Watching Quito

Tena flood

2010-05-03T18:04:00.003-04:00

For those who have heard, or even stay in Ecuador, Tena is the capital of Napo province and one of the biggest cities on the Ecuadorian Amazon.

After a terrible and unusual dry season in Ecuador, the rain came with an unexpected fury, especially in the north part of the country.

April the 6th was a terrible day for Tena. During the night, Tena river, the one that later will be a tributary of Napo river and this of the Amazon, overflowed and caused one of the worst recent disasters in the city.

The government and other institutions had sent some help. There is still lot to do. Here some videos you could check in order to have an idea of the problem.

Darkness

2009-11-13T17:30:00.002-05:00

After 12 years Ecuador is again having issues with the electricity supply. The majority of the electricity is produced from water turbines. We are currently experiencing the worst dry season (in the past 40 years, according to the government…)

There is a big controversy over who is responsible for this electrical crisis. The opponents of the government accused them of a lack of plans and foresight. This comes on top of the fact that there was a large amount of extra money generated by the government when the prices of oil were higher.

The government is defending its management arguing that their predecesors did not make wise decisions in order to develop the electrical system.

Anyway, the result for the public is a schedule of “rolling blackouts” everyday. If you are currently in Quito you can “google” “horarios de cortes eléctricos Quito” and you will find the daily schedules for the regions without electricity.

If you are not going to have electricity at night in your neighbourhood it is a good reason to go home a little earlier, not only for issues of safety but also for the opportunity to have a good meeting with a couple candles and a book as our great grand parents once did…

Quito´s gondola lift (Telefériqo)

2009-06-08T22:00:00.001-04:00

The Pichincha volcano is a big protecting wall located at west of Quito. Some decades ago it was a funny trip climbing up to Cruz Loma, one of the volcano peaks, from San Juan or Miraflores neighbourhoods. The trekking took about 3 or 4 hours. Nowadays getting Cruz Loma (4000m S 00° 11.103´ W 78° 32.228´) is pretty easy. A gondola takes us there in about 12 minutes.

The Telefériqo opened in July 2005 with great expectations, unfortunately the big amount of people has been decreasing during these years. The restaurants and the food court now is closed and people rent that spaces for lectures or weddings. Most of the stores are closed as well and even some of them have sued the sponsors of this project.

However taking the Telefériqo is a nice experience in Quito. The Pichincha´s peaks Guagua Pichincha, el Capellán Encantado, Rucu Pichincha and Cundur Huachana, are reachable now thanks to the gondola and there is the chance to go trekking from the station, taking care, is a perfect activity for a summer day.

If the day is clear you can see easily the summits of the Cayambe, Cotopaxi and Antisana, even the Cotacachi peak is visible from the natural Cruz Loma lookout. The whole city can be seen from here so it´s perfect for taking amazing pictures.

The Telefériqo fares are:
Normal: adults $4.00; children $3.00; elderly and handicapped $2.00
Express: adults $7.00; children $5.00;elderly and handicapped $3.50
For foreign people the prices double.

With 4000 meters over the sea level the Teleferiqo is the highest in the world and for that reason you have to take care of high altitude sickness. Wind is intense so carrying warm clothing is a good idea.

Next to the parking lot (USD $ 2) there is the Vulcano Park, and amusement park with many attractions and reasonable prices. Few months ago a church was opened in Cruz Loma and mass are held on Saturdays noon.

Is recommendable going to the Teleferiqo in a sunny day, especially from July to September.

Surprises

2009-05-05T11:42:00.003-04:00

Long time since the last post. There are not a lot of surprises in the political environment in Ecuador. President Correa was reelected and his political movement got a tremendous majority in local governments as in the National Assembly. The new four year period is going to be inaugurated next august, just when the bicentennial of the independence is going to be celebrated.

However the lack of surprises in politics, weather has been very intense in the last days. And yesterday was particularly strong. Rain, wind and hail. Some walls were destroyed because of that event. There were lots of traffic and people in north of Quito were scared for a while.

Check this picture from La Hora newspaper.

Southern Quito is safer than the north

2009-03-19T04:37:00.002-04:00

The Ecuadorian newspaper El Comercio reports that the increase in crime was again marginal in the south of Quito , while further north it rose with almost 23 %. This despite the fact that southern Quito has the reputation of being the "poor and dangerous" part of the city and most foreigners never even think of going there. Having spent a year working in southern Quito I have to agree with the experts reasoning for the differences in crime increase; the community spirit that exists in the south. The people stick together and look after each other's backs. I had the opportunity to really get to know several neighborhoods in southern Quito (some of which in the article are listed as the most dangerous in southern Quito) and I never felt more secure during my time in Quito than when I was in these neighborhoods. Southern Quito does not deserve its bad reputation and it is a shame that not more people get to experience it.

There is no way to go to the coast

2009-02-17T09:30:00.002-05:00

Long time since the last post. Well, the last months have been very rainy and because of that lots of roads and highways are very bad. Sometimes I think that there is no way to keep the roads very good for long in the Ecuadorian mountains. It is part of living in the Andes: some many roads here are over canyons, next to rivers, in the base of volcanoes.

Last week the main road that joins Quito with the coast was interrupted because of a massive downpour. It was the Aloag – Santo Domingo road. Some days before the other road: Calacali – La Independencia was also damaged for the same reasons. Today (Tuesday) news announced that one of the alternative ways, going through Ibarra, was also interrupted because of the rain issues.

There are other alternative roads in the center of Ecuador that people can use for going to the coast, even when those are going to take them for longer trips.

Lot of people form Quito usually goes to the beach in these holidays. They have to look up for alternatives. And then we will see the consequences of this problem in the market, because of the exchange of products between the coast and the highlands.

Carchi Province

2008-11-06T22:14:00.000-05:00

Carchi is the northest province in Ecuador, just next to the border line with Colombia, its beauty is incredible but it is not well promoted, that´s why we decided to go to 2 places in this province:

La Gruta de la Paz.- (La Paz cavern) From Quito take the Panamericana Norte (Pananorte) toIbarra (2260m N 00°20.448´ W 78°08.704´), pass by the Chota valley, el Juncal, Bolívar (2638m N 00°30.523´ W 77°54.386´) until Paz in aproximately one and a half hour. La Paz is a little town with 3000 inhabitants that basically are farmers

There are two ways to get the cavern, one is from San Gabriel and the other one is from La Paz, being the last one shorter and in better conditions than the first one. Inthe central park in the village there is a sign showing the way to the cavern, from this point it is about 4 km of stoned path, it is ver narrow so you better take care.You pay to enter to the cavern only if you´ll use the spring waters.

The legend says tat local people found the statue inside the cavern and its figure seemed like the virgin, they just painted and put clothes on, so it was no made by men.

Inside the cavern there is the virgin statue over a platform at the bottom of a chapel, next to it there is a riverthat comes from inside the cavern, there are also pipes with hot water to the spring waters. The devotion of the people is reflected in all the plaques thanking for miracles, even some people have left their crutches showing that thye had been blessed with a miracle. Like an any cavern there are bats ans stalactites. We recomned you to buy "amasado" cheese in La Paz town, they are delicious!

El Salado lagoon.- (2777m N 00°34.932´ W 77° 47.323´) Going by the Pananorte to San Gabriel take the way to the right next to a gas station (just at he entrance of the town), there are no sign so you better ask locals how to get the lagoon. Once you arrive there you will enjoy the beauty of nature, trees, wild ducks, herons and fish. There is a space to camp at the end of the lagoon.

There are more destinations in Carchi province such as El Angel moorland, lots of lakes and lagoons, waterfalls, spring waters, etc.

It is a good idea to get all the information you need such as brochures and maps at I-Tur office in Atuntaqui (3001m N 00°19.900´ W 78° 12.633´)

More pics from these destinations in our gallery.

Zuleta

2008-10-26T23:48:00.002-04:00

Zuleta (2915m N 00°12.437´ W 78°05.501´) is a little village in the northern region in Ecuador and it is famous because of the homemade needlework. Its community is well organized and they know about their touristic potential so nowadays they are supporting many projects in this area.

To get Zuleta, from Quito, you have to take the Panamericana Norte to Ibarra and then enter by La Esperanza, eventhough there is a shorter way. Go to Cayambe (3140m N 00°02.517´ W 78°08.564´) and continue by the Panamericana until the detour to Olmedo (3122m N 00°08.445´ W 78°04.514´), the highway is ok until this place, then you have a 2nd order way (no asphalt) to get Zuleta.

500 meters before Zuleta´s church we found a path that took us to a nice small lagoon with herons, half an hour later we got a waterfall with no name, it was a perfect place to enjoy the water with a little swimming.

The community is building a Hostel next to the church, but now just the restaurant is working, its style is roustic and the food is delicious.

From Zuleta you can climb the Cunrru mountain (3306m N 00°13.789´ W 78°05.792´), the hiking is about 2 hours (you can hire a pick up that takes you 30 minutes before the top). There are spectacular landscapes with the Cayambe volcano, valleys, cattle, etc. There is a perfect place to camp in the top of the mountain just next to a small lagoon.

Another recommended activity is to visit the Hacienda Zuleta (2900m N 00°12.357´ W 78°04.913´), wich is a Hostería nowadays. The paths are well defined with signs and you can visit the earthworm-culture area, the cheese museum and the pyramids and funerary "tolas" wich will take you to the time when the Hacienda was inhabited by ancient tribes like Caranquis.

Cóndor Huasi is a project supported by the Galo Plaza Laso foundation and it is located inside the Hacienda, its main objective is to reinsert to the wild to condores that are nowadays in big cages. the project also teaches children and youngsters about nature and enviromental education. Some wild condors have came to this place and fly over the cages. Until now 12 birds have been classified. It is impressive to see the king of the andes range flying free over the high grassland.

Thera are more pictures of this destination in our gallery.

Elephant cave and Cotundo Valley

2008-10-16T00:15:00.001-04:00

What about going to a cave in your vacations? the perfect place to do that is the ecuadorian east region, because there are lots of caves in the Archidona area.

Maybe the most famous are the Jumandy Caves, and they are really spectacular due to its size.

But we found the Elephant cave and the Spriritual Temple cave, located near the Cotundo Valley, famous because its petrographs.

From Quito you take the way to Papallacta, then continue to Baeza and go to the right at the detour, the way is in perfect conditions until you get the "Mirador de la Virgen" very near to "Las Caucheras", from this place to Jondachi (972m S 00°46.344´ W 77°47.483´) the road is not good (a 4wd car is a good idea).

You´ll see many rivers crossing through the road and there are lots of places for taking pics of the amazing landscape. There are many hotels and hostels in Archidona, but our election was "Hostal Belén" in Tena.

Tena is a small city with a river (Tena) crossing through it, a thematic park, many restaurants, etc. You can spend the night in the city and go to the caves the next day.

From Tena take the way to Archidona and continue untill a sign that reads" Cavernas, atractivo turístico" (780m S 00°50.490´ W 77°46.809´) or if you want you can call them first (5938727496).

You pay USD$2.50 and you have the chance to visit two caves, the Elephant cave is an amazing adventure because it has a small river inside, lots of stalactites and stalagmites. It takes around 1 hour to walk inside the cave, you go down 15 meters more or less so maybe this is not recommendable for claustrophobic people.

The other cave is called the Spiritual Temple, this one is bigger, very spacious so long time ago it was used for sacred rites, now even you have the chance to spend the night over theere.

If you want you can visit the Jumandy caves too, but there is a lot of people on weekends and holidays, so antoher option is going to Cotundo (767m S 00°50.558´ W 77°47.768´) wich is know to be the sacred valley of petrograhps. The community manage this place so when you arrive to the central park in Cotundo you have to talk to native guides for a complete tour, it takes around 2 hours.

Don´t forget to pack insects repelent, sunblock lotion, raincoat and your camera.

More pics from the caves and Cotundo in our gallery.

San Rafael waterfall

2008-10-13T22:59:00.001-04:00

In spite of San Rafael waterfall (1511m S 00°05.962´ W 77°34.822´) is the highest in Ecuador, it is not know for most of ecuadorians.

The water falling almost 160m forms an impressive cloud when it reaches the ground.

At the entrance of the complex ecuadorians pay USD$ 2 and foreigners USD$10, tehre is a path to the waterfalls, you walk around 20 minutes until a point where you can take nice pics of the cascade.

Unfortunately it is very dangerous to go down the base of the waterfall, so do not cross the warning signs.

If you plan to spent the night near the waterfall there is the Hosteria " El Reventador" (5 minutes far from the entrance) but there is a town 10km farther with more hotel options.

To get the waterfal,l from Quito, you have to go to Cumbaya valley, then pass Pifo and reach Papallacta (3212m S 00°22.461´ W 78°08.553´). In 30 minutes you arrive to Cuyuja and finally Baeza (1948m S 00°27.864´ W 77°53.521´) where you have to take the detour to Lago Agrio.

The road is in perfect conditions but take care with trucks and busses because the way is not wide enough for them. During the trip you´ll visit some towns and places, here there is a list from Baeza to the waterfalls: Hacieda Cumanda (nice place and delicious food), San Francisco de Borja, Sardinas, El Chaco (1628m S 00°20.559´ W 77° 43.893´ ), 2 gas stations, Santa Rosa, San Cristobal (orchids garden), Las Palmas, Pump station El Salado.

More pics from this destination in our gallery.

The Pululahua crater

2008-10-08T14:18:00.001-04:00

The Pululahua is an inactive volcano, and its highest tip is abouts 3360 m it is supposed that its last eruption was in 500 Before Christ.

Nowadays you can enjoy the crater landscape from a place (3129m N 00°01.549 W 78°28.969) where the hikking starts. Down in the crater there are old houses, small hostels and farms.

This Geobotanic reserve, because of its peculiar geography, has a great diversity of flora, birds, mammals and insects. It is located in the west mountain range in PIchincha province and it is surrounded by another volcanic domes such as: El Placer, Maucaquito, El Hospital, El Chivo, La Marca y Loma Mirador.

Climbing El Chivo (3001m N 00°02.254´ W 78°29.573´)is a funny trip and its landscapes are spectacular, you´ll reach the top of the hill in about 40 minutes.

From Quito you have to take the Manuel Córdova Galarza Ave. to San Antonio, and then to Calacalí until you get a sign (to the right) at the entrance of the reserve. You can take busses to there in Occidental Ave, or in the Metrovia Station (S 00°06.555 W 78°29.311), in La Ofelia neighborhood.

To go down the crater there is a zig-zag path, it takes half an hour and if you want you can hire biles or horses. In summer this place is very sunny in the morning but you will always find fog in the afternoon. There are more pictures of this interesting destination in our gallery

New Constitution

2008-10-03T12:14:00.005-04:00

The last Sunday Ecuadorians approved the Project of new Constitution. The new constitution was approved with the 64% of the people who voted. The elections happened on calm, with lots of traffic in a sunny day in Quito.

This impressive majority is a big support to the President Correa’s political project. The most visible opponent (Major Nebot, from Guayaquil) had announced that he won’t run for the reelection if the approval for the new Constitution wins in Guayaquil. Finally people from Guayaquil said mainly no to the new constitution, even when the majority got an advantage of 2 points only.

After this historical change, we expect the announcement of the new elections, when the president and all the democratic authorities will be elected in the next months.
The opponents are also pending on the changes announced with the Constitution. The entire text of it is available in this link.

