There is no Q in Ecuador

Here is a list of the individual posts within this Ecuador trip blog. Click on the title and it will take you directly to the individual post. We hope you enjoy sharing our trip to the beautiful country of Ecuador.


January
Where in the world is Ecuador?
Adjusting to the altitude
What about Cayo?
The mountains
Arasha Rain Forest Resort
More about the bus ride
Flowers at Arasha
Hummingbirds??
Making chocolate
The big hike
Birds
Indulgences
Back to Quito – getting ready for Christmas
Gift baskets
Christmas at Emily and Cayo’s
Orchids and butterflies
Mosaico and Itchimbia
More on Mosaico

February
On the road to Otavalo
The jeep
Otavalo
Colorful Otavalo
People of Otavalo
Streetlights of Otavalo
La Luna
Weaving studio in Peguche
Parting thoughts of Otavalo
La Luna Objects
Ahh, beautiful Cuenca
The market
Tamales

March
Visiting Nubia
Posado del Angel, Cuenca
Paso del Niños
Old Year / New Year in Cuenca
The masks
Ringing out the old year
Lobito y Maria Jose
A little history of the Año Viejo burning
A day in the campo
The Panama hat factory

April/May
Eduardo Vega gallery
Artesa factory
Cuy
Images of Cuenca
Teleferico
Guayasamin home and museum
Eating out in Quito
Capilla del Hombre
Cristóbal González Guzmán
Going home

That's the end of our holiday trip to Ecuador. I wish I had taken notes so I could have told better and more accurate stories. Terry pointed out an error I made a few weeks ago, but oh well. I dare you to find it.

We have many wonderful memories of the country, the people, and our experiences. Now that Emily and Cayo are moving to Portland, we won't make this trip as often, but we are determined to return to the country that we love.

Here are a few parting images --

Cristóbal is the art teacher at the school where Emily teaches. They ride the bus to work together every morning. For years Cristóbal also had an art gallery in the Mariscal section of downtown Quito and he has become quite a well-known painter in Ecuador.

Emily took us to visit him at his home in the new section of Quito. I had emailed him several months earlier, about the Onda Gallery here in Portland, It is a gallery that specializes in Latin American art and Emily thought he might want to contact them about showing his work.
His home is an older, typically Ecuadorean-style home, surrounded by a lovely walled garden on a quiet, little winding street, tucked away in a busy part of Quito. Inside it is like an art museum, with both his paintings and his collection of early colonial art lining the walls. Beautifully preserved antiques furnish the rooms. We visited over wine and pastries and then he gave us a tour of the rooms filled with his art. He is a soft-spoken, very humble man, but his face lights up as he talks about his students and when he talks about his art.

It was a very special, and very memorable evening. When we left, I took a CD of his work to present to the owner of the Onda Gallery. The owner of the gallery loves his work and there will be a Cristóbal González Guzmán show at Onda this coming September.

The Capilla del Hombre museum is built on two levels with an opening up through the center to the dome, that can be seen from the outside. The work, all done by Guayasamin, is very large for the most part. Guyasamin depicted the misery and injustice of the world, especially of the indigenous populations of Ecuador. The work is emotional and very dramatic. Emily was telling me that despite his fame and a certain national pride, Guayasamin is controversial and many Ecuadoreans dislike his depiction of their people and culture as being downtrodden and oppressed.

Inside the dome.

And, on the softer side, this sculpture called "Family". The painting is probably Guayasamin's most famous and is a tribute to his mother. It is called "Tenderness".

We always enjoy finding new restaurants in Quito and revisiting those that we love. Several come to mind as I think about eating in Ecuador. Unfortunately, we don't have any photos of these places. We are always too busy eating to take pictures.

