Quito Old Town

I am tired. We’ve been busy doing but I am rather too worn down to string words together. Our local phone service has gone down in Quito and we found ourselves downtown with no phone. We managed big in a world that expects to have a cellphone not facing one makes for a lot of work. Not to mention finding our way back to our campground. So here are some pictures to tide me over till I can catch up. 

And it ended in a downpour. Rainy season won’t let go. 

Without cell service I had to figure out the way home using Google Maps offline. In the rain.  No fun at all. 

Art And Food

Somehow Layne found an art gallery open to the public in Quito at the home of Ecuador’s most famous artist. I would bet a trillion dollars no one in the United States not connected to Ecuador would have a clue who that might be. We didn’t and I’m still not sure who he is. Self portrait: 

His name is Oswaldo Guayasamín and he lived from 1919 to 1999 when he died at 79 of a heart attack while painting. His home is now a shrine to his work.

His paintings are a little odd, vast murals heavily laden with political messages, protests against war famine and oppression. As you can see they didn’t have a huge effect on the evolution of the people on the planet. He built a gallery space called the Chapel of Man where his pieces are on display and visitors  are guided English as well as Spanish.  

Above is the condor versus the bull, an allegory of indigenous people who organized these fights to see if the year ahead would promise good or bad crops. Below is a painting I quite like called “La Mestiza” which literally translates as a mixed race woman. Gusayamín was fascinated by Ecuador’s caste and racial separation where mestizo is someone of Spanish and indigenous blood represented by the yellow and blue colors. 

Women expressing hope pain and resignation over relatives disappeared in South America’s frequent political repressions. Always the huge fingers. 

Torture. 

“I cried because I had no shoes until I saw a child with no feet.” 

“Keep a light illuminated as I will return.” 

This is a representation of the 15th century Pietà of Avignon minus all the religious symbols. 

A slightly over sized earring: 

This mural below is interesting as it is painted on sheets of plywood and the individual pieces can be moved around. The hand in the right is begging this way up and the other way up it is a symbol of power for instance. 

And then as part of your $17 entrance fee you get to see the artists home exactly as he left it when he died. He was married three times and after his last divorce he lived alone in this home for his final twenty years.

Frankly I found it a bit bizarre as the artist who described himself as an atheist surrounded himself with religious iconography. 

Gusayamín loved to be around the powerful of his time and one wall was covered in photos of him meeting revolutionary world leaders of that era, Castro Mao and so forth. 

Oddly there were no photos of him with the proletariat he supported. And none of his art seemed to reflect anything especially Ecuadorean. 

I found the decoration of his bedroom and art studio a bit overwrought but what do I know. 

We watched a short video of him painting a portrait in 1994 of the flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia and boy was quite interesting to watch him work with heavy brush strokes which ended up in remarkable likeness. 

From this mess comes forth art. 

“Paro” means strike: 

So now if anyone asks, as unlikely as that sounds, you know who is Ecuador’s most well know artist. 

We went out for a fancy lunch yesterday. Melon soup to start with corn crumble. 

Andean grains they called this with beans and hearts of palm and a strong lemon flavor. It was served cold and was quite an interesting mix of flavors. The title persuaded me I wanted to try the tasting menu and we had the wine pairing as well. 

Cold stone crab cake with sliced cucumber.

Sea bass with a pink salt flavored jelly that was reminiscent of the sea. I never had anything like it before. 

Instead of octopus we had shrimp in a red pepper sauce that was more like a soup. 

A beef flavored  egg yolk that you swallowed in one go off the spoon. That was interesting. 

And at last Ecuadors terrifying national dish called cuy (« coo-ee ») which is actually guinea pig. On the street they are roasted whole on a spit and you get this gruesome rat like whole animal with teeth claws and all. Here it was a bit more civilized, in an empanada in a raviolo and confit, cooked in its own fat with a crispy coating. Personally it had special flavor, not gamey, and in fact a bit dry. I’ve done it, I’ve eaten it (and Layne did her duty and had a taste of mine) and I feel no desire to eat it again. 

Beef oxtail and potato:

Finally after two and a half hours chocolate a myriad different ways. 

Back at home to release Rusty from his sleep in the van we went for a walk though he was none too keen on the cows through the fence. 

Cotipaxi volcano which we plan to see up close after we leave Quito. I think the parking lot is over 15,000 feet so we will have our Key West winter clothes in for that.