Last day in Quito, reflections and Sandy's art

A colorful example of Sandra's work. The camera can never capture the feeling and depth of these paintings.

My time is almost up. While this computer's batteries have sufficient charge I will leave some last impressions of Quito. Its been good here. Sandy's house is very much a home and I have been welcomed into it. That is very Latin, sharing with people and including them in your life. Without that its just a travelogue. Ive met a lot of people, Sandra's relations, friends. I have forgotten most names but not the warmth and eagerness to welcome and help.

My favorite of Sandra's paintings. It reminds me of Van Goegh's wheat/olive tree fields.

As a bonus I've gotten to know a very good artist. Seeing her work on the walls throughout the house everyday has reinforced my positive impression of her work. Very personal stuff, totally personal. That's what gives it its worth. The technique? Makes me feel like that dog watching the clock, I am looking at it but I don't have a clue how its done. The take away from this is, do your own thing...whatever it is. Copying style and technique is a short ride down a one way street, sterile and cold. So I will make my own art in Cuenca.

This might be my second favorite work by Sandra, of what I've seen. There is so much going on, a different palate too.

For the past few days on the internet and on the phone I have lined up places to investigate in Cuenca. On Monday I meet a realtor to look at apartments. This is what has drawn so many old gringos to Cuenca and Ecuador, the cost of real estate. I am only renting for a month but the prices reflect the underlying costs of property. Lots to choose from too. I will try to be within walking distance of the parks and gringo haunts and buildings of artistic interest. So long for now Quito.

Navidad in Quito and gone New Years

Nochebuena is the night before Navidad, which is Christmas day. At Sandra's house I spent Nochebuena with Eugen and his wife Ximena, Sandra and daughter's Nichol and Lauren, boyfriends who's names escape me (I should keep notes). There was an amazing meal prepared by both Coli (Nicole) and her mom. Pavo which is turkey, soaked in Coke (the stuff in a bottle) before cooking. I was shocked seeing a liter of Coca Cola being poured over a turkey. But it worked, At dinner the meat just fell off the bones. It tasted great too. Another example of the effect of that product from Atlanta on mortal flesh. I have been fortunate in Ecuador and at Sandra's house that people speak Spanish 90% of the time. That's the way I learn. So I was following the conversation to some degree, asking a question now and then. Very educational. On Christmas day we went to Sandy's mom's house and I met more people. Navidad had great weather, sunny and warmer.I met more new people. Had an interesting conversation with Sandra's sister's guy. He told me I should check out Mendo, in the jungle to the west, toward Esmaralda. He said the gringos are flocking there for eco tours. There is huge diversity of bugs and humming birds I guess. Its on my list. The young people roll their eyes and say, you will be soooo bored. its hard to get an idea without visiting it myself...so I will. Starting with Cuenca. I just bought the ticket so Friday morning at nine I will be on one of the jets that roar over Quito several dozen times a day. The new year will dawn with me on leg two of this exploration of Ecuador. So far so good.

A trip to the north of Quito

This little piggy got too close to the horno (oven). He was hanging out on main street across from my hotel

Friday I took a bus from Quito to Otavalo. My first long bus ride, an hour and a half, into the countryside. We traveled with Sylvester Stallone in the form of a couple of movies playing on a screen at the front of the bus. Some kind of multimedia having Mister macho wrecking police cars on a highway at the same time our bus lurched along hundreds of feet above steep ravines. He arrived and we arrived so it was ok.

Chickens in the Saturday market in Otavalo piled high in one of the hundreds of stalls, yum!

Saturday I awoke in Otavalo to the sound of stalls being built in the main square and in the streets. Saturday is the big market day for the whole province (Imbabura). A friend from the expat forum on the internet met me that morning and introduced me to many of the merchants. For twenty years she had run a restaurant in the town and she knew lots people. She also spoke Quitchua, the inca language spoken by most indians in Ecuador.

A couple of spices and in volume, I was told what they were but it escapes me, no plastic packaging here!

Sunday I left Otavalo for Cotacachi. There I investigated apartments and a house. Unfortunately my ATM cards would not work in the only two machines in town....so I couldn't grab any of rentals I saw. Monday afternoon I took the bus back to Quito. If I am able to get money in Quito I'll return to Cotacachi. I think I'll finish the winter there. I can always continue exploring after I get the residence status, that hopefully, before March. A different environment in Otavalo and Cotacachi vs Quito, much more to my liking.

The Otavalo market has a wide variety but two major catagories are Food and Fabric, this is fabric in the raw



Getting to know Quito

An equestrian statue just south of Parque Caroline, An example of the heavy jet traffic over the city, Chantal shows Sandy the technique of Tie Die and a cross on the west side of Parque Caroline

On the days since the last of these entries I have gotten to know more of the city. I better understand some of the bus routes. The streets around several destinations are in my spatial memory now. The medical missions undertaken since I arrived two weeks ago have driven some of this exploration. The Diagnostic Center is on a street called Maria Jesus. Its not too far from my Ecuadorian Cardiac doctor on the third floor of the San Francisco building. Here, of course, San Francisco is a saint not a city by the bay or a song by the chairman of the bored. I have wondered two of the malls. The one within walking distance, El Bosque. Another on this end of Parque Caroline, QueCentro. I am not a shopper but it is interesting to compare prices. The crowds are at maximum with Navidad (Christmas to you gringos) less than a week away.I even managed to stumble into one of the very few electronic parts stores in the country. Its not far from the statue in the photo. Between it and Radio Shack (I've found two of them) there will be some support for my electronic hobby here.

