JJ's Travelogue

With apologies to Ecuadorians who might be offended by the provocative title of this post…

“Gee, Josh, are you sure we’re in Ecuador? I mean, all the menus are in English.. so are most of the signs. And I try to speak Spanish to shopkeepers, but they immediately switch to English. Plus, most of the people on the street are gringos. I don’t know, it looks an awful lot like Boulder, Colorado..” [Yes, I often talk to myself like this!]

It was a bit of a culture shock coming into Quito, particularly after having been away from touristy places for so long. Of course I welcome the bagels, pancakes, and other comfort foods from home that I haven’t had in so long.. but it’s also more expensive (my breakfast this morning was more expensive than it would be in New York! Somebody is getting very rich off all the tourists, since I know food doesn’t cost nearly this much around here), and you know I usually prefer to stay away from fellow gringos. I’ve been reminded why American travelers have a negative connotation abroad – the loudest and most obnoxious people in a restaurant are invariably American. And they always assume locals will understand English, they don’t even attempt to speak Spanish. So many of us Americans are not like this, but those few bad apples leave a bad impression for the rest of us.

Fortunately most of the above is less true when one leaves the “gringolandia” neighborhood of La Mariscal where all the backpacker hotels, internet shops, travel agencies, foreign-geared restaurants, bars and clubs are located. Quito has an historic colonial downtown that’s been revitalized in recent years. I wouldn’t call it a destination the way Cartagena is, it’s more like the La Candelaria district of Bogotá. There are a large number of impressive churches, including one wanna-be Notre Dame where the service is in Latin. I don’t know why guidebooks spend so much ink on churches – to me, once you’ve seen a few, you’ve seen them all. Actually, they scare me a little bit. I almost never enter them – it’s like entering a hospital for me, too much darkness and death.
Although the city doesn’t have any bodies of water, it is built on a series of hills that afford nice views, reminiscent of Medellín.

Ecuadorian Spanish is quite neutral – I can actually understand most of them if they speak slowly – and a lot of Spanish schools have sprung up for all the tourists which I was tempted to partake in, until I saw the sheer number of gringos around. I would rather learn and practice in a smaller town with a more immersive experience.

The city publishes a monthly guide to cultural events around town which I have used to see a number of art and performance events that I’ve been impressed with. My first night in town I went down to the large, beautifully restored Teatro Sucré to see “El Amor Brujo“, a show combining modern dance, flamenco, six classical guitarists, and an operatic vocalist. The production values were first rate; the modern dancers so-so; the guitars and flamenco dancers excellent. Male flamenco dancers are just so.. virile. I can’t think of a better word to describe their powerful masculine authority. The second act featured a dance-off a lá West Side Story. The flamenco dancers kicked the modern dancer’s asses, and I don’t think that was on purpose.
The most surprising thing of the evening was that the show started exactly on time – are we in Latin America?! It felt so good to be in a theatre again – having spent the better part of the last 20 years in theatres, they feel like home to me. One annoying trend I’ve noticed recently is theatres installing plasma screens flanking the proscenium, on which they show close-ups of the performers throughout the evening as if at a rock concert. The difference is that when in a stadium, you’re 500 feet away from Mick Jagger, so you need the iMag; but theatres were designed specifically so every seat has good sightlines. Get rid of the annoying and distracting screens!

After the performance I went to an old-man’s bar where I met a local architect and a guy on vacation from Bonaire (one of the Netherlands Antilles). Great conversations.. the man from Bonaire naturally spoke Dutch, English with a thick Carribean accent, Spanish, and a bit of German and French. They informed me that all the bars in the city would be closing at midnight and not reopen until Monday morning. What?! This was due to the elections on Sunday. “But I thought Ecuador just re-elected the president two months ago?” Ah yes, but this election is for the Andean Parliament. 30,600 police officers were deployed to keep the peace, yet everyone I spoke to couldn’t have cared less. In fact, most of them weren’t even planning on voting, despite it being mandatory, punishable by a fine. They’re envious of the U.S. where we’re “free” not to vote. But I pointed out that it can’t be a true democracy if less than 50% of the electorate votes (which frequently happens in U.S. elections).
Anyway, I was thoroughly annoyed by the bar ban. This is the third time this has happened to me on this trip! It’s not about the lack of alcohol, it’s that I’ve hung around waiting for the weekend when the city will take off, only to learn that it will be completely dead all weekend long. Sure enough, many restaurants and all the clubs didn’t bother to open.. the streets were dead, like a ghost town.

