Election Day in Ecuador

Spoiler alert – Rafael Correa won re-election for President on Sunday. It is interesting to note that this report from the NY Times was filed from Venezuela. Our own poll was not exactly scientific, but interesting to note that all the local people I asked (about ten) did not support Correa.  Aside from a lot of flag waving by various parties in the streets in the days leading up to the election, and a warning that traveling around Quito during the day on Sunday could be difficult, we saw little about the event.  One big difference is that everybody here is actually required to vote.  Our host family traveled away to their hometown of Latacunga, about one and a half hours drive south of here so that they could vote there. People traveling to their birth towns to vote sounds quite biblical to me.

      We of course did not vote, but we did have a remarkable day nonetheless.  Our American friend Jeff who has been here many times now, and is our contact with UBECI, put us in touch with his good friend Eduardo, wife Alma, and adult daughters Saskya and Virginia. We took a taxi ride from our home to the north side of Quito, right next to the main airport (now in its last few days of service – we witnessed some of the last planes flying in and out of the airport, famous for being very close to the center of the city, and for ‘exciting’ landings or take-offs). Of course we had absolutely no idea how the day would turn out, other than that Jeff told us they are a delightful family to be with. Sure enough, the day proved to be a mystery adventure tour with surprises as every turn.

Quito airport - this  picture was taken from a main road as we drove by.

Not our picture, but it shows just how tricky the airport could be.

      Their modest home is a haven for artistic creations, with paintings and sculptures filling the rooms we saw. Eduardo, Saskya and Virginia are all genuinely talented artists. Alma may be too, but we did not see her work.  All of our conversation had to be in Spanish, so this proved to be excellent practice for us – we actually managed quite well, with the occasional help of my Dictionary App.

    Saskya still had to vote at a station right next to one of the larger parks in Quito, the Parque La Carolina which is about half the size of Hyde Park in London (so pretty big). The voting lines were slow, so Eduardo, Alma and the three of us enjoyed a gentle amble among a friendly crowd out to enjoy a leisurely day, walking, biking, eating, or watching numerous impromptu performances by comedians and the like. The most colorful character was a man dressed in exaggerated drag using his persona to sell candy – quite successfully. We also witnessed a free outdoor exercise salsa dance class with about 50 people of many ages and body types grooving along to a leader high up on a stage.  Most notable was the number of men participating, something we wouldn’t see so much at home.  Many more men take pride in their dancing here.

     Once Saskya had completed her obligation, our mystery tour began in earnest.  The three of us were packed into the back seat of an old Jeep, with no real clue where we were headed, other than that it was somewhere north.  A brief stop on the outskirts of Quito for some very tasty take-out chicken and chips provided nourishment (and sticky fingers). We crossed the equator heading north for our first scheduled stop at the Pululahua volcano. Alas, it was raining heavily with no chance of a view, so we will have to wait for another occasion to come here.

   So, it was back onto the main road and a seemingly endless climb out of the Quito valley until we reached the small town of Calacali. It does not seem at all noteworthy at first, and is not on any tourist map I have seen (it has one of the shortest Wikipedia entries I know).  In amongst a collection of half built or run-down homes however is a sweet little museum devoted to a famous Ecuadorian singer from the past called Carlota Jaramillo who lived from 1904 to 1987. There is little reason why most of us would have heard of her, but the museum (actually her old home) offered a glimpse into the life of a singer who once was extremely popular in Ecuador, perhaps in the way that Edith Piaf or Vera Lynn were popular in France and Britain. A boombox mounted on a chair played a CD of her songs as we spent about 20 minutes gazing at old photos and other momentos of her career. I even got to play her guitar that rested against her bed. Amazingly, there was no security of any kind – just an open door, and an opportunity to step back in time to another lifetime.  Sadly, her old home is now surrounded by more depressing buildings, but was well worth the visit.

 

   Around a couple of corners from Carlota’s home is the main square where we found ourselves next to another monument marking the equator.  We dutifully jumped from one hemisphere to the next, losing count of how many times we had crossed this line (five up until this day), before Eduardo took us to another friend of his who runs a small guinea pig operation, supplying what is considered a great delicacy to the local markets. I don’t suppose they have names, but we did not feel any more inclined to sample the product. The produce we did sample however was of the fruit variety at the home of yet another friend of Eduardo just a few streets away.  We sampled uvilla, chigualcan, taxo and tree tomatoes, all freshly picked from the garden - some more tasty than others. 

Chigualcan - very juicy and delicious

Saskya models the natural earring look

     The last stop on our mystery tour proved to be a small dairy farm even higher up into the mountains just a few miles from Calacali that is somehow connected with Eduardo’s family. The few miles consisted mostly of a steep climb through intensely green vegetation and what, on a clear day, would surely have been spectacular views.  Alas, the vistas were very limited, but a short walk around the farm was refreshing and quaint, with hens, goats, and dogs strutting about as they would in any small farm around the world. Imagine a small, lush field in Ireland turned about 50 degrees to the horizontal.

     It was after 7:00 in the evening by the time we finally got back to Quito.  We had spent several hours cramped in the back of the jeep, but were thoroughly rewarded by surprises, and the delightful company of this artistic family that went so much out of their way to entertain us.  Our Spanish was given a good workout for sure.  They even invited us back, so that could be hard to resist.