Most Affordable Housing

2008-09-09T10:37:00.004-04:00

According to the Coldwell Banker Home Price Comparison Index. Quito leads the world in "affordable" housing with an average price of $96,000 USD. According to the report home prices in the nine major markets of Ecuador (including Guayaquil) average less than $200,000 USD.

By comparison, the most affordable EEUU market, Sioux City, Iowa had an average home price of $133, 459, while the most expensive market, La Jolla, California, had an average price of $1, 841,667.

But the most expensive housing market in the world, Dubai, UAE, can boast (or cringe) an average home price of $2.45 million USD.

The report is based on the average price of a single-family, 2,200 sq. ft. (205 sq. meters), 4 bedroom, 1 and a half bath home with a two-car garage in a neighborhood "within a market that is typical for corporate middle-management transferees."

While the report is primarily an indicator of the "affordability" of US homes, (a primary concern for many who are seeing their home values drop as a result of the US mortgage crisis) it raises, at least in my mind, more than a few questions about what "affordable housing" really means.

Sincholagua moorlands

2008-09-02T00:28:00.002-04:00

In our trip to Guayllanta, local people told us about some debris of a plane crash that took place in 1995. Even though going to a disaster site is not precisely a touristic destination, we decided to go camping in that place.

On May 3rd, 1995 a Gulfstream Aerospace G-1159 that came from Bolivia couldn´t fly over the Sincholagua volcano and crashed in the south side of the mountain. Unfortunately 9 people died. A big black spot in the grass is still the witness of the inferno after the crash, all over the area there are parts of the plane.

To get this place take the highway to Pintag (2847m S 00°22.013´ W 78°22.505´) then take the detour to Ubillus town (3102m S 00°25.283´ W 78°22.575´). There is a stoned way perfect for an off-road vehicle. In Ubillus ask for Agustin Bravo who is the Community president, there you pay USD$ 5 per car and they give you a key to enter to the Sincholagua moorlands. (3498m S 00°28.500´ W 78°22.193´)

During the way you´ll see landscapes from ecuadorian highlands, some waterfalls and even wild horses. 10 km far from Ubillus it´s located the crash site, there is a perfect place to camp and there is a cabain also that you can use if the weather becomes rainy.

From this place you have a nice view of the Sincholagua volcano, even you can use the shelter as base camp if you plan climbing the mountain. There are lots of rabbits, and birds such as quilicos and condors. Here you can find the typical "chuquiragua" wich is called the flower of the outdoors man.

Find more pictures in this gallery.

Running for the Constitution

2008-08-27T12:57:00.003-04:00

The Constitutional Assembly had the new Constitution ready for being approved or disapproved in a referendum the next September 28. After a massive and historical support of the people to the assembly, most of the Ecuadorians have hopes in this work.

The content of the new Constitution has interesting new points, as the “good living” (form the kichwa expression and concept: sumak kawsay), as the rights of the nature, as well as a national plan for the culture. At the same time there are concerns about the concentration of power in the President figure.

You can check the entire project of the new Constitution in this link (download in pdf). I was forgetting that this one is the “official one” and I said that because the final text approved by the assembly had been changed after the discussions ended. The president of the Assembly said because of writing mistakes and things like that. (¿?)

I would like to share some points of view at the end of theprocess:
- The approval of the new constitution is very associated with the popularity of the President. Some people are concerned about the vote for approving the president and not the Constitution. Mr. Correa is actually one of the leaders of the campaign for the “yes” in the referendum. Moreover, there are questions about the origin of the funds for the campaign and rejection to the use of public funds in that. The campaign in the approval side is mainly focused on the “hope”, “change” and the refuse to the traditional politicians and parties, called at this time “partyocracy”. Check this video.

- Even when the majority of the people are in favor of the project of the new Constitution, there is some tension in some sectors of the opposition. In August 16 some students in the Catholic University in Guayaquil had a confrontation with the police and government followers while the President was doing a speech inside. They were only a few and children of the oligarchy, the government said. They are the expression of a growing movement, some media said.

- A current poll (August 19) made by CEDATOS showed that the 44% of the people will vote in favor of the new Constituion, 34% disagree the project. The rest will null and leave “white” their votes. We will see…

I have voted for some years (voting in Ecuador is obligatory) and I haven’t seen any president finishing his period. I am sure big changes won’t come only through a new constitution. How the government is going to implement the good ideas they said they have if the new Constitution is aproved?

Two recommended articles:
- The good life (In this one you have to check the comments too and you will perceive the climate of passion around the President and the Constitution project.
- Ecuador: New Constituion Ready For Vote in Referendum

Baños de Agua Santa

2008-08-18T22:28:00.000-04:00

This little city is a very important touristic spot and it´s located right next to Tungurahua volcano in a valley full of waterfalls and springwaters.

From Quito take the Panamericana Sur, which shows us cities such as Latacunga (2800m S 00°56.101´ W 78°37.184´), Salcedo (2685m S 01°01.856´ W 78°35.431´) and Ambato (1848m S 01°13.897´ W 78°36.601´). To save some time take the by pass to avoid the traffic in this city.

In few kilometers we find Pelileo (2662m S 01°19.959´ W 78°33.316´) whose main feature is the textile industry, here you can buy a pair of jeans in USD$ 10.

Baños de Agua Santa (1845m S 01°23.692´ W 78°25.493´) has an average temperature of 20°C, you can practice many adventure sports such as rafting, kayaking, canyoning, rock climbing, bungee jumping, horse riding, ecological hiking, mountain bike, andinism, camping, among others. The "melcochas" are the typical dessert and the cane juice is the typical beverage.

There are more than 30 waterfalls, but the most visited are "El manto de la novia" (1482m S 01°24.248´ W 78°20.097´) and "Pailón del diablo" (1527m S 01°24.116´ W 78°17.816´). To get there take the Puyo road, which is a nice way because of the landscapes. You don´t need a guide for going to most of the waterfalls because there are easy-to-hike paths.

Rafting has many options depending on the complexity level, for example: Patate River 2-3 class, Pastaza river 3- 4, Topo river and Verde river 5, 6 and 7 class. Canyoing is done in Chamana, San Jorge, Río Blanco and Cashaurco waterfalls.

The accomodation in Baños is flexible, there are USD $5 hotels and also luxurious ones. There are lots of restaurants with international and typical food. Nigh life starts with a "chiva" tour to watch the Tungurahua volcano with the traditional "canelazo" which is sweet alcoholic drink, then you can go to one of the many bars and discos. In the Basilica there is the Fray Enrique Mideros museum, very peculiar ´cause it has objects related with the devotion for Agua Santa Virgin.

To relax there is no better way to visit the springwaters, the options are: El Salado, La Virgen (attending even at night), Santa Ana, Santa Clara and Las Modernas.

More pictures from Baños in thisgallery.

The Liberty railway

2008-08-04T11:12:00.004-04:00

Trains were very important to develop towns in the cost region and in high lands the last century, but nowadays most of the railways are in bad conditions. There are, nevertheless, some routes where "autoferros" still run for tourism, one of the most exciting is the Liberty railway.

In order to book tickets you need to call to the Railway Company
(593)62950390, The capacity of the autoferro is 45 pax, and it costs USD$7.60. The trains leaves Ibarra (2260m N 00°20.448´ W 78°08.704´) on saturdays and sundays at 8am, so it´s a good idea to go to this city the day before.

In Ibarra there are some things to do, such as going to the Miguel Archangel statue (2414m N 00°21.082´ W 78°06.162´), or enjoying the acuatic activities at Yahuarcocha lagoon (2444m N 00°22.579´ W 78°06.573´). There are lots of hotels in Ibarra, our election was the "Nueva Estancia" hotel. The room sets you back USD$15.5 per person, breakfast included. This hotel is 4 blocks far from the railway station.

The autoferro runs through the railways crossing small villages like Imbaya (2111m N 00°22.246´ W 78°09.059´) showing us beautiful landscapes such as valleys, rivers and mountains. The railways go next to canyons, bridges but the main attraction are the 18 tunnels.

The autoferro stops in Salinas (1644m N 00°29.578´ W 78°07.882´) where there is the Salt museum, here there is an interpretation center and restrooms. In this little town you can order a homemade lunch with local families.

The trip continues surrounding mountains until a place named "Primer paso"(1334m N 00°34.445´ W 78°07.550´) where the autoferro stops and after 45 minutes goes back by the same route. This place, 43km from Ibarra, is perfect to enjoy the warm weather by the river.

More pictures of the Liberty railway in this gallery.

New house

2008-08-03T23:56:00.003-04:00

Quito Eterno has a new house! Now we have more space to do our job more efficently. The new office is at Flores st 421 and Junin st, our phones are: 2954 469 and 22 89 506.

On July 31st Quito Eterno crew organized the "huasipichay" (house warming), we shared nice moments with our friends.

Nangulví

2008-07-30T12:13:00.002-04:00

The warm weather of Nangulví contrastes with the high mountains around it. To get this touristic place you can go from Nanegal (1190m N 00° 08.143´ W 78° 40.299´) but that is a secondary route and it is about 200km, the landscapes worth nevertheless.

The other option is to take take the road from Cotacachi (2482m N 00°17.959´ W 78°15.870´) which is better because you take the Panamericana Norte. In this town you can go shopping and purchase the excelent quality of the leather clothing. Take the way to the Cuicocha lagoon (3090m N 00°17.565´ W 78°21.421´) and when you get the entrance to the reserve take the left road.

This way climbs to the moorlands where the temperature is really low, but little by little you go down to Apuela (1596m N 00° 21.34´ W 78° 30.774´) where the weather changes and it´s warmer. In this town you can realize the variety of races, there are fruits and vegetables from the highlands and tropical weather. Two kilometers far from here you get Nangulví (1605m N 00° 19.643´ W 78° 32.648´).

There are many options for accomodation in this little town like hostels and cabains next to the Apuela river. The average temperature is 20°C and the main attraction are the hot springs which can reach temperatures near to 75°C. The landscape here is amazing because of the strange shaped mountains with vertical walls.

The accomodation can cost USD$ 10 to 15, but you can camp for USD$3.

More pictures from Nangulví in this gallery.

AmaZOOnico

2008-07-18T11:48:00.009-04:00

During the jungle brigade to Tena, we had the chance to visit AmaZOOnico (419 m S 01°03.785´ W 77°31.540´), which is an animal rehabilitation centre, located in the middle of the protected GSR preserve and is sheltering a number of different animals, some in danger of extinction. The station was built in 1993, but its history began a couple of years earlier.

There are many ways that the animals arrive at amaZOOnico:

* 40% from other centers
These places also recieve animals from private people or from the police.
* 20% from private people
Many people buy the animals out of pity or as pets from illegal trades and are at best bringing them directly to us. Many times these animals are already sick or maltreated before they are brought here because people are simply not interested in them anymore.
* 20% from the state
These animals are confiscated trough police-controls in Tena or Baeza.
* 20% from near the Selva Viva area
These animals are brought injured or sometimes brought as gifts (for example, if the young has survived the shooting of its mother, somebody will bring it to the center)

Most of the animals arrive at amaZOOnico in bad condition: malnourished, wounded due to being tied up, and very often full of parasites. Approximately one fourth of the animals die either on their way to the rescue center or in the first days of living here. Another fourth can successfully be set free. (These include only the adults and healthy animals that are not used to human handling.) The remaining half must remain at amaZOOnico either living free in the area, or in enclosures to protect them from other animals.
The reasons for putting animals in enclosures are the following:

* Young animals without a mother have to be protected from other animals
* Sick animals could infect other animals and they need special care
* Aggressive animals are not able to be released
* Animals who are used to humans and are no longer scared of them are in danger of being killed by local people
* Animals that are not able to live or stay in the direct surroundings of amaZOOnico
* Weak animals who are not able to survive on their own
* Animals that have lost their natural instincts

More information here.

Jungle brigade

2008-07-13T12:50:00.005-04:00

From July 1st to July 10th, students and medics from the Louisville University came to Ecuador to participate in a medical brigade to Napo province.

The experience was great, we stayed in Misahualli (431m S 01°02.113´ W 77°40.090´) but we had to travel everyday to a different communities such as Mushuk Allpa, Atacapi, Capirona, Puka Chikta and Talag. We went by bus to the clinic sites, and also we went by canoa (boat).

People from the jungle are very friendly, they live a simple, non stressed and natural life. We found very common illnesses, dehydration, parasites, flu, sore muscles, etc.

American students and doctors organized well the medical attention, we had many students at the triage station, then 3 professionals and 3 pharmacists that helped a lot to poor people from Napo province.

In our free day (sunday) the group was divided in two, most of the people took advantage of the impressive Napo river to go rafting. The rest of us went to Amazoonico (419 m S 01°03.785´ W 77°31.540´) which is a animal rescue center, there we could see spectacular monkeys, bird, turtles, felines and snakes. In the fternoon, all the group went to Las Latas waterfall and we had a great time there.

You can see a lot of pictures of this medical brigade here or here.

Guayllanta moorlands

2008-06-25T15:27:00.002-04:00

The Guayllanta moorland is the perfect place to go camping, there are spectacular landscapes, pure air and nature.

It is a destination very near from Quito, to get there youhave to take the highway to Los Chillos Valley. When you get Sangolquí ask for "El Colibrí" (the hummingbird) wich is a sculpture where is located the detour to Pintag. Then you have to go to El Carmen neighborhood.

The community in this "barrio" is well organized and control visitors that come to camp. The Ushiña family is the one who allows you to enter to Guayllanta, it costs USD $ 5 per person.

The road until El Carmen is in good conditions, but from there only off-road vehicles can continue. The first thing that impress you when arrive to the scrubland is an amazing view of the Antisana volcano and some big rocks from an ancient eruption.

In front of the Antisana there is the SIncholagua, wich is smaller but it is very peculiar because it shows "rivers" of snow in its mountainsides.

The road goes down until a green plain perfect to camp, next to a small river and protected from the moorland cold wind by hills around it. From here you can go hiking to the next moorland, go fishing or taking pictures of the beautiful landscapes.

In this place it is very common to see rabbits, moorland wolves, "quilicos" and, if you´re lucky, even cóndores.

The weather is very changing it can be sunny in the morning or noon, but rainy int he afternoon and at night, so bringing warm clothing and raincoat is a good idea.

More pictures from Guayllanta in this gallery.

Quito is in party

2008-06-25T13:21:00.002-04:00

For the first time in his history the most popular soccer team in Quito and the second one in the country, Liga, will participate in the final of the “Copa Libertadores” the biggest soccer tournament in South America.
The first final game will be this afternoon at 7:50 pm in “Casa Blanca”, Liga’s stadium against Fluminense from Brazil. Lots of excitement is in the environment and all the country is expecting to get the championship for the first time. Liga has to play the second final in Rio de Janeiro, in Maracana stadium in July the 2nd.
Also this news came just in a very tense moment for the Constitutional Assembly, after the resignation of his president last Monday. But there is no time for more bad news today. Go Liga!

The Pichincha summit

2008-05-07T00:40:00.000-04:00

The Pichincha Summit is a very popular place to visit due to it is very near Quito city. To do this trip you don´t need to be in an excellent physical condition, but it´s better if you had had experience hiking. Besides, thanks to the cable railway the climbing can take 3 or 4 hours. The landscapes are spectacular and it´s a good chance to have a close encounter with nature.

The start point is the cable railway station. There are busses to the station that go from many parts of the city, especially malls. The tickets are USD$4 (plus USD$2 garage fee) and it starts working at 9:30 am. Don`t forget to bring warm clothing and raincoat because it´s normal that snows near the summit.