On every trip, we wind up eating one or more meals at Crepes and Waffles. This is a chain from Columbia and there are several of them in Quito. They are popular for business lunches and family outings. The large mid-day meal is Almuerzo. Visiting C & W during this time usually requires a wait. They have great salads, sandwiches, and crepe dishes. They also have huge wild and crazy ice cream desserts. The food is very tasty, the portions are large, and you can depend on sanitized fresh fruit and vegetables. I have to mention, though, that last year our friend, Muriel, found a live slug in her salad. I guess that indicates a lack of pesticides. They were very gracious and made it right for us. That has not deterred us from ordering salads on return visits. We are, however, pretty watchful.

We went to a great Italian Restaurant, however I can’t remember the name. Also, Em & Cayo took us to the only brew-pub in Quito, the Turtles Head Pub. It is styled after a British pub. The décor is great and the beer selection is good. They also have decent snacks. Andy and I played a few games of pool with Cayo. It was fun. We also met friends of Emily at a Pizza restaurant one night.

Quito has a wide assortment of restaurants that feature food from Cuba, Mexico, Italy, France, the US, and many more. And, of course, there are establishments that feature traditional Ecuadorian fare. There are a growing number of American fast food franchises (McD, KFC, etc.) Needless to say, we don’t spend valuable tourist time and $ in those establishments.

Ecuador's most famous artist is Oswaldo Guayasamin, who died in 1999. (self-portrait at right) His influence in Ecuador is vast and his work has been exhibited around the world. He is virtually unknown in the United States, probably because of his friendship with, and support of, Castro. At the time of his death he was midway through the construction of a grand museum called the Capilla del Hombre (Chapel of Man) high up on a hillside overlooking Quito.

His last home and studio are a bit further up the hill from the museum and we started there, wandering around the grounds, looking at his sculptures, his cars and some of his collection of Spanish mission bells.























From the house, we made our way down the hill toward the museum, stopping along the way to admire a Pre-columbian, Mayan sculpture, collected by Guayasamin, the beautiful view of Quito and a new sculpture on the grounds of the museum. I believe this piece is representative of the death of an indigenous leader at the hands (and horses) of the Spanish. This piece is not by Guayasamin, but was commissioned for the museum. I don't know the name of the artist—wish I did.
























Tomorrow I'll post pictures of the Chapel of Man museum.

The day after we returned from Cuenca it looked like it would be relatively rain-free, so we decided to take a trip on the Teleferico. The Teleferico is a gondola ride in Northern Quito which takes you from 8800 feet elevation to over 12,000 feet. The upper end of the ride is near the summit of Pichincha, the nearest volcanic peak in the Andes. It was built just last year and is much nicer than many of the commercial establishments in Ecuador.













While it was not raining, clouds and mist compromised the view of the city and surrounding mountains. But, it was still an outstanding trip. At the top, Andy, Emily, and I took a hike up a trail toward the summit, but poor Terry suffered too much from the altitude to join us. It was fairly cold and an effort was required just to breathe. Cayo had to work and could not go along, but he and Emily had ridden it before on a much clearer day.


To the right is a photo of the peak of Pichincha, which is an active volcano.






At the bottom of the ride was a carnival and at the top we found cafes, shops, and folk musicians.

Before we leave Cuenca, I want to just leave you with a few more images of this beautiful city.

Our last day in Cuenca, we wanted to take the Molina family out to eat. We asked them to suggest a restaurant and they all thought we needed a nice Cuy lunch before we left Ecuador.

I have to tell you I had avoided Cuy on my previous four visits to Ecuador, but the time had come to sample the local delicacy. Cuy (pronounced Kwee) is guinea pig. We went to a restaurant renowned for their cuy, but we also ordered a platter of chicken.

This is a roast cuy. You can see the little feet. Chela pointed out to Ray, that these make convenient little handles for eating the cuy with one's fingers. You can't see the head in this picture, but trust me, it was there.

How did it taste? Well—you expected me to say "like chicken," didn't you? Some people think it tastes like rabbit. I've never eaten rabbit, so I can't compare. It tasted a bit like duck to me—a little stringy, very boney, but the crispy skin was quite tasty. Andy just couldn't bring himself to try it, but the rest of us managed to reduce it to a pile of teeny, tiny bones.