Portrait of a Painter

Around the time Luis Martinez started painting (late 1800s, early 1900s), Ecuador was still establishing itself as a nation. So his paintings of countrysides could be seen as a way of marking Ecuadorian territory, if only in the public sentiment. He showed Ecuadorians and the rest of the world what Ecuador was (after all, this was during a time when people couldn't just hop a plane or even a bus).

Martinez was a mountain climber, which gave a lot of realism to his art. But his paintings were definitely romantic - you can see a lot of inferences to the presence of God in his work. The sky in many of his paintings take up a third to half of the piece. And there's a lot of golden, heavenly light in there, too.

Another thing he was really good at was working in a play of light and shadow to create depth and add distance to his pieces.

He saw his work as a scientific document - he was not just painting a pretty picture, but more importantly, showing everyone what these mostly unseen landscapes looked like.

El Altar in the early 1900s

View of El Altar in 2008, taken by Ivan Layedra P

Even in modern times, his paintings have this aspect of a scientific document to them. His work gives us a view into this part of the world before industries and people began polluting and causing great changes in the atmosphere. He painted mountains with snow-capped peaks. When we see them today, much of the snow has disappeared. Probably in a few decades, these mountains will be completely bare of snow, leading to huge consequences for the people who live in Ecuador and the rest of South America.

I think his work really conveys the feeling that one gets in the solitude of nature and in the presence of something greater than ourselves. These mountains and landscapes will outlast all of us.

[Paintings from the book "Luis A. Martinez" by Fernando Jurado Noboa]

Update on Art History Class

You may remember I'm taking an art history class at the local university. There are a few updates I can give you now that we're more than a third of the way in.

• The class is half-full of art history nerds. You can especially tell who is an art history nerd and who is a art history amateur (myself included) when we sit in a cafe after going to a museum. The art history nerds (which I write with much affection) will talk the teacher's ear off about some abstract painting; an art conference coming to town; or problems that are affecting the Ecuadorian art field in general. Really heavy stuff. The rest of us will chat about the new airport in town, the weather, our next vacation, or a new movie. As you can imagine, I'm getting pretty good at Ecuadorian small talk.

• I'm now understanding 80% of what is said, maybe 75% on the day that starts at 9 am. I'm not a morning person when it comes to Spanish - I've found that my Spanish level decreases noticeably when I'm forced to communicate articulately at wee hours of the morning. So trying to identify what kind of art style a painting is before 10 am is not really happening. I sit back and soak it all in until my mind starts up for the day. Next week we have a 4-hour class and I think my head might just implode by the third hour. I've heard talk of pastries making an appearance though.

• Camilo Egas is one of my new favorites. The other week, our teacher took us to the museum of Quito's most under-appreciated artist, Camilo Egas. Let me tell you - this guy painted it all. He painted impressionism, cubism, abstract expressionism, surrealism, Spanish modernism, and lots of indigenous art. I couldn't take photos, but you can check out his work here. 

• I have an exam... tomorrow. I should be studying my butt off like all the good art history nerds, but I'm having a hard time concentrating on it tonight. We've got the most amazing cloud show happening outside our window right now. It's good blog-writing weather.

• My next presentation is on Latino artists in New York in the 20th century. My teacher says she's got text (in English!) for me so I think she's taken pity on me. I've also noticed there are not that many Ecuadorian art history books out there. And the ones that are out there are difficult to read. My theory is that these art history experts know they're a select few who write about Ecuadorian art history so they feel inventing obscure words (that aren't in any dictionary and confuse even the native Spanish speakers, mind you) is their right. They exercise that right pretty much every sentence. The sentences in these art history texts are something else, too. I've never seen such long sentences in my life. I've actually started counting the longest sentences I've seen so far - the record is 8 lines (2 lines less than this bullet point).

• I'll finish with some other painters for you to check out. Since our class is about Ecuadorian and Latin American painters, we've studied painters from all over. I've enjoyed Tarsila do Amaral from Brazil; Emilio Pettorutti from Argentina (futurism!); Pedro Figari from Uruguay; and Luis Martinez from Ecuador (I did a presentation on him - beautiful landscapes of Ecuador. I have to write a blog post just about him. After all, I did the research and my class probably only understood half of what I said anyway so other people should benefit from this knowledge). 

This is one of my favorites of Luis Martinez -
it's from a book called
"Luis A. Martinez" by Fernando Jurado Noboa.