Depending on the weather, the cable railway take from 12 to 30 minutes to get Cruz Loma, showing a great panoramic view of the city. The hiking starts in the shelter (13120ft S 00° 11.103´ W 78° 32.22´) then take the path that climbs small hills until a detour. The left way crosses through the “the death pass”, which is risky if you don´t have experience doing andinism. To the right there is a path that crosses through a sandy ground, which is a better option.

During the trip you can see typical plants and flowers from the highland like the chuquiragua. There are 3 places, where small brooks flow, that you have to cross through carefully and if it´s possible use security ropes. Once you pass through eh sandy ground you reach a rock wall to be climbed. From the summit ( 15416ft S00° 09.722´ W 78° 33.971´) you have an amazing view of the Metropolitan District.

Cotacachi

2008-04-27T14:35:00.000-04:00

Cotacachi is world wide known because of its important leather industry. It´s a very popular destiny due to it is not far from Quito and you can buy here first class items with low prices.

To get this city you take the Panamericana Norte which has very beautiful Andean landscapes. From the highway you can see the Cayambe volcano, Cerro de Puntas and even the Cotopaxi volcano. When you reach Guayllabamba (7782.4ft S 00° 03.124´ W 78° 20.896´)you have to options: The Tabacundo way, which is shorter; and Cayambe way which passes next to the Cayambe city ( 10048ft N 00°02.517´ W 78°08.564´) and the sun dial. Two ways join at the Pichincha and Imbabura provinces border.

The San Pablo Lake welcomes tourists that come to Imbabura Province. Few minutes after you get Otavalo city and 20 more minutes there is the detour to Cotacachi (to the left) at the traffic light. You enter Cotacachi by the 10 de Agosto Ave where you find many stores of leather articles.

Shoes, jackets, boots, purses, wallets, hats and a great variety of leather articles are made in this sector. The high quality and low prices are features of these items. The city is very quiet and people from here are very kind. If you plan to stay in Cotacachi the best option is the “El Arbolito” hostel, located in the park next to San Francisco church.

Another attraction is the Cuicocha Lagoon (9888ft N 00°17.565´ W 78°21.421´). The Cuicocha volcano erupted 2000 or 3000 years ago but it collapsed inside and formed the lagoon with its melted snow. Another eruption formed the two little islands inside the lagoon. In front of the lagoon there is the impressive Cotacachi mount whose its snow feeds Cuicocha. The lagoon is about 600ft depth but is has no animal life because of the lack of shores. There are 2 boats that offers you tours by the lagoon ($2 USD), so you can see better the islands and some mineral gas bubbles from the bottom of the lagoon which indicates that the volcano is still active.

There is an interpretation center and paths that go the lagoon´s perimeter. There is a great flora and fauna, there are rabbits, paramo wolves, cuyes (guinea pigs), ducks and even bear with glasses (trecmatus ornatus).

There are more pictures in this gallery.

There is a hole in my city!

2008-04-25T17:21:00.000-04:00

During this rainy season in Ecuador (the worst in the last years) we have had so many problems: with the agriculture, housing, etc, mostly because of the floods.

A very impressive problem in this winter in Quito has been the hole we got in “El Trébol” (The Clover) one of the most important avenue intersections in the city. This place joins the roads that come from the south, north, “Los Chillos” valley and the historical center. Here is a picture I got from Google Earth with the aspect of the Trebol before the first of March.

In a terrible rain we have that day, the tunnel/sewer under the Trebol collapsed and caused a huge crater that made impossible the car circulation there. Then the municipality started with the reconstruction and the Trebol is working partially now.
Recovering the use of the Trebol will take some moths even a year or more. Even when the municipality is working hard in that, the rain we still have is a big obstacle. Look at this picture from El Comercio newspaper.

The traffic is a big challenge in Quito. Even more with the three leaves clover.
Even when the next video seemed like “the end of the world” (very quiteñan style) it has very good pictures.

Quito is in mourning

2008-04-22T10:54:00.000-04:00

After the fire that happened in a rock concert the last Saturday, the major of Quito declared three days of mourning in the city. The fire consumes the place where 300 people were attending to a gothic rock concert. 14 of them have passed away and some more are still in the hospital. Most of them were young.

In the middle of this sorrow there is big discussion about the role of the municipality and fire department concerning the control for public shows. Also urban culture movements are talking about the importance of the tolerance for the different cultural expressions, as an answer of the reason why lots of musical bands (normally rock, punk and hip hop) have to be presented in unsafe places.

I’m coming back to the blog after some weeks of travel and tons of work. It’s sad to come back with bad news…

The Quilotoa Lagoon

2008-03-23T17:43:00.000-04:00

The Quilotoa is one of the most beautiful places in the Ecuadorian Highland due to it is a lagoon inside a crater, just like Cuicocha.

There is no an accurate record of the Quilotoa eruptions because there were not towns near it. Quilotoa comes from two quichua words, “Quiru” that means tooth, and “Toa” which is queen. The lagoon has elliptical shape and its diameter is about 2 miles. From the superior border to the lagoon there are 1310 ft approximately.

The lagoon is mostly green, but its color varies according to the luminosity, it can change to blue and even yellow. The water has a great mineral composition like sulphur hydrogen and carbonic gas which makes the water not for human consume, however people from the zone use this water for animals. In a sunny day you can see from here some of the Andes Range like the Illinizas to the north.

To get the Quilotoa Lagoon from Quito you have to take the Panamericana Sur until Latacunga (S 00° 56.101´ WO 78° 37.184´ 9186ft). At the second traffic light turn to the right to go to Pujili (S 00° 56.031´ WO 78° 40.695´ 9665.35ft). The road goes into the Highland and reaches 13208.66 ft . When you get Zumbahua (S 00° 57.620´ WO 78° 53.914´ 11551 ft) take the way to the right, just before the gas station. The Quilotoa Lagoon is 20 minutes far from Zumbahua. When you get there pay USD $ 0.50 for Ecuadorians and USD $ 1 for foreigners to get in to the parking lot and then to the lagoon superior border (S 00° 51.977´ WO 78° 54.920´ 12801.84ft). All the way is asphalted and there are few parts where a small car can pass.

To go down to the lagoon takes about 30 or 40 minutes and the trip worths due to in the shore you can see even more colors in the water and it is because the mineral material that lays in the lagoon bottom. To climb to the superior border takes about 2 hours because of all the volcanic ash that you find there, but you can hire horse for USD $5.

There are many hostels, with different prices, near to the superior border, and it is very recommendable to spend a night in this pacific place, with warm clothing. Another activity to do is to visit the Tigua painters, whose handicrafts have a very peculiar color.

See more pictures from the Quilotoa Lagoon in our gallery

2008-03-06T21:56:00.000-05:00

In the midst of the tense diplomatic situation existing between Ecuador and Colombia, people in the coastal lowlands of Ecuador continues to suffer from the floods caused by the worst winter rains in 20 years. In an effort to assist the affected families, the Tierra Nueva Foundation operating out of Quito, Ecuador sent its Mobil Medical Unit to the Province of Manabi for one week to provide the affected population with medical and dental care, as well as medicine at no cost. Some of the medicine distributed was “left-over” medicine initially collected by the Timmy Foundation (Indianapolis) to be used during its medical brigades in southern Quito. The Mobile Unit spent the first week of March in the coastal province attending an estimated 165 patients per day.

Tensions Rising

2008-03-04T12:56:00.000-05:00

As an update to the tense border conflict that began Saturday (see post below), the International Herald Tribune reported that Correa was in "advanced" talks to liberate 12 hostages held by the FARC. Correa claims that he was close to negotiating the release of the hostages, including Ingrid Betancourt. Gustavo Larrea, Ecuador's Security Minister, acknowledged that he had met with FARC rebels (substantiating the earlier claims that Correa had sought to contact the Rebels). Colombia stated that the evidence they found on a laptop recovered at the raid site showed that Ecuador was not in contact with the FARC to improve humanitarian conditions, it was rather "hostage trafficking for political means." Colombia has yet to release the documents.

The more serious claim from Colombia comes against Chavez. They say that documents recovered from the computer provides evidence that Chavez has had financial ties with the FARC dating back to 1992 with one payment of around $300 million. Chavez has rejected the accusations, calling President Uribe a "liar" and a "mob boss."

It has been a good long while since we have seen tensions this strong in Latin America. It will definitely be interesting to see how this all pans out, especially if and when Colombia releases the information it gained from the laptop. The whole situation with Ecuador and Colombia does bring up some serious questions

Columbia Attacks FARC on Ecuadorian Soil

2008-03-03T20:18:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, the Colombian government launched a raid on a group of FARC guerrillas inside the Ecuadorian border killing 17 FARC members including Raul Reyes, the second highest ranking member of group. This has lead to an intense situation between Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. Ecuador sent military troops to patrol the border, while Venezuela sent its own troops to its Colombian border while denouncing the cross-border attack. Colombia then claimed it found documents on a computer taken during the raid that proved Correa had a "relationship and commitments" with the FARC. Correa has denied these allegations.

In reaction to these events, Ecuador decided today to break off diplomatic ties with Colombia. This dissolution of diplomatic relations will not affect trade according to an Ecuadorian ministry spokesperson.

This whole event does little to unite these three countries divided by relations with the US. Colombia's president Uribe has received much criticism from Chavez for working too closely with the US on the war on drugs and other endeavors. Chavez, in true form, said, "we don't want war, but we won't let the Empire or its lap dog president Uribe make us weaker" in reaction to the recent events.

Ecuador, who has typically found itself between the two, should rightfully be upset with Colombia violating Ecuador's territorial sovereignty for an attack on a rebel group that operates in Colombia. However, this will most likely be spun as Correa showing support for the Marxist rebels and hindering Colombia's (and the US's) efforts on the war on terror as well as the war on drugs. We will have to watch for the fallout of these events especially the attempt to substantiate any connection with Correa and the FARC.

Terrible rain in Ecuador

2008-02-28T17:40:00.000-05:00

We have had a terrible rainy season this year. These are seven provinces with lots of roads damaged and tons of people who lost their homes and crops.

In Quito we have had floods, downpours and some roads are very bad. Hail and rain damaged lots of houses especially in south Quito. The government announced that country needs more than one billion dollars for recovering the damages.

Ecuador is receiving now the contribution of other countries for the affected people.
Here is a gallery with some pictures of the damages in Ecuador.

Just How Economically Free is Ecuador?

2008-02-26T13:31:00.000-05:00

Foundations, think-tanks, governments, academics, the US News and World Reports and others are constantly searching for ways to quantify things that seem inherently qualifiable. They do this in order to compare or rank different things (like colleges in the case of US News and World Reports). While it may seem that some things are simply too subjective to measure, it doesn't stop people from searching for clever ways to do so. While all these rankings should be taken with a grain of salt (or more) they are often interesting and will at least tell you something about the issue at hand.

That is why I found the Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom interesting. It defines Economic Freedom a state in which "individuals are free to work, produce, consume, and invest in any way they please, and that freedom is both protected by the state and unconstrained by the state." It rates countries on a score of 0-100 with 80-100 being "Free" and 0-49.9 being "Repressed".

Where does Ecuador fall on their rating? It actually scores a 55.4 putting it in the category of "Mostly Unfree" (just 5.5 points above "repressed"). It sits just below Nigeria and above Azerbaijan (106/157 ranked).

Of course, this simple ranking tells us very little. However, the people at the Heritage foundation went through the work of explaining their results for each country ranked, including Ecuador. This breakdown of rankings makes the index much more compelling and tells us more about the individual cases. Ecuador scores very high in 'Fiscal Freedom' and 'Freedom from Government' (both are explained in the link above). The obvious low points are 'Freedom from Corruption' and 'Property Rights' (23% and 30% respectively).

While this all should not be too surprising (especially if you consistently read this blog), it should be emphasized that, again, these rankings require critical examination. First we need to look at the Heritage Foundation's view point. The stated mission of the foundation is to "formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values and a strong national defense." This gives us a good idea about their approach and how they weigh different factors in their rankings (or even why they did the ranking in the first place).

A very telling comment that seems to underline their mission above actually comes in the background section, where the second half reads:

In November 2006, U.S.-trained economist Rafael Correa was elected president on a platform of tighter government control of banking and oil production, default on debt owed to international lenders, and opposition to a free trade agreement with the United States. As a result, capital flight has soared and foreign direct investment has fallen. Correa, who is an ally of Venezuela's hard-left President Hugo Chávez, has also begun the process of rewriting Ecuador's constitution and has impinged on press freedom.

Interestingly enough, the Heritage Foundation does not mention that Correa actually made the payment on the debt owed to international lenders or that the tighter control on oil production is the result of the US oil company, Occidental, actually violating its contract with the country of Ecuador. Of course, it does parenthetically mention Correa's allegiance with Chavez although, as long-time readers of this blog should know, the relationship is much more complicated than that.

So, just how economically free is Ecuador? Not very, according to the Heritage Foundation. The ranking tells us much about the country (although the break-downs and explanations tell us more, which is why you should always read them!) but we do need to approach the ranking critically. Of course Ecuador's rampant corruption is no secret, but the hard-line, leftist, Chavez-esque tendencies are not as pervasive as the foundation may suggest.

I still think it is worthwhile reading what the Heritage Foundation has to say, they do have many well respected researchers and academics working for them, but it is also important to always question rankings like this regardless of where they come from. Whenever a group tries to quantify something that seems inherently qualifiable, there is always a level of subjectivity.

Tungurahua update

2008-02-08T17:38:00.000-05:00

As a part of this eruption process (which is happening for the last 9 years) yesterday the Tungurahua volcano had lots of explosions and rock /lava emissions. Here in this link of Ecuavisa local TV is an impressive picture of the volcano during these days. In the danger area around the volcano these are around 20,000 people. Most of them were evacuated.

The Scientifics of the Geophysics Institute said that there is a possibility that the activity will increase. We are expecting what will happen.

Some people were asking to us about the risks for people in Quito. During this last 9 years of activity we did not receive any ash, rock or lava from there. If you want to explore more information about volcanoes in Ecuador check the link of the Geophysics Institute.

Perception of Corruption

2008-01-31T14:49:00.000-05:00

According to the recent report provided for Transparency International ecuadorian people are spending 533 million dollars every year in bribery. The report, presented the last Wednesday the 30th, reflects the investigation made by the international organization and it is based in 2,120 surveys.

In the report of September of 2007 Transparency International pointed out that Ecuador had a 2.1 in the 10 scale of the perception of corruption. 10 was the highest transparent perception.

The Vice-president said today that the report only reflects the situation of the country that this government received. Also, some politicians (like Alberto Acosta, the president of the Constitutional Assembly) think that the report reflects the position and methodology of only one organization.

If you are interested in this topic you would like to check the report of Global Integrity for Ecuador.

The Tungurahua volcano

2008-01-28T16:05:00.001-05:00

Volcanic activity in Ecuador is very common, we live surrounded of volcanoes and seeing their presence is quotidian. Sometimes we alarm when one of these giants goes in an eruptive process.

The Tungurahua has been, during these last years, the most active volcano. It ash destroyed many hectares of plantations and events related with this process has displace many people from their homes and have moved away tourism.

Being a witness of an eruption, undoubtedly, is very dangerous. However there are places from you can see mother nature´s stateliness with out risks. One of these spots is located very near Patate. From here there is a panoramic view of the volcano and its “roaring” is perfectly heard. In a cloudless day you can see the enormous steam and ash columns coming from the crater and at night the lava and explosions show that our planet is still alive and growing.