Another night I saw JazzIAm, a New York-based jazz vocal band sponsored by Jazz at Lincoln Center and the U.S. State Department to promote U.S. culture abroad. Wow, I didn’t know the State Department was still producing touring shows, that’s very impressive. The band was good fun, and the audience not only ate it up but turned out to be quite erudite in jazz history, evidenced by their answers to questions put forth from the stage.

I’ve also gone to several contemporary art exhibitions, although I’m still wondering if the word “contemporary” means something different in Spanish, since so much gets lumped under that heading. For example, the huge, beautiful Center for Contemporary Art that cost millions of dollars to renovate from a 100-year old military base had exhibits on the Ecuadorian revolution, Paris in the 19th century, and the indigenous history of Quito. Not exactly what I would call “contemporary” art. Or even “art”.

In a large exhibition space at one of the universities I saw a show that completely blew me away. I’m wandering through these galleries of over 100 works on three floors comprising surrealism, figurative drawing, abstract expressionism, photography and video, and wondering why the titles and mediums are given on the placards, but never the artist. Finally it dawns on me that this entire exhibition was all created by the same artist. Furthermore, he’s a fairly young man. I still can’t believe that this guy has been so prolific, and so good, in all these various mediums and styles. Many of the pieces rivaled anything I’ve seen in New York or other “art centers” of the world. And yes, he’s a local boy.
Viewing contemporary art and performance energizes, revitalizes, and invigorates me like nothing else. And as mom always taught me, even if 90% of what you see is crap, it’s that 10% that sticks in your brain and makes it all worthwhile.

In the galleries above local boy’s was an exhibit on Europe between the wars.. probably my favorite time period on Earth. I just love the art, design, fashion, literature, and unbridled expressiveness that was bursting forth during that period.

It turns out that the guide on my mountain biking trip is a fellow Floyd-head, so I invited him and his wife to join me in attending a tribute to Pink Floyd’s The Wall. The evening was put on by a local bar-band who normally plays covers, but this was a fully fleshed-out show including projections, smoke, moving lights, costume changes, and scenography. Basically, the band played along to the film being projected behind them. Parts of the show didn’t work or I would have done differently, but overall I was very impressed. Who would have thought I would find this kind of show in Ecuador??

In one of the larger theatres I saw advertised a workshop/course for theatrical lighting designers, similar to the ones I used to teach. A course like this being offered for several days at $25 a pop demonstrates that there is an audience for it, which I take as a Good Sign.

Besides all that I’ve mentioned, just this month there is a European film festival, electronica DJs, a Mendelssohn fest, a flautist convention, indigenous performances, dozens of small theatre shows, an international rock festival, chamber and sacred music, operas, the Berlin Philharmonic, and a bunch of other concerts and exhibitions I never made it to. Needless to say, I’m impressed with Quito’s arts and culture scene.

You begin to see why Quito has become my favorite large city on my trip thus far.. it’s got so much to offer the visitor, the people are friendly and more chill towards visitors than I found in Colombia, not to mention the range of activities within a short drive from the city. Speaking of, one day an ESOL student of my mom’s who was back visiting took me on a whirlwind tour of the sights, along with a friend of her daughter’s. We saw a beautiful statue of Madonna (the V.M., not the pop star!) with wings that stands on a hill overlooking the city.. as if El Ángel or the Berlin Victory angel were placed on the Corcovado. Although I don’t subscribe to the metaphysical aspects, I love the image of a guardian angel standing guard over the entire city.

They also took me to “The Center of the World” – that imaginary line which the equator passes through.. which we now know through the goodness of GPS technology is actually 787 feet further south than where the monument was built! By the way, did you know that “Ecuador” is simply the Spanish word for “equator”? There is a small museum there which purports to demonstrate various “scientific” principles that are all of course, pure bunk. That you weigh less at the equator because your mass is being distributed over two hemispheres (??), balancing an egg on the head of a nail (umm.. that just takes skill, no matter where you are in the world), and my personal favorite, the “demonstration” of the coriolis effect, that famous and oft-incorrectly quoted principle that governs the spinning of cyclones and hurricanes, but not the draining of bathtubs and toilets, contrary to popular belief. I would have liked to have gone and debunked their demonstrations (particularly when pointing out that of course their demonstrations had to be hogwash since the equator actually lies hundreds of meters from where their experiments are taking place), but we didn’t have time – my friendly tour guides swept me off to the next sight before I embarrassed their fellow countrymen.

Quito has a modern bus system similar to Bogotá’s, with both trolley lines and elevated station platforms. Every Sunday major boulevards are closed to traffic, inviting bicyclists and joggers to take over – also similar to the large Colombian cities. Being on the equator and at 10,000 feet, the weather is pleasant here year-round. It’s usually warm and sunny in the morning, rains for a bit each afternoon, and chilly in the evenings. In the largest park is an impressively huge skateboarding course complete with ramps, tunnels, half-pipes, and wonderful graffiti art. A little further away is an equally fun BMX course. I was tempted to rent a bike just to try out some of the jumps. Any city that allows, even encourages, teens to be themselves when most municipalities are branding them outlaws is a cool city in my book.