Handmade in Ecuador

In the US, having something handmade is a treat and usually comes at the higher price range. Here in Ecuador it's not quite the same. There are still the higher-end handmade things made with nicer materials. But you can also find handmade items that aren't unique - they're just handmade because it's hard to find them commercially otherwise or they're much more expensive commercially.

For example, a friend of ours went to a carpenter's workshop with a picture of a table and bench-style seating she wanted in her new home. She may have been able to find something in a store that would have been similar for a much higher price. Instead she chose to go with a local carpenter and have a table custom-made. When we visited with her, she thought the table might be too high and was going to call the same carpenter to come in and saw down the legs for her. And that's normal here.

Labor is cheap here. The minimum wage is $360 a month for people who are employees, not working on their own. That's $1.50 an hour. I'm not sure what the standard hourly wage is for most self-employed people, but have heard that people survive on as low as $1-$2 a day (although they barely do so). But there are a lot of self-employed people here. Movers, painters, house cleaners, delivery services, dog walkers, etc. are all low-paying jobs.

It's a different topic to get into the fact that these workers should be paid a decent living wage so I'm not going to get into it here. But what I've learned from being here is that I can make a small change, but the Ecuadorian society and economy as a whole will have to improve to make long-lasting changes.

My way of dealing with the low prices is not bargaining if I think that the price reflects that marketplace. If I think a price is truly unfair or someone is trying to take advantage of me being a gringa, I simply won't buy the item. That's one nice thing about being a semi-local: you know what the prices of different items should be and when someone is just ripping you off (especially helpful with taxis around here) since not much is labeled with a price in the markets.

Reasons You're Not Ready to Visit Ecuador

Before people get up in arms about this post, I'm going to follow this up with one about why you should visit Ecuador. I'm just being honest here - visiting a developing nation is very different in some ways from the US, Canada or Europe.

In other ways, Ecuador itself is very westernized. You hear American music, see English-speaking films and can find American clothing and food brands here without much trouble. But regardless of that similarity, visitors need to keep in mind that they are not coming to a country like the US or Canada.

Here are my reasons on why you're not ready to visit Ecuador:

1) Pollution
The buses here can be old and belch black smoke. My way of dealing with it: take a scarf with me to hold against my nose and mouth when going by the busy streets AND avoid the busy streets as much as possible.

2) Chance of getting robbed
This is mostly an issue in the big cities and on buses. But we haven't gotten robbed yet and we've been here more than a year. Knock on wood!

There are some areas of Quito where this is more of a problem and the time of night certainly doesn't help. Also, if you're drunk and/or look like you have money (i.e. walking around with an expensive purse, diamond earrings or a fancy gadget), there's a good chance you'll get robbed whatever time of day.

3) Food poisoning
I've been sick here more often than anywhere in my life. It's not for lack of being careful, but you have to wash all your fruit and veg for 5 minutes in an anti-bacteria wash before eating them raw. And you never know if the place where you're eating has done that or not.

Places where tourists eat aren't as much of a problem, but in the small towns and villages, there isn't always a restaurant just for tourists. So you've gotta be extra careful with your food and making sure it's cooked through and through. I hope I don't have to say this, but street food is a big no-no.

4) High Altitude
This of course is only a problem in the Andes region, but it affects a lot more than people think. Not only does it mean my brownies don't cook well, but you also have to be extra careful about the sun and about exerting yourself too much. It's easy to get winded here.

Other effects of high altitude when you first get here are headaches, waking up at odd hours of the night (for the first few days, I kept waking up at 2 or 3 am even though I was exhausted), racing heart beats, getting winded walking or going up stairs, dehydration and more fun stuff!

5) Poverty
If you can't live with the sight of 4-year-olds on the sidewalk by their parents' kiosk or an 11-year-old helping with road construction (and not in school), you should not visit Ecuador. This is a regular sight and it breaks my heart every single time.

I don't think I'll ever get used to it and I will carry these sights with me for the rest of my life. If there is a good side to this, it's that it makes you really want to make change in the world so that no child has to grow up in this way. And it also makes me think of how much more we have in the US that we take for granted.

6) Bad, Unsafe Driving
I have not yet seen an accident here, but I read in the local newspaper that every day there are 13 deaths and 136 wounded in the country due to traffic accidents (stats taken over the last 4 years). It's not hard to see why. People drive like they're crazy, swerving and veering through traffic. Buses can be old and not maintained well, and the crazy drivers don't help matters.