To get this place from Quito take the Panamericana Sur and in 40 minutes you´ll arrive in Latacunga (2800 m S 00°56.101´ WO 78°37.184´), the highway is in perfect conditions. The next town is Salcedo (2686m S 01°01.848´ WO 78°35.433´) which is famous because of the colorful “flavored-ice-cream”.

Before Ambato, and after Yambo lagoon, take the detour, which is perfectly marked, to the left to go to Pillaro (2805m S 01°09.606´ WO 78°32.596´). This is not pavement-road but it´s in good condition, the landscape is charming and the town is small and beautiful, from here the way is again pavement.

Once in Patate (2213m S 01°18.745´ WO 78°30.732´) go forward passing the rounded way at the entrance of the town, this is a pavement-road, but in few kilometers it becomes a farm track and there are lots of holes in the way and even you´ll cross a brook. In 30 minutes you see the Tungurahua in front of you. If you plan to camp don´t forget to ask for permission to farmers, but there are lots of places where you can take some good pictures of the volcano and the landscape. The ash doesn´t arrive to this place because the wind blows to the southwest. At the foothill there are many big stones that were expulsed from the volcano in ancient eruptions so it´s better to go up to the 3000m. The place where I took the pictures that illustrate this article is located at S 01°19.875´ WO 78°27.496´, 3147 meters over the sea level.

More pictures in this gallery.

Lacking Social Development in US Policy Towards Latin America

2008-01-23T20:54:00.000-05:00

It is clear that US foreign policy towards Latin America leaves much to be desired. This is clear to those living in Latin America and those in the US who care about bettering the lives of our Southern neighbors. Recently, US foreign policy has focused solely on free trade agreements, drug trafficking and limiting immigration, all of which are one-sided issues and more often than not our policies addressing them carry dramatic negative externalities. Whenever I ponder the issues I come to the same point that many of the medical brigade groups would arrive at through our group discussions; these policies need to include a social component.

While it is easy to say what is NOT there, it can be difficult to come up with good ideas of appropriate policies that would make a difference. That is why a brief released in October from the Center for Global Development caught my eye. This document written by Nancy Birdsall, the president for the CGD, and Peter Hakim, the president of the Inter-American Dialogue, lays out a six-item agenda of how the US can help Latin America.

1. "Buttress free trade agreements with aid programs that compensate the losers (such as farmers competing with subsidized US agriculture) in the short run and help to increase their ability to compete or adjust in the long run"

2. " Include redistribution of land and investments in alternative employment programs in the so-called 'war against drugs'"

3. "Push US banks to lead the way in making banking in Latin America accessible to the poor"

4. "In Brazil, Mexico and other middle-income countries, fund small aid programs aimed at engaging those countries' poorest - often minority and indigenous groups"

5. "Use aid for education to support reform of hidebound school systems"

6. "Help Latin America confront its surge of crime and violence by stemming illegal small arms sales in the region and supporting police reform"

I think the ideas set out in the brief are interesting in that they choose policies that the US really could support and that align with our ideology but also address the social needs of Latin America. It seems a reasonable compromise to be made on the behalf of US policy and would at least provide a good (and practical) place to start. Hopefully people with a lot more power than I read these things too.

I encourage those of you interested in the topic to read the brief. They provide a quick, concise summary of their points and support their six ideas with some facts and explanation. Now, when the question of what can be done crosses your mind, now you will at least have somewhere to start.

Galapagos by your own

2008-01-22T23:35:00.000-05:00

Galápagos is one of the best places to visit in Ecuador, however the costs are high for national and foreign tourists as well. Because of this maybe it is a good idea to visit Galápagos by your own.

Three airlines arrive in Galápagos from Guayaquil and Quito: Tame, Aerogal and Icaro. The first sets you back USD $251. Flight time is half an hour from Quito to Guayaquil, then you have to wait for another 30 minutes and finally it takes one and a half hours to Baltra; Galápagos time is one hour difference from the continent.

Once you get Baltra airport there are three gates, one for national tourist, another for foreign tourist and the third one for Galapagos residents. Here you pay the National Park fare (USD $6 for national and USD$100 for foreign tourists). The luggage is inside a wharehouse next to the arrival and there are buses just in front of that, the airline pays the bus fare to Itabaca harbor where you take a boat (USD $0.80) to get Santa Cruz island, this trip takes around 10 minutes. Finally in Santa Cruz you can take a bus (USD $0.50) or taxi (USD $15) to get the city in one hour approximately .

There are hotels, hostals and only one resort with prices from USD $30 to USD$800 per night, in some of them breakfast is included. An average meal costs USD$ 6 but it can be more expensive.

Santa Cruz can be the headquerter for your trips, nevertheless there are lots of activities in this island and many places to know too.

Santa Cruz Island:

The boulevard, which is located very near to any of the hotels here, has cafeterías, souvenir stores, travel agencies, Banks, discos, clubs and all the things you an find in a small city,

Bahía Tortuga is a white-sand and transparent water beach where you walk a pavement path for an hour; in the way you can see lizards, birds and vegetation. Don´t forget to bring with you a bottle of water to prevent dehydration and sunblock lotion. In Bahia beach you can practice surf, snorkeling and scuba diving. Due to the distance and tide it is a good idea to sty there only until 5pm.

Charles Darwin Scientific Station is located at the city border, 20 minutes far from the boulevard, here you can see Turtles (Galápagos) and land iguanas. There is an Information Centre and if you want you can hire a guide who will explain you everything about the Station. The turtles are studied here since they are inside eggs, so visitors can observe all the growing stages of Galápagos. Ask for the Solitario George, one of the oldest turtles and, unfortunately, the last one of his specie.

To get the lava tunnels you have to go out of the city, about 30 minutes; you can hire a guide or take a taxi for USD$25. In the last kilometer there are “wild” turtles but you can see them and approach to them without problems. To get inside of one of the tunnels you pay USD$0.50, it has lights and the trip is very easy, however not all the tunnels are like this, so do not enter to another tunnel. There are more activities to do in Santa Cruz depending on your time.

Other islands

Galápagos is an archipielago formed by 13 islands, everyone of them has its own attractions. There are daily tours and the cost is like USD$70. It´s better to hire the tour instead of the boats at the harbor because the tour includes transportations from the hotel; snacks, lunch and the activity, such as hiking, scuba diving, sealife watching or bird watching. Book the tour with one or 2 days of anticipation because there are lots of tourists there.

We know that you´ll enjoy Galápagos by your own.

Quito Strays - Cultural Difference

2008-01-12T22:57:00.000-05:00

While searching for information on the eruption of the Tungurahua volcano my wife Lorie stumbled across this story about an American student at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito who has set up a shelter for stray dogs in Quito. As I read the story I was struck by the seeming cultural difference over the role of dogs in society between the US and Ecuador.

In the US there seems to be, in my estimation, a movement to elevate the role of animals in society to a place equal to or sometimes above that of people. For example, in the comments thread that accompanies the article, one commenter who questioned the idea of seeking homes for Ecuadorian dogs in the US while so many Ecuadorian children lived in poverty was immediately flamed. I must say that I was horrified by the anger and vitriol of the responses that followed.

Yet, while I recognize and understand that dogs and human beings have a long history together, I cannot help but worry that some of these efforts might be just a little misplaced.

"There's no animal control program in place in Ecuador," said Toni Bodon, executive director of Stray from the Heart, a New York-based dog rescue group that has teamed with Amigo Fiel to help find homes for the dogs - and accepts donations for the shelter in Ecuador.

"The only animal control program they have is to poison dogs," she said. "They send out government employees with poisoned meat and then go pick up the dead dogs in a truck. It's a horrible situation."

An animal protection movement is just emerging in Ecuador, Cole and Bodon said. Petitions are being signed and more people are getting involved.

My meager experiences in the neighborhoods of Quito Sur lead me be believe that there are better ways of utilizing the meager resources of the Ecuadorian government than to create an animal control program that seeks to find adoptive homes for the dogs of Quito.

What do Ecuadorian Soccer Refs and US TV Writers Have in Common?

2008-01-09T12:45:00.000-05:00

Ecuadorian soccer referees are now on strike. The Union of Ecuadorian Soccer Referees initiated a strike yesterday in protest of a rule put forth by club owners and the Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF) on Friday. The rule was to give the Federation the power to sack referees for, you guessed it, striking.

While it may seem excessive to many readers in the US for there to be striking over a rule about striking, I think it is worth mentioning that there is a vast cultural difference in Latin America with regards to strikes and demonstrations in general. Latin Americans are much quicker than people in the US to strike and demonstrate. In Ecuador, roads are constantly closed due to demonstrations from Indigenous groups, taxi drivers, political groups, service workers, etc. (which happens to be the basis for the movie 'Que Tan Lejos'... if you have the chance to catch it, by all means do it) While studying in Chile, we were all concerned that we would not finish our classes because the semester before had run drastically over the term dates because of a university student strike. While striking in the US is typically seen as an extreme, last ditch effort for change, it is much more common in Latin America.

For those of you who treasure watching American Football Playoffs, count your lucky stars that US referees are not forming a picket line.

Noboa to Trial

2008-01-04T13:23:00.000-05:00

TSE (the official electoral body of the Ecuadorian Government) announced that it will try Alvaro Noboa for his failure to pay a $6.3 million fine. This fine was imposed for exceeding the limit of expenditures on his campaign in the first round of the election last year. Those of you loyal readers (or those of you who were interested in Ecuadorian politics) may remember that Alvaro Noboa led a campaign based on buying votes with gifts ranging from T-shirts to computers to wheelchairs to houses to just plain cash. Given this strategy, it should be no surprise that he went over.

Beyond the fine (that Noboa refuses to pay) the head of TSE said that they could confiscate his assets (he reportedly owns 110 companies and is considered the richest man in Ecuador) and that he could lose his seat on the Constituent Assembly.

Another Note on Immigration

2007-12-28T10:27:00.000-05:00

This morning Adam Clevenger (of the Timmy Foundation, for those of you who do not know him) sent me an interesting New York Times article regarding the migration of people to poor countries from even poorer countries. The article is very well done and looks primarily at the case of Haitian immigrants to the Dominican Republic, an issue I believe Timmy Brigades in the DR have witnessed first-hand.

While Ecuador is not mentioned in article, this is a phenomenon that definitely occurs there as well. After the transition to the dollar as their currency, many Ecuadorians left for countries like the US and Spain, but also a large number of Colombians and Peruvians entered Ecuador. The salaries (now in dollars) were stronger in terms of purchasing power than what they could typically earn in their own countries.

This immigration led to anti-Colombian and especially anti-Peruvian sentiments in the country that are strikingly similar to (if not stronger than) the anti-Mexican/Latino sentiments one can find in the US. I was actually told (on a couple of occasions) that Ecuadorians do not use drugs, it is the Peruvians that do and therefore the entire drug problem in the country (not that drug usage is all too high) is the fault of Peruvians. Once after being robbed (one of five occurrences during my time there) the owners of the restaurant said that they did not see who did, but assured me it was a couple of Peruvians. After a few break-ins in the neighborhood where I lived, a neighborhood security guard whom I befriended told me that I should be careful because the Colombians where now starting to target the area. I asked him what evidence he had that they were Colombians and not simply Ecuadorians, and he told me that Colombians were desperate people and therefore they broke into houses.

With a high unemployment rate and such a high poverty rate, people entering Ecuador and competing for jobs that are already scarce is likely to spark controversy. I do find it interesting (and this is the idea behind this post) that immigration is not as simple as a one-way street from developing countries to developed countries. It is actually something quite complex and dynamic and I think the New York Times article linked at the top does a good job of further explaining some of the issues. So, I encourage all of you to read it.

Spain's Perspective on Immigration

2007-12-27T11:12:00.000-05:00

Here is an interesting article on immigration in Spain from Robert Duncan. I was struck by the parallels between Spain and the US regarding their views and issues with immigration, both legal and illegal. Spain is especially interesting in this case for the concentration of Ecuadorian immigrants living there. The article states that there are 420,000 Ecuadorians living legally in Spain with up to another 330,000 (estimated) Ecuadorians living illegally.

I encourage everyone the check out the article. Ignore the embedded links, though, as they just take you to items on Amazon.com.

Mixed Messages on Poverty in Latin America

2007-12-14T16:23:00.000-05:00

If you are at all like me, you read most articles regarding politics, economics, health and natural resource issues in Latin America that happen to come across your path. I must admit that the majority of Economist/Newsweek/Time/New York Times and other mainstream national/international media have painted a very optimistic picture of poverty in Latin America citing declining poverty rates across the board.

That is why I was interested in a working paper by the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University that I stumbled upon this afternoon. It is titled, "Declining Poverty in Latin America? A Critical Analysis of New Estimates by International Institutions."

I encourage all of you interested in the topic of poverty in Latin America (and in the developing world in general) to read it. It is fairly readable and it also asks some excellent questions with regards to how we measure poverty and poverty reduction in a particular region.

The article analyzes the data for a few different international organizations; the World Bank, CEPAL and CEDLAS. It finds drastically different poverty measures from organization to organization. For example, in 2004 the World Bank cites that 35.2% of Ecuador's population falls under "moderate poverty" while CEPAL finds that 51.2% of Ecuador's population qualifies for the same category. The same trend appears with the numbers for "extreme poverty" with the World Bank citing 14.7% and CEPAL citing 22.3%.

While this refers to "Point In Time" data, the authors also point to many larger problems in measuring trends over time. First of all, many comparison studies use 1990 as their benchmark year to measure improvements. Using 1990, as the authors state, sets the bar quite low as Latin America had just emerged from the Debt Crisis of the 1980s and some of the improvements in economic performance may be part of a natural recovery from the crisis rather than effective macroeconomic and social policies. For example, the category of the Poorest Six Countries (wherein falls Ecuador) shows a slight decrease in aggregate poverty ratios from 1990 to 2004 from 26.8 to 25.7. However, the aggregate poverty ratio in 1980 was actually 24, which means that, after 24 years, there was actually an increase in the aggregate poverty ratio.

The other major issue that the paper raises is the importance of de-aggregating data before analyzing a region. While it may be tempting to lump all of the Latin American countries together to assess the performance of the region, this is intrinsically problematic. For example, improvements in countries like Mexico, Chile and Argentina can mask declines in other countries like Ecuador and Bolivia especially with the discrepancies in populations and size of the respective economies. It is important that we look at individual countries to get a better idea of what is going on in the region especially if we are to make policy proposals.

Again, I recommend that if you are interested in these issues that you read the article. While its intention is not to paint an ever-hopeless picture of the region, it does raise some very valid questions in how we examine poverty. So, when you come across articles in Newsweek and Time about across-the-board improvements in Latin America, you will know to take their information with a grain of salt.

The Itchimbía Park

2007-12-12T14:15:00.000-05:00

The park is over a sacred hill for Quitus, this was offered to the moon and the sun and it was an observatory and andean wisdom center. People called the Itchimbia as "Quito´s drugstore” due to the great variaty of medicinal herbs and plants .

It was an Hacienda Piedrahita too, and later it was the headquarters for the first quitenian tv channel "TV Quito channel 6", and sadly it was a trash dump. However the Fonsal recovered this place and transformed it into a public space where people can go to concerts, artistic presentations,educative activities, etc..

You can get the park by the Yaguachi st or sodiro st from 10 de Agosto Ave. (map in this galery).

Every year there is a nice concert called "Quito Fest" with alternative music and good bands from Ecuador and abroad. The concert is for young people in the city mainly.

To the west there is a great view of Quito dowtown, The Cima de la Libertad monument, The Panecillo, The Teleferico, etc. Even in a bright day you can see the Cayambe volcano to the south.

