EcuadorSabbatical

I am trying to understand the bullfight. Erika and her family are very disapproving of the practice; Erika informed me that the bulls are kept in a dark pen for several days so that when exposed to the bright sunshine in the ring, they can hardly see. They are weakened before they enter the ring, then are stabbed by the picadors' lances, by the banderilleros bandilleras; they are tortured and ritually killed in an uneven fight, one bull against several toreadors. Bullfighting is a very old sport. It was part of religious ceremonies of prehistoric Iberian tribes, and the Romans and Greeks transformed it into a spectacle. During the Middle Ages, knights on horses fought the bulls. In the eighteenth century bullfighting on foot was reinvented by the poorer population in Spain. Part of Erika's disapproval about the bullfight is its cruelty toward animals. In addition, it is a Spanish tradition and the Spaniards conquered Ecuador, and so it celebrates the conquest of Ecuador and the...

My favourite area of Quito is the Centro Historico, and my preference was and still is to live there. Every time I visit the old part of town I encounter all sorts of activities and festivals. Today I discovered an extensive market area, much like the casbah in Istanbul, full of everything and anything one could possibly need or want. I was looking for shoes for Maya, but was not entirely certain of her size, so I will have to take her there to there to choose a pair. I was also on the lookout for a costume for Maya and I did find several stores that sold 'disfrases'. Ecuadorians do not celebrate Halloween, but do have events that requires disguises. I chose a cat outfit, after many phonecalls to and from Maya. When I brought the costume home, Maya was less than impressed by the outfit. She had an American school friend over to play with, and there is a plan brewing amongst the American teachers at Maya's school to put together a Halloween celebration. The children will be...

I am not sure if I feel quite right about bullfights, but with free tickets to three days at the Plaza de Toros, I felt it was important to take advantage of the opportunity. I had not been to a bullfight in years, the last one was in Mexico over ten years ago and was horribly disappointing because the matador was not very skillful and the bull just would not die after several attempts. We were told to arrive an hour early, but there were still seats available much later. The performance would last about two and a half hours with three matadors fighting two bulls each. It is not fighting, or at least it is not a fair fight for the bull, who is going to die no matter what, either slowly or quickly if the matador is skillful. There is much ritual and ceremony associated with the event. The band strikes a tune and the whole audience sings along to a song about 'San Francisco de Quito'; the trumpets blare and the group of matadors and their assistants (who are remarkably skillful ...

My daily existence here depends very much on the extensive public transportation system in Quito. I take the Ecovia every day, from the station near my apartment, 'Naciones Unides', to 'Manuela Canizares', a block or so away from Spanish school (we pass Benalcazar, Eloy Elfaro, Bellavista, San Martin, Orellana, La Paz, Baca Ortiz) . Most mornings, the bus is packed, and collects more and more people along the way, so everyone is pushed against everyone else in the bus, trying to hang on, watching one's purse so be sure it does not disappear. The driver announces each upcoming station, and exiting and entering the bus appears to be an orderly process most of the time. People actually queue to get on, but sometimes there is a scramble to get on or off. When the driver is careless, he does not wait for those disembarking to get off, and often there is not enough time to get on, but most of the time, if need be, I wait for the next bus. The worst time is around 1 PM wh...