The medical thing went well. Turns out I have no heart. The symptoms have all been gas. I should have gone with the lay opinions flung at me over the years, they were right after all.

A couple more observations on this early research into medical practice in Ecuador. The Echo Cardiogram I obtained for $75 is mine. It was given to me as a paper report and on CDROM for my stateside doctor. I took it to Doctor Gaibor, he studied it and recommended I stay on the drug regime prescribed for me in the States. I saw him during his "Office Hours". You young people (under 50) will not remember Office Hours. They have not existed in the USA for a long time. You show up during a three hour window in the afternoon and the doctor sees patients in the order they arrive. The cost for this medical nostalgia was $20. I repeat this is not mud hut stuff (I need to fight the brain washing of decades in USA readers). These are competent people with equipment from Germany and Asia (surprise, this is where it comes from now). The difference is that medicine here is not a highly profitable business operated by insurance companies who have bought the government. I repeat, using the health of the public as a tool for profit is fundamentally immoral. It may take several generations for this to sink in. Meanwhile enjoy your $400 Echo Cardiograms, mine was $75 and just as good. Rant over.

This is not for everyone

This isn't for everyone. Remember Frodo's
attachment to his house? Attached as he
was he still managed to rise to circumstance
for the adventure that awaited him. Well,
it was a story. In this world people are
divided into those who hold tightly to
the certainties they have struggled to
attain and those, at the other extreme, who
like Frodo, turn away from the familiar and
walk into the unknown.

All things imagined and beyond imagining
lay shrouded in the mists of the unknown.
The most compelling and the most horrible
side by side in darkness...until we arrive
and encounter them. Then they become resolved
and illuminated and we navigate around or
toward them. That challenge beccens some.
Others will descend into a funk if the least
of the objects in their home is moved from
its ordained place.

I guess I am with the wondering group. I like
learning everyday a little more of the language
and culture. But even so I'm judged a conservative
on the gringo trail. The young travelers seem to
charge into the unknown. Nature's design I guess.
Otherwise nothing new would be discovered. We old
people do tend to reinvent the wheel. We are
reassured by its round regularity and predictable
rotation. The new is not for everyone.

A friend researching this idea of moving and
Embracing change was taken aback by references
to earthquakes and spiders the size of dinner
plates and razor wire on walls. If you change
the spiders to active volcanos you would be
describing a couple of Ecuador's wonders. To
be fair to the country, there may be spiders
in the east, in the Ecuadorian Amazon, at least
the size of cup saucers . Plenty big enough for
my imagination.

Yes I told her, there is all this and more.
She was looking at Central America but its also
true for Ecuador. But these things are not what
drives gringos away. What ends the quest for so
many is the different mindset of the people here.
Things like time, distance and direction for
example are often vague concepts in these cultures.
This is relative to the North American's mind.
There are fewer absolutes. Northerners who thought
they wanted a slower pace discover they can't
stand one. The silence they've achieved for the
first time in their lives Screams at them louder
than the city traffic they left behind. Mix in the
variations in individual personality and one size
does not fit all. Fortunately, Ecuador is one of
the most diverse countries in the world. somewhere
there is a climate, topology and society for me.
I have started my search here between volcanos
high up in the mountains of Ecuador.

A walk to the Bosque Mall

"el Bosque" is a park and a mall about 15 minutes by old feet from
where I live. It is up hill but not bad, not as bad as coming up to
the house from nearer the center of the valley.Sitting in the food
court in the mall I nursed a cola and drew pictures of the scene. The
view is amazing. It looks down on the airport's runway far below the
horizon. Beyond the runway a complex mosaic of little tiny colored
tile, thousands and thousands of them carpeting the eastern slopes of
the valley. These are houses and apartment buildings, businesses and
shops. Within each of those little tile are smaller dark rectangles,
windows. Unique view. I doubt there is anywhere else on earth like
it. Did I mention the Volcanoes? No, can't see them, the clouds are
hiding them. The clouds are fantastic. Massive floating sculpture
which drifts and changes moment to moment. Their shadows are cast on
the mosaic of the eastern slope of the valley of Pinchincha, the Inca
city which Quito grew from. Its terrible to be inspired by these
scenes to do paintings when every ounce packed is a millstone when
the time comes to fly out. Solution, don't fly out, stay.

First Solo into Gringolandia

The photos (cheap cam) are, Basilica del Vote Nacional, Sandy being cute and Statue of Simon Bolivar near Banco Central

My first day out solo. Took the training wheels off to visit the lawyer and a cardio doctor. Rode various busses. Next time I will spend the money and take a taxi. Not because of security although that's an ever present thought.  More because of the hills and the wear and tear of walking twenty blocks a day. Plus, after six days I doubt I am fully adapted to the thin air. The lawyer got the $350 needed to launch the visa application. That process will take a while but I believe it is in good hands. Residence status is the goal, then I can find my quieter spot and root a little.