Inside the park there is the Itchimbia Cultural Center, that was inagurated on July 31st, 2004. The metalic structure of the Center was originally the first market in Quito named "Santa Clara" which was located at downtown. That structure was brought from Belgium in 1899.

The Cultural center now hosts artistic expositions and cultural activities in general. The center is known as "The Cristal Palace" because of its big windows and its spectacular view of Quito downtown.

The park has sports fields, children games, paths, a sun dial, and information center and other atractions to enjoy with your family.

For more informationa about events and services visit the Park website:

www.parqueitchimbia.org.ec

Quito: a place to go

2007-12-12T10:10:00.000-05:00

Recently the New York Times has published an article by Danny Lee with the 53 recommended places to go in 2008. Quito is in the place 15 of the list.

After the recovering process of the historical center Quito has been receiving more visitors every year. Because of the political instability it was not permanent. But it looks that there will be more people coming to visit our beautiful city. Welcome!

San Francisco plaza, check it on the map on the right side of the blog

LIGA won the championship

2007-12-06T21:03:00.000-05:00

Liga Deportiva Universitaria has been the best soccer team this year, and for the nineth time the Ecuadorian Cup went to Liga´s House.

The campaign was amazing, during the last stage Liga didn´t lose any game, and 2 weeks before the end of the championship LIGA got enough points to get the Champion title.

This new crown was gotten just in Quito´s festivities, so all the fans had 2 excuses to celebrate. Liga has shown excelent players such as Enrique Vera (paraguayan), Lara, Dominguez, Obregón, Escalada, Manso, etc.

Liga will have to face 3 championships the next year, Copa Libertadores, Copa Sudamericana and the ecuadorian championship.

Quito festivities

2007-12-05T11:05:00.000-05:00

Quito is going to celebrate his bigger party in the year: the Spanish foundation. Actually the 6^th of December of 1534 was the first time when the Municipality of the village of San Francisco de Quito had a meeting. It was headed by Sebastián de Benalcázar. The foundation had occurred August the 28^th the same year. The founder was Diego de Almagro.

The environment at that time was of conquest, ambition of richness and gold. Because of that, there were war and death. Now, these are some people against the celebration, which is very recent.

However, the city is going to have lots of parties today. Almost every neighborhood in the city will have a party, concert or event. We had also the “40” world championship. (I found an on-line version of the game in the internet! http://www.40enlinea.com/)

There is a festive mood everywhere. You can see a picture about the festivities I took in a concert last Sunday during the QuitoFest.

If you are in Quito now you will be interested in check this link.

The assembly goes

2007-11-30T14:57:00.000-05:00

Today the constitutional assembly of Ecuador was inaugurated. There is a lot of expectation for this critical and historical meeting. The majority of the population is optimistic for the changes as result of the assembly.

However, it is important to see that there is not a deep knowledge about the objectives and scopes of the assembly among the Ecuadorian population. This perception was reflected in an investigation carried out by CEDATOS in the recent days.

In the election for the approval of the assembly, Ecuadorians gave to it all the power for changing the constitution. As result, the assembly is even above the President. Mr. Correa has resigned his charge to the assembly but they have confirmed his charge immediately (80 of 130 assembly members are from Acuerdo Pais, Correa’s party).

For the inauguration of the assembly there were some presidents invited. Two of them had confirmed their presence: Alvaro Uribe and Hugo Chavez. Finally Ciudad Alfaro (the town created for the assembly) only received to Mr. Uribe; Mr. Chavez had declined his visit.

Alberto Acosta was elected the President of the legislative body. He was the most voted candidate for this assembly and one of the best friends of the President Correa. A very well known economist in Ecuador and one of the radical anti-neoliberals, Mr. Acosta is for some people the most powerful man in the country.

Here a video of the election:

One of the first decisions of the assembly was to dismiss the congress, one of the less popular institutions in the State. Some tensions in the environment appear because of the possibility of other dismissing.

These are a big expectation for this historical event. There is a web site where you can follow the assembly live: http://asambleaconstituyente.gov.ec/

Digital Quito

2007-11-30T09:32:00.000-05:00

Where is the Loyola street?, Which of all the drives is Juan Severino?... Have you felt lost in Quito? Surely yes, and it is because the majority of the streets have its own name and no sequence. It´s well known that streets in Quito were "baptized" by sectors. For instance, all the streets behind Quicentro Shopping to the north have names of ecuadorian newspapers, streets near the Florida Ave. have names of tribes in Ecuador, and so on and so forth.

But now there is a modern way to locate and address that you´re looking for just typing it. The Quito Digital Map is a new service that the Metropolitan CIty Hall has upload on line some months ago.

The Map has an address searcher, a navigator, interesting spots and a public transportation finder. This is an excelent way to find that so weird address that you have to go to, or the easiest way to get to a place using the public busses.

The link to go to Quito Digital Map is this:

http://www.mapaquito.gov.ec/emop/generic/viewer.htm

Private education

2007-11-19T12:46:00.000-05:00

Regarding news published by El Comercio newspaper, in Ecuador the number of private educational institutions is the triple during the last thirty years. Moreover, it is the double number during the last 10 years.

The information is very commented for the reason that the government is expecting to add a tax to the private schools charging over a certain amount.

You could read that in different ways: the private education is a very good business; or, as soon as people could bring their children to a private school they prefer to do that. Probably there is not enough trust in the public education in Ecuador.

The government is announcing important changes for the public education. Out of that, there is some discussion (and insults) coming, because of the social role of the private education.

Yunguilla and Tulipe

2007-11-11T18:36:00.000-05:00

Yunguilla is a little town located to the north-western part of the Pichincha province, 300 m north the toll in Calacalí take the stoned road to the right which is in good conditions. Yunguilla has the communitarian tourism as one of the main activities of the people. In this area there is a reserve which is the perfect place to spend a weekend. The house has 10 beds in 4 rooms but it also has camping areas. You can enjoy the flora and fauna of the clouded forest and besides the chance to do trekking, from 30 minutes to 2 days (to Nanegal).

After 27 year of researching it was established that the pools in Tulipe come from the Yumbos ages. This tribe ruled almost all the north-western part in Pichincha province and trading was its main activity. Nowadays the Museum in Tulipe shows the pools, and ecological path and an interpretation centre with interactive presentations. The pools were used by shamanes for magical-religious ceremonies few times a year in equinoxes and solstices. The water was considered a purification element. The Word Yumbo comes from two tsafiquis roots that mean water tombs. Yunguilla is a derivation of these roots too.

Another important element that the museum shows are the petro-graphics found in Pacto, but that keep narrow relation with the pools in Tulipe.

To get the museum you have to take the detour to the right after Nanegalito from Quito, there are enough signs that show you the way. See more pictures in "0 Latitud" gallery.

Lots of rain

2007-11-09T17:30:00.000-05:00

Some people agree with the idea that the weather is a bit (a lot?) different in comparison with the past. During the last weeks we have had lots of rain. According to a report published by el Comercio newspaper, the last Thursday the 7^th,there was the fifth part of all the rainfall expected for November in Quito.

The idea of the global warming is in the environment as an explanation of this event; but in his history Quito have had always the reputation of rain lands. There is a very old poem about Quito which says that here “there is only thirteen months of rain at year…” Hence, we are coming back to our origins… The problem with this weather usually appears in neighborhoods in the steep lands at the base of the mountains.

Because of the weather lots of people should bring an umbrella before they leave their homes. If you have not been in Quito before and you would like to know more about that, you can check the page of the Institute of Meteorology of Ecuador.

There is snow at the equatorial line yet

2007-10-30T11:53:00.000-04:00

Although we knew that there are glaciers at the equatorial line, in Cayambe volcano, we thought that may be it will be in danger as well, because of the climate changing. Or, in worst case, they had faded away.

The last Saturday, September the 22nd, and because of an initiative of Cristobal, the Director of Quitsa-To project, we undertook and expedition looking for these highlands in the Cayambe volcano. The invitation was even more interesting one day before the equinox.

For those of you who never been there, Cayambe volcano is 0° 1.72' north Latitude and 77° 59.13' of Longitude. More information about the volcano is available (in Spanish) in the site of the Geophysics Institute of the Polytechnics School of Ecuador.

Because of its wide base, the equatorial line crosses the southern part of the volcano, where it supposes there is a glacier there. At the beginning, we took the same road to the Saraurco Mountain. For the expedition we had the company of two local guides and horses. The difficulties in this land are evident: lots of wetlands and the weather are almost always cloudy and wet.

The day looked as I told you. Suddenly the hail appeared. However, the view of Cayambe was an incentive for going up. The road was very hard. Because of that I have to mention the resistance and tenacity of the horses. They look small compared to others, but their wide backs and their temper were essential for this challenge. I was wondering that it would be almost impossible to complete the road in one day without their help.

Above 13,000 feet, it was possible to see some lagoons (18, our guides said), most of them not very big and with wetlands around. We saw four condors, apparently two adults and two youths. We saw also two sparrow hawks. Some highland aloes (achupallas) looked like they were recently pulled up and it would be an evidence of bears.

After a six hours road we were at the base of the snow, next to massive stone walls in the southern west side of the volcano. From there we just hike. The gps showed us we were 3,900 feet southern to the equatorial line and more than 13,700 feet of altitude.

Finally we arrived to the 0º latitude. Above 15,000 feet of altitude the landscape was impressive and the cold weather was intense. We saw that the equatorial line crosses for a wide snow land and glacier in the Cayambe volcano. Because of a huge wall it was impossible to track the equator at this time.

We built our versión of an “apachita” in order to keep the position and as homage of the ancient people who lived in the lands of the equator.

Ecuadorian new "skin"

2007-10-12T17:00:00.000-04:00

This saturaday the soccer games will start again. This time we will fight for earning a place to go to South Africa World Cup.

Ecuador will play against strong rivals such as Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and with national soccer teams that have new "cracks".

Luis Fernando Suarez, the coach, have tested many players during all the preparation games. He will have the chance to call to young and experienced stars to the next games.

Marathon, one of the official sponsors, presented the National soccer team´s new clothing this week. You can see more pictures clicking here

Impressive victory

2007-10-02T18:15:00.000-04:00

Recently, even when we are reluctant to talk about politics, it's time to come back to it. This last Sunday we had elections for the members of the Constitutional Assembly . In a very brief overview, the campaign, the information about the candidates and the proposals was very confused. We elected 130 members for the assembly, among, literally, thousand of candidates. Now, they are going to give us a new (the 20th) Constitution.

Finally the elections had the results with an enormous victory for the government’s party. The results until now and according to the Electoral Tribunal give to Alianza País more than the 60% of the votes. This means an overwhelming political victory which gives to the President’s party the entire control of the assembly. Perhaps that is why the President said yesterday that the assembly must laid off the current congress.

Although this result reflects the will of the majority of the people in Ecuador, I would like to share some feelings this election gave me. It was very controversial that the President were touring Ecuador with his candidates (candidates of Alianza País) and that he had been inaugurating infrastructures or making donations, signing agreements, with his candidates. President said that all these actions were according to the law. There is avideo at the end of this article (in Spanish) where you can see the opinion of the President about that.

All the campaign was under the control of the Electoral Tribunal: TV commercials, radio announcements and press. Unfortunately some of these “official – presidential trips” were out of the campaign. Or, it is supposes that it had to be.

Why are we talking a lot about the President, even when he is going to put his resignation in the presence of the assembly? The reason is that now President Correa (his party?) has the control of the political institutions in Ecuador. And, as someone said, too much power in a few hands could be dangerous.

However you see in the situation that most of the Ecuadorian people have put their hopes in Mr. Correa. Even though, I will have to say, there is still some tension in the environment.

Pambamarca

2007-09-19T15:54:00.000-04:00

Pambamarca is an extinct volcano very close to Quito (35km). It is eroded and its altitude is 4,075 meters (2.53 mi), according to the Geophysics Institute of EPN of Ecuador. The mountain is very visible from most of places in Quito.

The main attractive of the mountain and the reason why I am writing this article are the Pucarás. Pucará is a very ancient building which use and age are still topics of discussion among the investigators. Some of them think that these places have a military purpose and they were made by Inca people in the conquest they undertook in the 15th century. Other investigators think that these places were part of Quitu-Cara culture with a religious or/and astronomic uses.

There is an investigation that some archeologists from the United States are making for more than six years. You could check information about them here.

Despite of the academic discussion the places are there. 19 pucarás are talking about the ancient culture and history of Quito and Ecuador. Let me try to describe the form of these places. There are rock walls, most of them circular, in the highest parts of the hills that form the mountain. There are not perfect circles; they are following the natural form of the hills. Some of these walls could have 9 meters (29.5 ft) or more. In the higher parts of the pucarás there are places like pyramids or altars. Most of the walls are covered now by straw and the erosion is evident.

The view from there is impressive. The wind is fast and usually cold.

If you are planning to visit the place there is an access to the pucarás using the road to Cangahua. You could receive very good information from Cristobal, the Director of Quitsa-To project. You could find him in Hosteria Guachala, in the road to Cangahua.

The inflation

2007-09-07T11:07:00.000-04:00

Even when the majority of Ecuadorians are not worried about the inflation as in the past (the inflation in the lately nineties was the 60%), it is not still absent. After Ecuador got the dollar as its currency the inflation was not a big concern, but it still exists and, during the last time, it is getting the attention of the people again. The reason is very simple: some prices are rising.

According with the Central Bank of Ecuador, the inflation during this year, January to July, is the 1.29%. For the National Institute of Statistics, the inflation during August was minor than the others, but it is still higher than the average of the monthly reference of the last three years. Also the inflation was higher in Quito, Cuenca, Loja and Ambato.

Out of the statistics there is an important perception in some people I met about the increasing of some prices. Also, we have started the school year (elementary, middle school and high school) at the beginning of September and there is a connection with the inflation too.

Furthermore there is some tension in the background because of the elections environment. We will elect the members for the Constitutional Assembly this September the 30th. And the dollar is one the points in the discussion. Although President Correa said some times that he is going to keep the dollar as our currency, there are still discussions and fears about that.

The Catequilla Hill

2007-08-27T00:02:00.000-04:00

The most ancient monument to the Middle of the World is located at the Catequilla hill. It is a stone platform rounded by a small wall that dates from pre-incas periods. The cultures that lived in this sector had astronomical knowledge, they determined that the ecuatorial line pass by this hill and built the platform which was an observatory or sacred place.

The Catequilla hill has been catalogued as an axis mundi by the QUITSA-TO Scientific Project. If a 8 points star is put over a map and the Catequilla is located in the center of the star, the star points to some archeological places such as Cochasqui pyramids, the Alance pyramid, etc.

This destination is very close to Quito a car can almost reach the top. It is a perfect place to meditate and it is a natural observatory. From the Catequilla hill you can see, to the west, the Mitad del Mundo city, San Antonio de Pichincha, the Rumicucho archeological ruins, and part of Quito. To the east there is a spectacular view of Guayllabamaba valley.

Quito: two cities

2007-08-08T11:42:00.000-04:00

For those of you who have been in Quito any time, especially if you have visited the south of Quito, you had perceived that there is like two cities in one. First of all it is important that you know that Quito is a very long city but very thin at the same. It grows in the base of the Pichincha volcano, and here you can see a picture of it I took from Google Earth.

