The Muddy-Pants Diaries

28 September 2005 (Wednesday) – Quito, Ecuador

We woke up to an unbelievably beautiful blue and sunny day. What a difference from yesterday! I actually had to put on my sun-block. Some people were even wearing sleeveless blouses. I was thinking, oh… what a pity, we could have gone up the Pichincha today instead, it would have been awesome to view all the mountains around.

Anyway, I had been a little undecided when to leave Quito, so that was why I was still lingering here. I felt that I had not known the Old Colonial Centre well yet. So, today, I wanted to walk around there a bit. But I think I should really get going by tomorrow.

I really loved wandering around to get to know a city centre. I tried various alleys and streets. Quito’s Colonial Centre is undulating, so sometimes, it would be quite a hike to go up. Also, in some streets, the pavements are really tiny, allowing only 1 person to walk. So, pedestrians often spill onto the roads, which are incidentally full of cars all the time.

I wandered into a small centro comercial and found a nice clean respectable place selling ‘seco de chivo’. Ismael had told me this is a very typical Ecuadorian dish and which I just had to try one day. Although ‘seco’ means ‘dry’, this dish actually came with a sauce. The owner was very friendly to me, claiming that they had been serving this dish for 40 years. OK, I would give it a shot. ‘Chivo’ is ‘mutton’. I had never gotten the chance to eat this meat here in South America as it seemed quite rare.

I visited the shop-cum-cafe-cum-museum called Tianguez under the Church of San Francisco. If you have dollars to burn, feel free to spend them merrily in this expensive shop. If you have nothing to burn, visit it as well. It is set in the underground cellars of the church. And the shop actually has several corridors, leading to other underground cellars. Many of the displays, including Ecuadorean crafts done in modern artistic styles, are very beautiful, so you can also treat it like a museum.

Back at the Centro Cultural Metropolitano, besides the World Press Photo 05 exhibition I visited last week, there was another photo exhibition. This was called AMRIK, which incidentally, was written in Arabic as well and I managed to read it based on my faint Arabic memories… yeh! It contained photos showing the Islamic cultures and influences in South America, with incredibly artistic and creative photographs taken from South American photographers. Spanish vocabulary also had a lot of influence from Arabic words, due to the proximity of the Iberian Peninsula to Northern Africa. Words like algodon (cotton), aduana (customs), zanahoria (carrot), alfombra (carpet), etc… And these words, due to the Spanish conquest, are used here in South America as well now. Interesting to see how the whole world is interconnected in this way.

The sky had turned eerily grey by the time I stepped out of the Centro Cultural Metropolitano. There was a sense of urgency amongst the locals around the Plaza de la Independencia. I stumbled upon the same place that Ismael and Patricia took me to have a cup of hot chocolate last Friday, the place where we saw the traditional Ecuadorean dances. It was Palacio Arzobispal, an ex-monastery or something. I was walking towards it when I saw a gigantic flash of lightning streak across the sky. A deep groan of the thunder soon followed. Oops, how fast the weather changed within the last 3 or 4 hours!! I hurried into Palacio Arzobispal and soon, the storm broke. Well, at least I had a place to hide from the rain which seemed to be getting stronger and stronger.

Several people were doing the same. I sat in the patio, listening to the constant claps of deafening thunder and watching the storm unfold through the sky-light of the patio. The sky-light was actually exposed by the sides, so droplets of rain kept coming in. At first, it was tolerable, but soon, the rain got heavier and water seemed to be also seeping in through the parts between the glass. Finally, the place was totally rained in when splashes of water came in through the pipes by the sides of the walls. Everyone hurried away.

I must have stayed there for more than one and a half hour before daring to venture out again. Gosh, I want to see more of the centre but it was still raining. Nevertheless, with my umbrella out, I walked down several streets, getting splashed at by the passing cars all the way to La Basilica.

Outside La Basilica, it was crowded with people and umbrellas. I squeezed in and found the entire cathedral filled to the brim with faithful locals, most with lighted candles. I observed the mass for a while and the faces of the locals as they listened to the preacher and sang songs like ‘Hallelujah’ with conviction.

Gosh, the clouds now hung so low that we could not even see Pichincha at all! Now I am glad I went to Pichincha yesterday. Finally, when thoroughly soaked to the bones, especially the lower parts of my pants, I headed home. Yep, with the weather not so great in Quito, it is definitely time to leave the city. I truly had enjoyed my stay here, meeting Joshua and gang and getting to know their social projects, wow, I truly admire their selflessness, and being lucky enough to have Ismael and Patricia spend so much time with me!

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]

26 September 2005 (Monday) - Quito, Ecuador Ismael had suggested that we go up to Pichincha, the mountain overlooking Quito today. We met up after 11am, with Patricia. Hmm... Ismael observed the clouds closing in on the mountain. Not such a ... [Continue reading this entry]

25 September 2005 (Sunday) - Quito to Parque Nacional Cotopaxi to Quito, Ecuador There is a tourist train leaving each Saturday and Sunday from Quito to Parque Nacional El Boliche. The national park is located at the base of one of ... [Continue reading this entry]

24 September 2005 (Saturday) - Quito, Ecuador I walked down to the Casa de La Cultura which housed the Museo Nacional and had a thoroughly fascinating time there. I was terribly impressed with the quality of the displays in this museum. ... [Continue reading this entry]

23 September 2005 (Friday) - Quito, Ecuador Ismael had asked me to call him at around 2:30pm to see if we could do something together. I happened to be in the Old Colonial City at that time, and so we arranged ... [Continue reading this entry]

22 September 2005 (Thursday) - Otavalo to Quito, Ecuador I wanted to do something more today besides the market. The owner of my hostel suggested Lago Cuicocha, but it seemed I had to pay for a rather expensive taxi ride to ... [Continue reading this entry]