work as slaves during their first years after graduation as doctors. Gosh, they work 36 hours, then a few days of 12 hours’ work and then back to 36 hours, etc… It was torturous, and yet they were paid a miserable US$180 per month!!! Unbelievable! They had told me many horror doctor stories, because the junior doctors there were just worked to the bones by the senior doctors. One story stood out – one of their friends had done surgeries after surgeries for 24 hours, and when she came out, she was still told to handle yet another surgery. The poor exhausted doctor actually fell asleep and dropped her head into the wide-open stomach of the patient!!! That must be the worst thing that can happen to a doctor!

Anyway, the station was rather empty as today was not such a nice day to be up in the mountains, so the teleferico moved really slowly. It was surprisingly clear from up here. This gave them a chance to point out all of Quito to me. The top of the station where the teleferico stops is 4,100m above sea level. This was very high indeed. It was also extremely cold, but as it was not windy, just nice and calm, we could actually have a very pleasant time. To our surprise, we could see quite a lot of Quito from up here.

It was close to evening, and we took some walks up the paths around the mountains, and soon, the lights of Quito came alive and gosh, it was thoroughly enchanting up here. Both Ismael and Patricia had never been up here in the night, so it was very special to them as well, and we admired the twinkling city in delight. Quito’s airport is right smack in the middle of the city, so it was very funny for us to keep seeing airplanes landing so close to the houses around the airport.

After nearly 1.5 hours, with numb fingers and toes, we hobbled back to a cafe for some nice hot chocolate before heading down to Quito.

Well, another doctor had asked Ismael to change his shift with him. Usually, Ismael works 24 hours and rests 3 days. But this week, Ismael would be working 24 hours from Wednesday 8am to Thursday 8am, then, from Friday 8am to Saturday 8am. That actually then gives him free time for several days after. So, all of us arranged to meet one another in Baños, a town several hours south of Quito, on Saturday evening. That would be great! Gosh, they are such great company, and thank goodness, Ecuador is not that big, so it would really be wonderful to see them again in another town. Today had been great, we thoroughly enjoyed every single moment of it!

[photo credits IE – Ismael Escandon]

Tags: 07) Crossing Ecuador Line, Quito

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