I read a very interesting article in El Comercio newspaper yesterday. Then I decided to link more information about that. Until the earlier 20th century Quito was just the old downtown, the historical center which is the most visited place in the city.
Later, the wealth people started the new cool neighborhoods in the closer north: La Mariscal, La Colon, La Floresta and others. Now some of these are the night life centers. At the same time the workers and the immigrants coming from rural places in Ecuador contribute with the growing of the south.
Now these are different perceptions of the two sides of the city: in the article, one kid from the north said: “I don’t like the south; I don’t see anything good there. It is not like the north, where there are more educated people. In the south there are gangs and the people are less organized.” Another kid from the south said: “In the north people are reserved and posh”. The perception, in general, is that south is more rural and poor and the north is more commercial and wealth.
A pic from the north I found in Panoramio:

But the risk of this generalization is that we could ignore the wide of this perception. There are “small south” in the north and “small north” in the south.
The funny things: We have three big soccer stadiums in Quito; two of these are property of local teams. The one, in the north, is property of Liga, the most popular soccer team in Quito and its stadium is called “the white house”. There is KFC and pizza place inside. The other, in the south, is property of Aucas. It is a very popular team in the south. The name of the team means Savages in Quichua language. The stadium is less fancy and there are not chains inside. But you could find “guatita”, “empanadas” and other delicious staff inside. There is more of this interesting information in a book called Quito Imaginado (in Spanish)
A pic from the south, from Panoramio:

In my opinion people in the south is more organized. I’ve seen lots of very good neighborhoods committees supporting initiatives for improving their communities. And probably the idea of rural environment in the south is truth. People could be more affordable and friendly there, depending on where you are. But of course, to generalize is not the best way for explaining human things.
The other funny thing (May I say that?): the Panecillo hill is in the southern part of the old downtown and there is a statue of the Virgin Mary in the top. We called her the Virgin of Quito, but it is another story. The statue is with her face to the north… and of course her back to the south. Well, these are part of the curious things about quiteñan people.

The Puntas volcano

2007-08-06T15:48:00.001-04:00

The great Puntas volcano has its curious name (peaks) because of the crater's shape. This is one of the oldest volcanoes in Ecuador.

The volcano is 4140 meters over the sea level and it has impressive landscapes. Quito and its valleys can be seen from here.

To go to this volcano you have to leave Quito by the Cumbaya highway, pass by Tumbaco and Pifo. When you get a little town called Checa take a detour to the right, a stoned way that passes next to the Loyola grammar school, the in almost 1 hour you get to the Santa Teresita Hacienda where you have to ask for permission to pass through the hacienda. This road is not bad, nevertheless an off-road car is necessary.

You can leave your car in the hacienda and walk for around 3 hours to the top of the volcano, but if you want to continue the car will arrive to the rocks base at the top.

The flora in this place is the one you find in the paramo, there are no "chuquiraguas" because of the strong wind. there is cattle in the area so you have to take care with it. There are many birds such as Quilicos, Curiquingues, Chorlitos and the Andean Condor, we could take pictures of a couple of condors, which is very strange. We were lucky that day and the condors probably were looking for lunch at that time.

San Pedro/Inti Raymi in Ecuador

2007-07-28T15:19:00.000-04:00

The summer months in Ecuador bring some very special cultural traditions and festivities. One of the best known ones is the San Pedro Festival, with its most famous celebrations being in the northern highlands of Ecuador. The traditional name of these festivities, which fills the purpose of celebrating nature (the earth, the sun, etc) and what it brings us, is Inti Raymi (San Pedro is the name the Spaniards gave it). While the celebration of San Pedro/Inti Raymi started as an indigenous celebration long before the arrival of the Spaniards, the festivities in many places now include a mix between the two cultures, and is celebrated by both and indigenous and mestizo Ecuadorians. For example, in the town of Cayambe, the official celebrations of San Pedro/Inti Raymi lasts for about a month (beginning of June to beginning of July) and includes everything from traditional celebrations, sport activities, running of the bulls, and workshops about the environment, cultural traditions, education, and food.

One of the most exciting events in the different towns that celebrate San Pedro/Inti Raymi is the “toma de la plaza” (the taking of the plaza). Different groups from the towns and the surrounding communities, dressed in traditional clothing (usually chaps for men and traditional skirts and blouses for women) dance through the streets singing traditional songs, celebrating their town and their community. The actual taking of the plaza used to be a violent affair, with deaths and injuries every year. However, this used to be an important part of the celebrations, because it was seen as a rebellious act of the indigenous towards their colonial overheads; the space of the plaza used to belong to the indigenous, but with the arrival of the Spaniards, they did no longer have control over it. However, during the present day celebrations, this has been changed to a “symbolic” taking of the plaza, and everything passes calmly in a festive spirit.

When the official celebrations in the larger towns are over, the celebrations continue in the smaller communities the weeks that follow. One example of such a festivity is “la entrega de las ramas.” (“the bringing of the poles”). This is a continuation of the San Pedro/Inti Raymi festival, and the same clothing and songs are used. After having had several discussions with people in these communities, it seems like nobody knows why or how this specific tradition started, so one have to assume that it is centuries old. The story goes, that if one year during the festivities, you receive 4 roosters, the next year you have to bring 12 rooster (tied to a pole) to that community and you have to bring them dancing and singing. Several members from your community and/or family dress up (in the traditional San Pedro/Inti Raymi clothing described above) and then you will bring the roosters, while singing and dancing, to the community center. There the host community will serve you traditional food. This food will consist of the farm products that are the most abundant and common for the season: hen, cuy (guinea pig), pork, potatoes, and mote (a white kind of corn). Of course, with this you will be served the traditional corn drink, chicha. The dancing and the celebration will go on until dawn.

Bye Ryan!

2007-07-23T22:22:00.001-04:00

Thank you so much Ryan for being a friend during this year. For going to the stadium (and becoming a LIGA fan), for all the books you brought to me, for going to those trips and everythig.

Keep in touch!

bye bye

Carlos

Welcome

2007-07-19T16:39:00.000-04:00

Today, I would like to introduce two new contributors in Watching Quito: Lotta and John.

Lotta Westerberg is the new intern of the Timmy Foundation in Ecuador and she is taking the place of Ryan in Ecuador.

John Woods is a volunteer who was twice in Ecuador; he is a teacher in Purdue University of World History and candidate for a Doctoral degree.

Thanks a lot to them.

Ryan is coming back home today, after a year in Ecuador. Thanks buddy for your friendship and contribution.

The Distribution of remittances

2007-07-03T15:34:00.000-04:00

In a very interesting article published by El Comercio newspaper it is possible to distinguish the amount and distribution of the remittances that Ecuadorian migrants send back in 2006.

According to the Central Bank of Ecuador 2.916 billion dollars were received by the country in 2006 as remittances. There were 462 million more than in 2005. The amount doesn’t include the money brought by individuals. Now this money represents the 7.1% of the Gross Domestic Product.

The 45.93% of these came from the United States and 44.20% from Spain. There were small amounts coming from: Italy, England, Belgium and Germany. It was distributed: 20.9% to Guayas province (where Guayaquil, the biggest city is); 19.6% to Azuay (where Cuenca, the third city is) and 16.1% to Pichincha (where Quito is). It is very interesting that the majority of the remittances go to the southern and southern coast of Ecuador, surely because the majority of migrants are from that area.

Even when another investigation of the Bank reflect that the unemployment was reduced in 2006, it may acttually reflect that the number of Ecuadorians abroad have increased.

You can imagine the importance of this amount of money in the Ecuadorian economy.

FIFA Reconsiders

2007-06-27T10:53:00.000-04:00

FIFA just announced that they would raise the altitude ban from 2,500 meters to 3,000 meters above sea level. While this may not seem like much, it means that both Columbia and Ecuador can now hold international matches in their capital cities of Bogota (2,640 m) and Quito (2,800 m).

However, this still eliminates games in La Paz, Bolivia (3,650 m) and Cuzco, Peru (3,400 m). I imagine the increase will calm a bit of the protests, but the debate is far from over. There still is no consensus over the alleged medical problems caused by playing at high altitude and many Andean doctors have claimed that playing in extreme heat and humidity, like that found in Brazil, is actually more dangerous, yet no move has been made to ban games there.

At least, with this new decision, people in Quito will now be able to attend international matches.

On that note, Ecuador plays Chile today in the Copa America... so everyone wish Ecuador luck!

The ATPDEA Debate

2007-06-25T11:16:00.000-04:00

The Andean Trade Preferences and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA) was passed in 1991 as a program to jointly increase the efforts on the war on drugs in the Andean Region and provide preferential trading conditions for these countries. The countries affected are Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Columbia. The act expires this Friday and, after having been delayed, the US Congress is to decide on its renewal this week.

Ecuador has found itself in a tricky position with regards to ATPDEA. With Correa's criticisms towards the US, the Ecuadorian government now finds it self back-peddling slightly and trying to distance itself from Venezuela (see post below) to win enough support from the US to renew the trade agreement.

There is no shortage of criticism from the US towards the renewal of the act. Unfortunately, the majority of the criticism comes from extreme polarization by people who do not seem to know much about Ecuador's history or politics. The Investor's Business Daily published a very harsh Op-Ed piece. Below are excerpts from the article.

Should the U.S. offer preferential trade privileges to hostile
anti-American regimes that view them as cheap handouts? Offering nothing in
return, Ecuador thinks so. We are less sure.

Here's a leftist regime in Quito that's done nothing but condemn free trade
and hurl abuse at the U.S. as it rolls toward Cuban- and Venezuelan-style
tyranny.

This represents a dilemma for the U.S., which no doubt wants to help
Ecuador's private sector with access to markets. But once given, the U.S. knows
Ecuador's government is likely to emulate Chavez and destroy its private sector
anyway

Even as Ecuador calls for U.S. trade privileges, it has seized vast
American oil interests like Occidental Petroleum's $1 billion operation last
year, signaling how American investors can expect to be treated.

Worse, Ecuador has harassed Colombia with lawsuits as it tries to eradicate
coca fields, making Colombia's war that much harder.

To be honest, these opinions are simply off-based. First of all, the trading preferences are not simply a "cheap hand-out." A hand-out implies a one-way unsustainable gain for the receiving party. This completely over-looks the benefits for the US from increased trade with Ecuador. For example, for every $1 spent on roses (one of the big Ecuadorian exports that would be affected by this agreement), $0.75 stays in the US. It is also estimated that the agreement has generated 50,000 jobs in Florida alone. The benefits are not just for Ecuador.

The phrase Cuban- or Venezuelan- style tyranny is not only hyperbole, but simply untrue. As I mentioned in my last post, people here are very quick to separate themselves from Chavez and Castro. It is not simply an issue of Left v. Right.

There is no evidence that the Ecuadorian Government has plans to take over the private sector. The fact that Venezuela and Cuba both did it does not imply that Ecuador will follow suit. I believe a large part of this fear is based in the memories of the late 60s, early 70s leftist governments in Latin American who tried to take over private sector enterprises. However, social and economic conditions are different now. Ecuador switched to the dollar largely due to international private sector pressure and a desire to increase the foreign direct investment (FDI) with a more stable currency. These do not point to a government ready to invade the private sector.

Another part of this fear is inspired by the Occidental incident that happened last year. The articles make it seem that the Ecuadorian government stepped in and nationalized its petroleum industry out of populism. The truth is that Occidental blatantly broke the contract it had signed with the Ecuadorian government by leasing out drilling area to other companies. Ecuador kicked out Occidental because of the company's illegal actions, not due to a leftist uprising. I do not believe that this indicates how Ecuador will treat investors, especially considering the measures taken to boost FDI.

The lawsuits regarding the fumigations in Columbia are by no means meant to hinder the war on drugs. The issue (one that is long overdo for a comprehensive post on this site) is that the fumigations called for in Plan Columbia use very toxic chemicals (which are illegal in most European countries). The wind takes these from the southern border of Columbia into northern Ecuador, where no coca is grown. This then destroys legitimate crops and causes severe health problems. The recent lawsuit was to get the Colombian government to cover the health care costs of people affected by the fumigations... again, in no way is it meant to hinder the war on drugs.

Personally, I believe there are a large number of reasons to renew the trade agreement with Ecuador. Bernardo Traversari points out quite a few in his opinion piece in the Miami Herald. There are 350,000 jobs on the line, here in Ecuador, where the unemployment rate is already extremely high. That would only put more pressure on people to work in the coca industry or illegally migrate to the US as so many already have. Furthermore, many of these companies use import goods from the US, so there would be a cyclical effect that would then come back to the US. Many of the farms and factories that would be affected are actually US owned or supported.

Lastly, I find the talk of "punishing" Ecuador for its relationship with Venezuela and Correa's anti-US stance counter-productive. With 50% of Ecuadorian exports heading to the US, the country is too closely tied to really damage relations. However, if the US tries to diminish this via the non renewal of the ATPDEA it will only provide more incentives for Ecuador to align itself with Chavez, a leader with lots of petrodollars trying to buy friends and relations.

I feel the US needs to drop the emotional element in the decision and look at all the facts; how the US benefits from increased trade with Ecuador, why Ecuador has done what it has, and at the effects of not passing the trade agreement again. This whole debate highlights the polarized view of Ecuador and current Latin American politics from the US perspective. Again, things are not as simple as Left v. Right.

Congrats to those of you who actually made it to the end. I apologize for such a long post.

Ecuador Tries to Clear Up Common US Misconception

2007-06-19T21:03:00.000-04:00

Ecuador sent a message to the US today in an attempt to clarify their relationship with Venezuela. The message was an attempt to distance themselves from the Venezuelan government. Most analysts see this as an appeal to the US to extend the preferential trading tariffs for Andean countries.

The US media has been harsh on Correa and has made him out to be best buds with Chavez. This, of course, fuels fears that Latin America is returning to the leftist/populist state it found itself in during the late 60s and early 70s. While it is easy for the media to divide things along theses lines, the reality is a little more complicated than that.

It is important to remember that the US is Ecuador´s biggest trading partner, receiving 50% of Ecuador´s total exports. This is significant for two reasons. First, it means that there is quite a bit on the line for Ecuador regarding the extension of the preferential tariffs (which expire this month). Secondly, it means that Ecuador cannot drop ties with the US. While many in the US see Correa´s politics as threatening to US-Ecuador relations and an attempt to strongly align with Chavez, the reality is that this would be disastrous for the country and Correa knows it.

From personal experience, I can tell you that the majority of the Ecuadorian people do not want Correa to strengthen ties with Venezuela. I have spoken to many people who strongly support Correa but want nothing to do with Chavez. They see Correa´s politics as a new socialism and Chavez´s as totalitarian communism. This became evident during the election and made it on to this blog.

I think it is important to consider these ideas while reading news in the US. The situation is more complicated than a simple Left v. Right and the US carries quite a bit of sway with regards to Ecuadorian foreign policy.

Tsachila

2007-06-15T12:42:00.000-04:00

Tsachila people are an indigenous community living in Ecuador in the rainforest. They are part of a very ancient ethnic group. Their language is the Tsafiqui (the true word).

This language has a same root as Chaapalachi and Awa. These languages are used by people living in the north coast of Ecuador and in Southern Colombian coast.

Some people think that the name of our City –Quito- comes originally from this language, bacuse of the joinig of two tsafiqui words: Quitsa (middle) and To (land). The contraction of these words could be Quito.

Tsachila community is not as big as in the past, because of the deceases for foreign illness and the asimilitation of some of their members to the big cities. Santo Domingo de los Colorados, the biggest and closest city received that name because the mestizos and Spaniards call to Tsachila people Colorados, which means red. It was because Tsachila people (the men) paint their hair with red color, which comes from achiote (mu in tsafiqui): seats from a tree in this area.