Perched on a hill overlooking the city lies a beautiful park called Itchimbia along with a cultural center that underwent a stunning renovation recently. The building was originally imported from Hamburg in 1889, then used as a market for many years, before it’s current use as a multi-purpose venue. The architecture is phenomenal – the building is 90% glass, affording 360° views from any room, with a beautiful ironwork structure supporting it all.

Quito has nicely large street signs on every corner replete with numbers showing which addresses are on that given block. This is a Good Thing, since addresses are not nearly as simple as they are in Colombia. Part of the confusion lays in the fact that the city is changing systems.. so the new town has all the new numbers posted, although any book or advertisement more than a year old lists the old address; while the old town is only now in the process of changing over. The hilarity reminds me of Berlin addresses, which go down one side of the street to the very end, and then continue counting up the other side. In this way, you’ll have #23 across the street from #5675. There is absolutely no way to tell where a given house is only by it’s address. Fortunately here in Quito, most places list their cross-street along with their house number.

I’ve been staying at a great hotel/hostel called Casa Helbling, run by a Swiss-Ecuadorian couple. One long-term resident is a crazy 60-something ex-New Yorker rabble-rouser who spouts conspiracy theories. We’ve had some good talks, although the conversation is exhausting after a while.

Just saw an ad for a penthouse apartment renting for $190/month including utilities, and furnished! So.. why am I paying $17/night?

I’ve seen cars on the road by manufacturers I’ve never heard of – Great Wall Motors and Korando Ssangyong – have you ever heard of these brands? I guess they’re Chinese knock-offs of name brands. They look real, but my guess is they’re going to fall apart in a crash.

I’ve met up with a bunch of people through Couchsurfing this past week, and all of them have been great. The first one brought a friend along, which is understandable, but a bit wimpy. It’s true that meeting strangers like this can be a bit like going on a blind date, but (hopefully) without the anxiety and pressure. Her friend left after she saw that I wasn’t a serial killer, but then an hour later another friend showed up, which I’m assuming was pre-arranged to see if she needed rescuing. But they were all friendly and gave me tips on Ecuador… although they couldn’t give me an explanation as to why there are so many gringos in Quito (although they weren’t bothered by it, and didn’t think the prices were high because of it).. a fellow traveler told me perhaps it’s just my experience coming from Central America and Colombia – I will probably encounter more of this as I continue to other popular cities, like Lima and Buenos Aires. The girls had a strong prejudice against Colombia (“it’s dangerous! why would you go there?!”) and Colombian people (“thieves,” I think due to all the refugees along the border from Colombia’s war with the FARC).. I was dismayed, thinking perhaps most Ecuadorians thought this way; but I’ve since learned this isn’t true. We spoke mostly in Spanish, although I had to resort to English for more complex questions.

A week later I met up with other Couchsurfers at a photography opening. We ended up bar-hopping and clubbing that night, then I got invited over for dinner to one of their apartments the following night. These guys were great – one girl is from Quito, but has lived and traveled all over the world; one is from Peru but is living here now, and one is a British ex-pat who has also lived all over the world (including Japan for 5 years), and now makes Quito his home. Interesting fellow.. he’s a birding expert, and leads high-end nature tours all over the continent. It was wonderful to meet and hang out with like-minded people from a somewhat similar background as myself (at least socio-economically, as well as similar tastes in music and art), yet who are actually from a completely different culture than I am.

Finally, I had wonderful coffee-talk with a 51-year old American ex-pat who I reached out to because her profile intrigued me with all the different lives she’s lead in her life thus far. Her birth name was unpronounceable to the locals (she never did tell me what it was), so she invented a new name when she moved down here. This is something I need to consider when I land somewhere to live, since nobody can say “Josh”. It either comes out as “George” or “Jis”. Got any ideas for a new name for me? Anyway, Gala and I hit it off and another day she invited me to go hiking/walking with a friend in the countryside. Quito has reclaimed one of the old railroad lines and turned it into a wonderful 40 km long biking and walking trail. I love rail lines because of the views they afford – having been built long before the cities that grew up along either side of them, but with their right-of-way always preserved, they now give you great sneak peaks into neighborhoods. I’ve found this to be true no matter where you are in the world. The section we walked was blasted alongside a dramatic valley with the river far below and passed through some dark tunnels. Great talks, nice exercise, and ice cream following. Fun!