democracy and art

So our first day of strolling around Old Town (where all the monasaries, churches, President´s house, and old buildings are, as well as bustling little stores lining the streets (fun fact: all the buildings were painted with white limestone to prevent disease and were recently restored to the original 1750´s colors)), we see that everyone in this plaza is reading this little comic book. I ask half a dozen people where they got them and they all point to different points in the plaza. I ask an old lady for the ones on the ground next to her and she gives them to me and her gang of 70-something cronies tell me all about the new constitution and the vote on Sept 28^th. I was expecting students to be responsible for the comic book, which turned out to be a political history of Ecuador and an explanation of the new constitution, skillfully representing the political elites as gruesome fatties and monsters, but these old ladies were very enthused about the prospect of de-centralization. There are readings of excerpts of the proposed constitution on TV, with one modern-dressed lady and one traditionally dressed lady reading about the rights of Nature and our duty to preserve the ecosystem. Our local friend Mauricio says the new constitution will do much to help the poor too. There is no drinking this weekend before the voting. Judging from the many small public demonstrations, it seems like the new constitution is going to pass, and judging from the manifold efforts at informing the public, it seems like a very good thing. Democracy in action! How exciting!!! Unfortunately for me, we just got an email from the US embassy saying that we´ll be arrested if we participate in any of the public demonstrations… the symbol of democracy! How hypocritical! AS OF SEPT. 28TH, THE NEW CONSTITUTION PASSED! LET´S SEE IF IT DOES ANYTHING!

In this same vein of education, we also went to the National Museum. It was a chronological art history of Ecuador. From 10,000 to 4000 BC there were hunter-gatherers in groups of 20-30, which gradually developed into status hierarchies with political, merchants, or religious elites. As time went on, power was increasingly held by fewer people until the Incas came and conquered everyone´s ass with state organization of economics and military. Then the Spanish (Pizarro) came and kicked their Incan asses with (as Jared Diamond says) guns, germs, and steel (I like to think about how this historical progression happened pretty much the same way all over the world- as time goes on, societies grow bigger, power is held by fewer, there is more specialization, more inequality- sounds like my thesis... anybody interested?). So the art in the museum shifts from pottery, stone figures, and gold jewelery to Jesus art. They were particularly gory Jesus images because they wanted to scare the natives into Christianity. Then the rest of the museum was some landscapes, portraits, and then some good impressionism, cubism, and finally some pretty intense modern art/social critique. I hope to include pics of this intense stuff.

Our first week in Quito, Ecuador

Hello friends, family, and esteemed colleagues. We created this blog to keep you up to date on our super awesome South American adventures. Please read whenever you feel like it, and reply to us. Keep us connected to America of the north. We write now from the English school, Centro de Educacion Continua, where we will be teaching for the next year, more or less.

We ended our 14 hour voyage south of the equator on Sunday morning at 1am. About 12 hours later, we made our first Ecuadorian friend, Mauricio. We sat down to eat a $1.50 (Ecuador uses the USD since their economic meltdown of 2000), multiple course almuerzo (including fresh juice, which Mike can´t get enough of, and even dessert!) and asked the waiter in broken Spanish how much an apartment cost on that street. He immediately called up a friend with an apartment in beautiful La Ronda, who wanted to show us her apartment 2 hours later. We met Nella at the small cafe run by her roommate, who makes beautiful silver jewelry with turquoise. We had a cafe con leche (by the way, whoever said that coffee in Ecuador would be superior to US coffee was mistaken - Nescafe is served with hot milk 9 out of 10 times (but it´s actually quite delicious)) and then she showed us her apartment. The view from the dining room was breath taking, stretching across most of Old Town Quito; of course, the view would have been impaired had the dining room not been outdoors, covered only by a patched tin roof. One had to walk outside to get from the bedroom to the bathroom or kitchen. We briefly thought about putting up with these living conditions for the panoramic view from our dining room table, but ditched that idea as soon as we saw the apartment in Jipijapa (a neighborhood in Quito) that we now plan on renting. It was probably a good choice, as every QuiteÑo that we´ve spoken with so far looks quite concerned when we mention our thoughts of living in La Ronda. Apparently, its not the safest neighborhood to live.

The apartment in Jipijapa is pretty much perfect. Not only is it the penthouse, but it comes furnished with just about everything we could need, including paintings on the wall, and even has a washing machine (they are a very coveted item in Ecuador). It even has an extra room, which we plan to use as a studio.

There is a huge mountain that rests right on the north side of Quito, so large and close that it can be seen looming over the city from any location in Quito. Yesterday we took a ski lift type contraption up to the top of this mountain where there were trails, a volcano, and incredible views like we´ve never seen. Quito streches only 5 miles from east to west, but from north to south it seems utterly endless (according to one of our cab drivers, 50 miles, but who knows). Atop the mountain we put on cowboy hats and rode on horse back along some of the trails. It was Mike´s first time on horseback, and Liz´s first time riding in a cowboy hat. We´ll put up pictures soon for you to laugh at. But first we have to find the export cord to Mike´s camera.

Oh yeah, and we haven´t drank the water! Our insides seem to be in fine condition despite the cheap almuerzos that we eat daily. According to our friend Laura, about a month into our stay we will be hit by the inevitable bout of sickness, which is basically our body saying "good God, what are you doing to me! I can´t take it anymore!" Everybody gets it, she says. We´ll see.