You could see another brief description of this people (in Spanish) in this link.

We were visiting the community and got these pictures.

2007-06-14T17:03:00.001-04:00

What about going to the stadium and watching LIGA in action? well we did that yesterday. We went to see LIGA vs. Cuenca. The match was very exciting and the volunteers enjoyed it a lot!!

At the end of the day Liga won!! the score was 4 -0.

If you want to see more pictures of that game, please click here

FIFA Decides

2007-06-06T17:02:00.000-04:00

There is a notable tension in the air, here in Quito, especially walking through the streets of the historic center. There are tables with long lines of people waiting to sign petitions, others with clipboards stopping anyone they can to inform them of the issue. Television and newspapers are all consumed by the subject, from commentaries to front-page stories. You can hear people talking about it while walking past barber-shops and taxi stations. The people of Ecuador are mobilized, but not for the constitutional Assembly or an ousting of a president, but for a FIFA ruling.

FIFA recently decided to ban all matches above 2,500 meters (8,200 feet). The ruling primarily affects Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, all of which have important stadiums above the cited altitude. Naturally, the backlash has been strong. People here have been marching in the streets, signing petitions and doing whatever they can think of to protest. Morales (the president of Bolivia) has taken an official stance calling the ruling discrimination.

FIFA´s director said that the ruling came from a suggestion by the Medical Committee that claimed, "to play at above that altitude is not healthy or fair." There have been several other people that have come out to say that there is no health danger while playing at a high altitude, it just diminishes performance.

In my personal opinion, I feel that the ruling is a little extreme. There will always be some kind of home field advantage and, while the altitude may be arguably stronger than fans or other factors, I see it as a slippery slope on which to tread. The people of Quito were looking forward to seeing world cup qualifying matches here, and if the ruling sticks, they will not be able to. In a country where football (soccer) means a great deal, it is sad to see people deprived of this experience.

Hacienda Guachalá

2007-05-28T15:24:00.030-04:00

Guachalá is one of the oldest haciendas in Ecuador. It is located near Cayambe city, about 70km north east from Quito.

The Hacienda Guachala has a rich history. It was an important place for ancient tribes. The Quitus considered sacred all the land near the middle of the world, that´s why Guachalá was a special place for them too. The incas built pucarás near to the Hacienda, and in the Colony and the Republic ages important meetings took place there.

Nowadays the Hacienda Guachalá is a very confortable hostelry that combines old and new infrastructure. There are mny services such as swimming pool, a museum, chapel, internet access and others.

Some volunteer groups that come to Ecuador have the chance to visit the Hacienda Guachalá in order to have lunch after visiting Otavalo.

If you want to know more about the Hacienda, please click here.

Falling in love

2007-05-14T21:52:00.000-04:00

How do we fall in love? How does our heart know who the right person is? Do we, actually, meet our soul mate? Is it a chemical reaction? How do we know that we are in love? Are we just following our instincts?

Have you ever wonder all this stuff? Maybe, when we are in love, we just let things happens, no matter time, no matter money, no matter society. You just see that special person, and give her or him you complete being.

But what is going on with your system? How are your cells responding to this process?. An interesting article about it was published in the National Geographic Magazine (feb. 2006) in which, according to scientists, the cocktail of brain chemicals that sparks romance is totally different from the blend that fosters long-term attachment. So what, really, is this thing called LOVE??

Love and obsessive-compulsive disorder could have a similar chemical profile!!! Translation: Love and mental illness may be difficult to tell apart. Translation: don’t be fool, stay away!! A Colorado University report on social studies informed that the amount of dopamine and other substance dropped by brain of in-love people were exactly the same that checked in mental patients.

So we can say that there are 4 steps that lead you to fall in love:

Attraction

Cupid’s arrow aims not only for the heart during sprig break, where new friends plunge into a type of love defined by physical attraction. Unconscious body language proclaims their readiness: An open-mouth smile, an arched back, avid eyes, provocative laugh. At that situation there are people who are looking for true love, but most just want sex.

Romance

“I do anything for you”. And that include romantic dinners, teddy bears, chocolates, flowers and all that stuff that you give or do when you feel “romantic”. Sweet talk and gifts fuel romantic passion. But biochemists say this feverish stage of love typically burns out after few years. Why? Perhaps the brain can’t maintain the intense neural activity of staying in love.

Bonding

Newlyweds may think about perfect love, but anthropologist Helen Fisher thinks different. “If we see this scientifically, marriage is the perfect opportunity for man of winning the most important thing in his life: To pass along his DNA…” So the instinct thing is right here. We do all these crazy things just to maintain the specie.

Attachment

What kept your grandparents married for 58 year, or more? It may be the bond forged by having children or It could be the calming effect of “oxytocin”, a chemical thought to be plentiful in long-term couples. Maybe your grandfather would say, “it’s our commitment and concern for one another. Some call it love….”

The love aspect varies according to the culture. Ecuadorians, a great part of them, still dream of having a family, to raise children, to become grand father or mother, having big dinners in Christmas or Holy week, with all the family together. But recently we have observed that the divorces are increasing. So, little by little, this dream is desappearing. And our family-based-culture is becoming in the american or european model.

I really hope I can celebrate the 50 anniversary with my wife and children someday...

Oil and Health

2007-05-09T14:04:00.000-04:00

While doing some research the other day, I stumbled upon this article regarding the negative health impacts of oil exploitation in the Amazon region of Ecuador. I encourage all of you to read it, but will hit some of the key points here.

While the increase in oil prices and exports have definitely brought Ecuador more revenues, especially to the government (now accounting for about 40% of government funds), the increase in oil production has drastically harmed the environment in the Amazon region and has, in turn, negatively impacted the health of the inhabitants.

Each exploratory well (holes dug to see if there is oil below) drilled in the Amazon generates an average of 4,000 m3 of drilling wastes. The wastes are typically stored in open pits called separation ponds. From there, they are discharged directly into the environment or overflow with rain water. As of 2004, when this article was written, there were 200 open separation ponds in the Amazon.

In commercial production, each facility discharges over 4.3 million gallons of liquid wastes every day. Routine maintenance activities produce an estimated 5 million gallons of untreated, toxic wastes daily. Additionally, the Ecuadorian government, in 1989, that spills from flowlines connecting well stations were so common that they discharged an estimated 10,000 gallons of oil every week.

The article notes the following comparison: The Exxon Valdez tanker disaster in 1989 spilled 10.8 million gallons into the sea. Between 1972 and 1993, more than 30 billion gallons of toxic wases and crude oil were discharged into the land and water of the Ecuadorian Amazon.

These environmental impacts have significant implications for the health of the people living in the Amazon region. Many of the streams that once were full of aquatic life currently support very little and are polluted to the point that peasants and indigenous people have reported that cattle have died from drinking out of such streams. They also report that bathing in such rivers now can cause skin rashes.

A few community health studies have shown that communities in oil-producing regions have higher morbidity rates, with a higher occurrence of spontaneous abortion (one study found it to be 2.5 times higher than in non oil-producing communities), dermatitis, skin mycosis and malnutrition as well as higher mortality rates. Another study found that incidence of cancer is dramatically higher in oil-producing areas in men, women and children.

Again, I encourage all of you to read the article. While in the US, we have a vague understanding of some of the problems associated with oil production and oil dependence, that can typically be limited to geopolitical struggles and governance issues. However, it is important to understand the environmental impact as well.

With all the evidence regarding negative environmental and health impacts, is the Ecuadorian government in a position to decrease or even stop oil production? In my opinion, No. With the revenues accounting for such a large portion of the nation´s income and the government funding, it is very difficult to change production, or even carry weight with oil producers. Correa, in fact, is looking at expanding oil production in order to increase government revenues. It is sad in the sense that oil dependency is a two-way street.

The popular President

2007-05-02T11:36:00.000-04:00

According to a poll made by CEDATOS, President Correa has a popularity of 76%, the highest popularity in Latin America for a President now.

The investigation has other interesting information: 44% of Ecuadorians said that the Country is getting better. 73% of Ecuadorians said that Ecuador is going in the right way.

Of course it shows temporary feelings. Even when the President Correa has had too many skills, we still have big concerns, specially related with the political environment. Now, some of the fired legislators are looking for a meeting with the Organization of American States in order to claim for some help for the political persecution.

Even when not all ecuadorians are agree with their position, this movement is incresing the Ecuadorian reputation of instability.

Also, and after the popular approval to the constitutional assembly, we are going to have elections for choosing the members of this assembly. It will happen september the 30th.

An intense political year for Ecuador is still beginning.

I found and interesting review of our last political history at International Relations Center. If you are interested you could check it here.

Young sexual activity

2007-04-26T16:44:00.000-04:00

Recent information presented by El Comercio newspaper showed a part of an investigation that showed when the beginning of sexual activity on young people is and how they are using birth control and preventing AIDS.

This investigation was made in Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador. Here are some highlights about this (in Ecuador poll was made in 761 people from Quito and Guayaquil, between 15 and 21 years old teens):

- The average of their first sexual relation was 14 years 9 months.
- The 30.7% of them said that they use always condoms. The 69.3% said sometimes.

Because of the insufficient information and education for this topic, there are a lot of young mothers (according with enplenitud.com 15 million young mothers at year). Also, there is still a discussion about the importance and the methods for give sexual education at school.

A new hit in the political instability

2007-04-24T17:26:00.000-04:00

As you may have read, the destitution of 57 legislators was the beginning of our last chapter of political instability. The fired legislators tried to keep their positions in the congress (they are the opposition to this government) in many ways, even when the congress in Ecuador is a poor credibility institution.

One of these strategies was to claim to the Constitutional Tribunal a solution for the crisis: that means to give them back to the Congress. Faced with this possibility, the current congress (working with the substitutes) threatened the Constitutional Tribunal, because their members had to be replaced at the beginning of this year.

With the final guilty, the Constitutional Tribunal decided yesterday afternoon reinstates the fired legislators. Of course President Correa expressed his disagreement with the situation.

Now, a lot of people are confused about who are the real legislators. And who has the legal authority for solving the problem. But also some people know that President Correa is using all his popularity for this issue, on his own desire.

An Outsider´s Perspective....

2007-04-16T15:29:00.000-04:00

With so much buzz regarding the Asamblea Constituyente, it is hard not to become interested in the matter and with all the optimism, it is hard to not become hopeful about its potential.

However, the more I learn about the Asamblea Constituyente I feel that the enthusiasm has less to do with the assembly in and of itself and more to do with a strong disillusionment with the current political system. While everyone has been excited about this issue, the vote yesterday (won by a landslide of 81.5% or so) simply said, ´Yes, we will write another constitution´.

The next step, as Pablo has mentioned, is to choose the the group that will write the constitution. This, I imagine will be much more controversial as this will most likely shape the new constitution. I am amazed that there is so much enthusiasm for the Asamblea when no one knows what the new one will look like. Again, I feel that this has more to do with political disillusionment.

Currently, the congress is seen as corrupt, lazy and self-interested. A congressman here makes $3,500 a month with an extra $500 for travel expenses and $500 for hotel expenses if they come from somewhere other than Quito (which is about 90% of the congress). If you pair the $4,500 a month next to the $250 a month an average Ecuadorian makes, you can see one source of the frustration.

The other happens to be that the Congress, under the current constitution, has a disproportionate amount of the power. Many believe that this is part of the reason presidents have had such a hard time accomplishing anything (or even staying in office).

The sentiment here seems to be that something has to change. The average person has seen numerous governments and presidents come and go but have seen little to no change in their incomes, personal well being, access to social services or opportunities for their families. That is why people are so enthusiastic for a change, be it any change at all.

Ecuadorians said yes to a new constitution

2007-04-16T10:53:00.000-04:00

The preliminary result of the referendum consulted yesterday showed a 78% of Ecuadorians agree with the installation of a Constitutional Assembly, plenty of power for changing the constitution.

In his first speech after this political landslide, he said he assumed this with humility and it was a victory of Ecuadorian people.

I’m feeling that Ecuadorians have too many hopes in the constitutional assembly, may be because the institutions of Ecuador have a bad reputation. In my opinion it’s hard to say that a deep change is coming. It is not as easy as changing the constitution. We are going to complete 20 of these in our history.

Of course the next delicate point in this process is the election of the members of the assembly. It will happen in May and it will be the hardest proof for president Correa and his political group in his beginning.

Good Friday

2007-04-13T13:13:00.000-04:00

After the UFO pictures by Charlie and two days before elections in Ecuador I want to link you to a couple good pictures and a video I found about the Good Friday procession in Quito’s Historical Center.

Have you ever been in Quito during the holy week? If not and if you are interested in Catholic traditions, you could have a really interesting time here.

The next pictures I found them in a really interesting blog called Quito Daily photo. The video I found it in YouTube, and it was upload by El Comercio newspaper.

UFO picture??

2007-04-07T00:52:00.000-04:00

Almost a year ago I was trying to take a pic, it was full moon . I didn´t know why the camera couldn´t focus... I took like 20 pictures and later I saw them in my computer. I was shocked when I dicover strange lights in the pictures. I realized that the camera was focusing the light, not the moon. Do you think they are UFOs?

Ecuador's Spending Spree

2007-04-04T13:09:00.000-04:00

Correa laid out his new Economic vision for the country today. Despite his negative view on the dollar he has promised to keep the currency while attempting to combat certain negative effects of the Dollarization in 1999 and World Bank and WTO policies.

He said that dollarization has had large negative impacts on the economy, increasing the non-oil trade deficit (the gap between what a country exports and what it imports which reached $4 billion last year) and economic inequality. Correa plans to increase social spending to 38% of the budget by the time he leaves office and decrease debt payments to 11.8% from 28% of the budget by the end of this year.

Correa says he will decrease credit rates for small business (to help foster new businesses and small business growth) as well as decrease sales taxes (currently around 12%) and increase luxury taxes to switch from regressive to more progressive taxation.

There is also word of Ecuador investing as much as $3 billion dollars over the next five years, according to a private article written by Energy Intelligence. Correa's hope seems to be to increase social spending and, at the same time, increase the amount of money available to the state. While this increase in spending may seem a bit drastic, we can only hope that it will pan out for the country in the long run.

Concert of Bells

2007-04-03T12:39:00.000-04:00

The last Sunday and as part of the festival of the sacred music, there was a Concert of Bells. This year it was performed by Master Jorge Oviedo, and the name of the concert was “Celeste”.

Now is a tradition in Quito to have a Concert of Bells during the holy week. There were 30 tower bells with their respective bells participating in the concert. 70 musicians and fireworks at the final. It was great.

I was in the base of the Panecillo hill and I got this video. Unfortunately the quality is not the best.

The Pululahua crater

2007-03-29T13:49:00.000-04:00

-So... Where´s the crater?
-We are in the crater now, you see that hill? it is inside the crater...
-Oh... I see...

That´s the typical question that the volunteers have when they get the Pululahua crater. Most of the time it is covered by fog, but sometimes you can see the bottom of the crater, and then you realize why this is a natural reserve.

The reserve is located at highland,30 km far from Quito at the north. It is protected by the walls of the crater so there is an interesting biodiversity inside. besides when you are at the bottom of the crater and the fog is over you, you´ll feel a warm weather due to its physical conditions, which increasses this espectacular flora and fauna.

If you´re comming to Quito as a volunteer you´ll have this extraordinary experience. You´ll see a great variety of plants suchs as ferns, bromelias, sigses, orchids and pumamaqui; and in your way to the reserve rabbits and squirrels will cross in front of you.