The cardio doctor gave me an EKG and recommended a local diag center for an echo cardiogram. I will be setting that up soon. Today's visit was $40, the cost of a few Q tips on a stateside bill. Don't know what the echo diag will be, much less than stateside I expect.

I saw the statue of Bolivar near the Banco Central late afternoon. The advise to take a jacket is sound. The air cools in the late pm in a predictable way. There were rain showers as I left the last bus. They thankfully ended as I started up the hill to the house. This hill, part of the volcano's skirt I believe, would do credit to San Francisco's topology. It's no trek for an old guy was today's message.

Sunday with Sandy in the city

Sunday was another day out in Quito exploring. Sandy took me round to the city center, showed me the bus system and introduced me to a couple of malls. Chantal, the student from California, came with us. She met up with friends in a park we landed in. Lots of people out in the parks, malls and streets. It is sort of a holiday weekend. Monday is Quito's birthday?, not quiet sure, but a celebration of the city. This will lead into the pre Christmas party. I expect that like Madrid it will be horns and firecrackers all the way to January.

First impressions. The mix of racial types. Not just Indian and Spanish but the black people of Ecuador. I didn't realize the country had any Africans. The black Ecuadorians are taller generally, the Indians shorter and the Spanish in the middle. I am taller than most Ecuadorians so I can get a good view in a crowd. We were in plenty of crowds on Sunday. Saw a few tourists too, we stand out. Dress, size and body language. Also, the natives don't look up every time a jet passes overhead. Quito, most of the city, is on the glide path for the airport. A 737 passes over the center of the town, old Quito, about ever 20 minutes. I look up, most people don't, the jets are fairly loud. But when you have a range of mountains studded with volcanos on either side, down the middle is where you must fly.

The malls. Sandy (to the right in the photo) took me to two malls. I've forgotten the names. Found an outlet strip and an extension cord for my room. I have the usual number of electronic gadgets and the house has old wiring and a limited number of outlets. The prices for this type of stuff was very low! Shockingly low for electrical items. USA or less. It would not have been worth it, bringing a power strip that can be had here for $3. In the food court I had a burger and Sandy ate fries with Mayo. Prices for the various food outlets ringing the court were high. These malls are more like USA theme parks and the prices reflect this. The food is not local (what I noticed), it is exotic and thus expensive. It was an indulgence after trudging several miles.

Monday is for resting while the locals party. Tuesday I visit the lawyer in the late morning and get the visa process going. In the afternoon I visit a cardio doctor, my first contact with medicine in Ecuador. Sandy is suggesting the town of Cotacachi for a first expedition away from the capitol. Two hours by bus. The idea of being close to the city yet living in the quiet countryside is appealing. We shall see.

The overall impression is just what I had expected. The details and flavors I could not have anticipated are being filled in for me as I go about the city. This is just one little rincon (corner) of Ecuador. Lots more to see.

In Ecuador at last

At last I have arrived in Ecuador. In Quito to be specific, just south of the airport. The flight down was as expected. The security wasn't bad but for the fact I had three legs to the trip. But, I got here so...alls well that ends well. No flight missed, no baggage lost. Just paid $50 for one overweight suitcase, my fault. I couldn't believe I was so strong so I guessed (wrong) that it wasn't heavy. It became heavier. Lugging it into this house I think it was up to 300 lb.

The house is Sandra's. She is an Ecuadorian painter. Third generation European emigrant. Excellent English, lived in the states for many years. Its a big house so she takes in foreign visitors, students and tourist/visa hunters like me. Living out of hotels for three months is just not on. It would be expensive and not at all secure. I doubt the inexpensive hotel rooms would have space for the tons of stuff I've brought. So its a family situation. Her daughter, twenty something, lives here as well as a student from California. Spanish is the language 75% of the time. Friday night after dinner we had fun doing the newspaper crossword in Spanish. Not as difficult as you might think...the subjects are often USA movie stars. A good exercise. Sandy is long used to people needing the exercise of conversation in Spanish and corrects pronunciation with patience.

The altitude, which I thought might be a problem, hasn't been. I am encouraged now and then to breath deeply but beyond that I haven't noticed much. Walking to a mall on the slopes of the western volcano on Friday stressed me a little but I rested and that was no problem. Looked at the prices in the stores. Hit the ATM. Sandy was with me and we sat and drank coffee while looking down on the airport. Quito is like a curled ribbon running north and south. Walking east or west from the center of the ribbon is walking up hill.

I am giving myself a good rest today, Saturday. Monday is a holiday so I might go out and walk around some. Tuesday I see a lawyer and cardiologist. Investigating the medical possibilities here is a major goal for me. This first doctor visit with EKG will be $40. The lawyer I see tuesday specializes in the visa process. I want to get residence status for stays longer than three months a year. That way I can find my oun little corner of the country and settle in.

Day two, lots of time. More later.