We take taxis a lot and I have only had a few times where I've climbed into a taxi and found a seat belt AND a seat belt buckle. People just don't use them. I've seen taxi drivers who've used them only if they see the police nearby. Buckling kids in properly (in a car seat) is a rarity. Normally, when I look into other cars, I see mothers holding their babies on their laps in the passenger seat.

7) Little English
People may laugh at this, but I've definitely heard Americans who have come to different countries and been amazed that they don't speak English. Sorry, but duh! It's no different here, except worse because you cannot rely on hardly anyone having English skills except at hotels where they cater to tourists. If you come here, you should prep by learning common Spanish words and phrases beforehand. The good thing is that most people are so nice and try to be as helpful as possible.

8) Noise
I think we already covered this enough with our post about top noisiest nights in Quito. It's a bit quieter and  more tranquil outside of the big city. If you're in Quito, expect noise at night regardless of where you're staying.

9) Unsafe construction
I wish I had a picture to show you of the sidewalks in Quito and how unsafe they are. You really always have to be looking down to make sure you're not going to trip. One friend of ours tripped on a sidewalk and fell, breaking her front tooth. Another colleague of Greg's tripped and sprained her ankle while simply walking on the sidewalk. The sidewalks here take no prisoners!

Construction sites tend to lack the safety requirements that are normal in the US. Sometimes you'll see a site that requires hard hats for their workers. Other times, there's no hard hats for workers and safety goes out the window. If a sidewalk is closed for construction, often times people have to walk on the side of the road because there's no other way to get around it.

10) Potential for Natural Disasters
This could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it. If you've never seen a volcanic eruption before, you have a good chance to see one if you go down to Banos in Ecuador. Same goes for landslides and floods. We've often seen the aftermath of a landslide on the highways on our trips, but have not been in a natural disaster ourselves.

11) Horrible Bathrooms
I've braved many horrible bathroom situations in the past (the best one was the squatting toilet in a cafe in Turkey), but nothing compares to the amount of horrible bathrooms I've found in Ecuador. The smells, the lack of toilet paper or soap, the filth... agh, that is one memory I hope I leave behind in Ecuador.

12) Yucky Beer
Greg has been making due with the horrible beer here, but the first thing he wanted to do this summer was get a great beer when we were back home. At least the wine is pretty good from South American countries.

I hope this list doesn't dissuade people from visiting, but rather, makes people understand that visiting a developing country isn't all fiestas and happiness. There's some bad parts to it, too. You'll love all the good things that you can see here though - just wait for our next post about it soon!

Banos

{Wow, sorry for the delay! I just realized this one never got posted! I'll be posting more soon about our latest trip to the coast} It seems like there has been one weekend vacation after another the last few weeks - last week the school had off on Friday for Thanksgiving and this week, Greg has off Monday and Tuesday for the founding of Quito (las fiestas de Quito). Last weekend we rode down to Banos, a popular town about 3.5 hours from Quito that was named after the hot springs there. Now the town has way more than the hot springs that most tourists enjoy, but we were there mainly for some rest and relaxation so the hot springs were our main focus.

Sunset on our first night in Banos

My beloved hammock on the porch

We stayed at a place outside of town called La Casa Verde, which I would highly recommend to anyone going to Banos. It's an ecological guesthouse run by two lovely expats and it attracts such a cool crowd of people. We got a room with a hammock outside of our room and it was well-used by me. On our first morning, we went to the hot springs that were close to the hotel. It turned out to be a very good choice because it was a lot less busy than the ones in town. It was called the Santa Ana hot springs and it was across from the Samurai hotel. These hot springs didn't have the hottest baths, like the popular one in town, but it had a very comfortable hot bath and nice scenery with a wall of bamboo sheltering one of the pools from the wind. We found Banos to be very windy, especially in the afternoon and evening. It was sort of unexpected, but in the sunny afternoon, it was welcome.

After we got back from the baths, we went into town to grab lunch at Cafe Hood. The food was the best we had in Banos! The desserts weren't the best, but I had a delicious lasagna and Greg had a potato curry. We took our bathing suits so we could try the more popular thermal baths in town that were open into the night. They were SO crowded and not nearly as pleasant as the ones we had gone to in the morning.

View from the porch at La Casa Verde

The hotel had a beautiful glass bottle wall on the staircase -
this would be something I would love to add into a future home!