And what about the food?? well, Paco will prepare BBQ!! Delicious chicken with lettuce, potatoes and papaya as a dessert.

No shadow

2007-03-22T18:28:00.000-04:00

As may be you have heard, yesterday we celebrate the equinox. In the equatorial line at noon there is no shadow (of course if you are looking under an umbrella you will see it, but the thing is it will be perpendicular to the ground).

Out of this anecdote, this date is highly important for its weather implications into the earth (the beginning of the spring in north hemisphere and the autumn for the south). In the equatorial Andeans it has a cultural importance for the indigenous people. There were festivals and parties, related specially with the water at this time (this is a rainy period in most of the Ecuadorian lands)

Yesterday the Scientific Project Quitsa-To organized a meeting were some people learned more about the importance of this date for the ancient cultures. It was in the solar dial in Cayambe.

For some of the ancient cultures it was the beginning of the new year, which started with the new fire (mushuc nina).

Best wishes in the Andean new years.

Tribunal revenge…

2007-03-21T19:12:00.000-04:00

Linking my last post I want to tell you that yesterday Ecuador had his first congress meeting after the beginning of our last political crisis.

First of all I would like you know that the Congress has one the poorest levels of popularity ever. At the same time, President Correa’s acceptation is above 60%. It made easy for the Congress (the legislators that were not fired) to start a regular meeting with the substitutes.

It looks like a political victory of the president Correa (he has the support of the Congress for the constitutional assembly) but as someone said: what was the cost. All this “show” is not helping at all for getting more political stability.

Finally, when I see news in media or newspapers, then I see the smiles in the people and how they work so hard for their families and country. I believe in Ecuador, out of the political system.

It was one of the demonstrations out of the congress, the last week

Remittances Top Foriegn Aid and Investment

2007-03-21T14:21:00.000-04:00

The Inter-American Investment Bank has reported that the amount of money sent back to Latin America from those working abroad has topped $62 billion dollars; more than foreign aid and foreign direct investment combined.

While many have speculated that remittances have already surpassed oil as Ecuador's largest source of money inflow, it now seems that this is the case for the Latin American region as a whole.

While this money has kept an estimated 8 to 10 million families above the poverty line, it still may not be the best solution for Latin America. As noted in an earlier post on remittances, the World Bank is starting to curb their enthusiasm for money sent back to developing nations. While at first it seems an easy and cheap (for governments and international organizations) way of getting money back into the hands of those in developing nations, the effects may be limited. Governments are unable to tap into these cash flows and are, in turn, unable to invest the money in education or infrastructure. There is no way to aggregate these funds and utilize them for sustainable development. This large influx of money simply shows that there are not enough jobs in the developing word and only creates more incentives for people to leave.

It is hard to see all this money being back down here, knowing that the impact is merely temporary. It is even harder to know that this money tops foreign aid and foreign investment combined.

The Congress is closed…

2007-03-09T10:29:00.000-05:00

But please don’t be afraid. I know it sounds terrible in the "democratic world", but (and I am not proud to say it) here these things have been happening since I can remember.

For example, when I was kid I remember seeing some tanks outside the Supreme Court. I forget the reason, but it was one of my first impressions about politics in my country.

Well, as you may have heard the government (with a huge support of the Ecuadorian people) is trying to install a constitutional assembly for improving deep changes to the state.

You should know that it is not a new idea in Ecuador. Since we have been a republic (1830) we have had 19 or 20 constitutions, most of them were originated in a constitutional assembly.

Legisalators were playing in both attitudes: supporting the assembly and as opposition to the government.

The major authority in the electoral system is the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. When they decided to approve the election by asking Ecuadorians about the constitutional assembly, immediately the majority of the legislators tried to fire the president of the electoral court. It happened with out a process, without a trial.

Then the Supreme Electoral Tribunal took their revenge. They used a part of the current constitution that explains that no one can interfere with the electoral process. Wednesday night the board of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal fired 57 legislators. Again, with out due process.

Thursday morning the Congress woke up with many cops outside. They did not permit the fired legislatores to enter.

I just tried to abstract the problem although it is more complicated. This weekend will be very important for Ecuadorian political system.

I am angry about this situation but not surprised. Most of the Ecuadorian political leaders think of the country as a personal enterprise.

I’ll tell you soon more news.

I finished High School, and now....?

2007-03-06T23:16:00.000-05:00

Most of the High Schools in Quito will finish the academic year next June, then students have to take the finals and after the prom they will be ready for life, in theory...

Many of my students from the last year have told me that they don´t know what to do after High School, some of them will study at the University, because their parents will pay for that, but they are not sure about how do they choose a career.

Education Psycologists have applied tests to students in order to help them to decide what to do after High School, but how effective are those tests? How can a sheet of paper will tell you what you become in your future?

So the main question is how do you discover your vocation? what about you, please think for a minute how did you choose to become a doctor, a lawyer, an architect, etc? was it easy to do? did you have questions about your career when you started studying it?

And what about the other options besides University? At least 3 of my students have told me about their plans of travelling to U.S. for nursing, or going to Israel in an interchange program where they will learn another language and some skills.

What kind of professional does Ecuador need nowadays? do we need more salesmen? or bureaucrats?

Next semester, which starts in August and September, Univesities will receive thousands of youngsters, many of them confused about their future because the current Education System does not take care of this situation.

Venezuela Offers Credit Help to Ecuador

2007-02-24T14:42:00.000-05:00

It seems that Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, is using some of the revenues from record-high oil prices to offer $500 million in credit services to Ecuador. This would be over the course of 2007-2008.

This help would most-likely consist of Venezuela buying Ecuadorean Bonds or offering credit to the nation. Venezuela has also offered assistance to other Latin American allies. While it may be a good way for Venezuela to strengthen some of its partnerships, Hugo Chavez is receiving a lot of criticism for not using the money on Venezuela's own social programs and infrastructure.

Internationalization of the Amazon Region

2007-02-23T11:58:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I received an e-mail where a friend of mine shared an interesting article about the internationalization of the Amazon region. Although it was so interesting (it was in Spanish) I decided to look a little bit more about its originality.

Finally I found the text in English in the personal webpage of an Assistant Professor of Berkeley University, School of Bussines. Professor Oliveros still doubt about its originality. Anyway, I found the text of the article in Brazilian in the personal blog of the author, Mr. Cristovão Buarque.

Finally, I want to say that to me it sounds really reasonable to talk about compensations for the air or natural resources we share in the entire world. Here is the text of the article:

During a recent discussion, in the United States, someone asked my opinion regarding the internationalization of the Amazon Region. The youngster asserted that he expected a response of a humanist and not of a Brazilian.

This was the first time anyone had established the humanist viewpoint as the starting point for my response. In fact, as a Brazilian I would have responded simply against internationalization of the Amazon Region. Even if our governments have not given the attention that this treasure deserves, it is ours. I responded that, as a humanist, realizing the risk of environmental destruction that threatens the Amazon Region, I could imagine its internationalization, just as for everything else that is important to humanity.

If the Amazon Region, from a humanist’s point of view, has to be internationalized, then we should internationalize the oil reserves of the entire world as well. Oil is just as important to the well being of humanity as the Amazon Region for our future. Nevertheless, the owners of oil reserves feel it is in their right to increase or decrease oil production and to raise or lower the price. The rich of the world, feel they have the right to burn this valuable possession of humanity. Similarly, the financial capital of the wealthy nations should be internationalized. If the Amazon Region is a natural reserve for every human being, then it could not be burned down by the decision of a landowner or a country. To burn down the Amazon Region is so tragic, as the unemployment provoked by the arbitrary decisions of worldwide speculators. We cannot permit that the world’s financial reserves serve to burn down entire nations according to the whims of speculation.

Before the (internationalization of the) Amazon Region, I would like to see the internationalization of all the world’s great museums. The Louvre cannot belong only to France. Each museum in the world is a guardian for the most beautiful works produced by the human genius. It cannot be permitted that these cultural possessions, as the natural possession of the Amazon Region, can be manipulated or be destroyed according to the whims of an owner or a country. Recently, a Japanese millionaire decided to have a painting of a grand master buried with him in the grave. This painting should have been internationalized.

At the time of the meeting, in which this question came up, the United Nations convened the Forum of the Millennium and the presidents of several countries had difficulties in attending due to barriers (they faced) at the border. Therefore, I contend that New York, as the base of the United Nations, should be internationalized. At least Manhattan should belong to all of humanity. Similarly Paris, Venice, Rome, London, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, Recife, every city with its own beauty, its own history should belong to the whole world.

If the United States wants to internationalize the Amazon Region, due to the risk of leaving it in Brazilian hands, then we should internationalize all the nuclear stockpiles of the United States. Particularly since they have already shown that they are capable of using these weapons, causing a destruction thousands of times greater than the sad fires taken place in the Brazilian forests.

During their debates, the current U.S. presidential candidates have defended the idea of internationalizing the world forest reserves in exchange for the debt. We could begin to use this debt to guarantee the right of every child in the world to attend school. We could internationalize the children, treating all of them, regardless of their birthplace, as a possession which deserves the care and attention of the entire world. Even more so than the Amazon Region. When the world leaders attend to the world's poor children as possessions of Humanity, they will no longer permit that these children work when they should be studying, that they die when they should be living.

As a humanist I accept to defend the internationalization of the world. So long as the world treats me as a Brazilian, I will fight so that our Amazon Region will be ours. Only ours.

You can see the original text in english in this link.

Education in Ecuador

2007-02-22T10:32:00.000-05:00

In a recent publication about the quality of the education in Ecuador you can get an interesting view about the reality in our country.

There are 27,285 educational centers in Ecuador, for a population of 13 millions (approximately). The average of the attendance to the educational system is 7.3 years. The percentage of illiteracy is 9% (23% of functional illiteracy)

66.8% of the population in Ecuador has finished the elementary; 22.6% has finished the high school and only the 18.1% has finished a superior level of education.

In 2004 the government used the 14% of national budget for education. You can check the entire report in this link.

Personally, I felt so frustrated…

A quote in El Universo newspaper said “We have education of the 19th century in the 21st century”

Salsa classes

2007-02-20T14:42:00.000-05:00

If you´re comming as a volunteer to Quito, you´ll find that there are lots of things to do.

Besides all the work that you´ll do with the medical services at the neighborhoods, you´ll visit Otavalo, and you´ll have a city tour at night with a character from Quito Eterno...and ..... the Salsa Classes!!

One night in the week that you´re here, Quito Eterno brings Santiago, who is the salsa teacher. He has a lot of experience teaching latin rythms. The volunteers enjoy learning, but, because some of them don´t know how to dance, it is very funny to see them trying to follow the instructions.

After practicing with the teacher, and the other volunteers you´ll get the rythm!

At the end everybody is an expert in salsa!

Ecuador Pays Up

2007-02-16T11:19:00.000-05:00

Despite Correa's talk about defaulting on bond payments and invoking a 30-day grace period, Ecuador did make its bond payments. The payment of $135 million was turned in on time, putting many international bond holders at rest for the time being.

Originally the government said it didn't have the money to pay, but came up with it at the last minute, confusing many working in international economics. The ex Economic Minister of Ecuador, Alfredo Arizaga, has been an outspoken critic of the policy, claiming that, "someone here is lying" and the policy is due to, "total managerial incapacity and ignorance of how financial markets work."

The $135 million is towards the $16 billion of debt Ecuador currently carries. Many believe that Ecuador should do all it can to make the payments in an effort to increase stability and draw foreign investment into the country. However, another camp believes that making international debt payments is not the best use of government money and they should instead focus on social programs and helping the poor of the country directly.

Herein lies the current debate over the debt policy.

Cuicocha

2007-02-11T18:24:00.000-05:00

Guinea-pig lake
Laguna de Cuicocha, in Cotacachi – Cayapas Ecological Reserve, is one of the most scenic lakes in Ecuador. Situated on the southern slopes of an extinct volcano called Cotacachi (4939 m, 16205 ft) the lake fills a volcanic caldera. About 3000 years ago, a rapid eruption emptied the underlying magma chambers, so the bulk of the original mountain fell in on itself.
There are two lava-dome islands in the lake, the result of the later volcanic activity. Cuicocha means “guinea-pig lake, in Quichua. It is so named because the islands resemble two guinea-pigs sleeping curled up together.
There is a path around the lake so you can go on a trekking excursion, which affords wonderful views of the lake, Cotacachi volcano and even peaks as distant as Cotopaxi (in a clear day). The area boasts a surprising variety of plants, especially orchids.
If you want to visit this lake there are two books with all the information you need about this and others trekking paths: Trekking in Ecuador by Robert and Daisy Kunstaetter, and Deportes de Montaña, by the Tourism Ministry (this one has the gps locations for each path)

Neoliberalism (?)

2007-02-06T10:09:00.000-05:00

This morning, the Latin Business Chronicle published a scathing article by guest columnist Walter T. Morano. The article greatly criticizes Correa's international economic policy, saying:
President Correa is killing off the chances of attracting foreign investment and boosting the country’s GDP growth rate by making it a pariah in the international capital markets.

Mr. Morano lays into Correa's decision to put off loan repayments, "despite Ecuador’s ability to service its external obligations." He says that these statements from Correa are an overt attempt to decrease the bond prices.

Furthermore, Mr. Morano blames this toying with economic policy in Latin America on a lack of a regional hegemon to reinforce neoliberalism.

Without a major power, or institution, to impose a sense of discipline, rouge elements are moving to the forefront. The U.S. government is too distracted by its Middle East adventures to devote any time or resources to policing the region. Mexico is too bogged down by its domestic problems to pay any attention to events on its southern flank. Besides a minor chastising to its developing country peers that they should stop whining, Brazil is not exercising the regional leadership role that was created by the absence of the U.S. hegemon—a role that it coveted since its independence.

For those of you interested in the neoliberal debate in Latin America, I encourage you to read this article. Mr. Morano's stance is the quintessential, pro-neoliberal viewpoint. He states that the populist slogans of Correa may appeal to many of the poor, but that the country would benefit much more from attracting foreign direct investment in an attempt to boost GDP growth rates. That is to say, Correa should promise to pay back national debts and take on economic policies that show a dedication to stability in order for investors to feel comfortable putting money into the country.

However many here, Correa included, do not see the immediate benefit of these policies. The IMF and World Bank made loans dependent on such policies (the Washington Consensus) in the latter part of the 20th century. While some Latin American countries have benefited from these changes, others witnessed an increase in inequality and a decrease in employment.

While many in the US feel that Neoliberalism is the way to go, that debate is far from over here.

For those of you interested in this subject, I also recommend this article on The Economist website.

Ecuador Government will migrate to open source software

2007-02-05T12:52:00.000-05:00

The new Ecuadorian government has decided to change the software that official offices use now. The accessibility to the source code and the costs are two reasons why they are adopting this decision.

It will be improve through an Informatics Secretary that Government will create soon. This new, originally published by El Comercio newspaper, also told about the role of Richard Stallman in the decision. He had a meeting with President Correa when he was here, the last December. With this improvement Ecuador assumes a role in the development of this important movement, as other Governments, like Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Cuba, Chile and others.

I say welcome to the penguin, hats and other fantastic informatics creatures!

Bizcochos Time!

2007-02-02T22:59:00.000-05:00

Cayambe is not too far from Quito, you drive your car for one and a half hour and you get there, you can enjoy a beautiful landscape, see the Cayambe volcano ( the only snow capped mountain exactly over the equatorial line) and , of course, eat the delicious “bizcochos”. People from Cayambe have baked bizcochos for many decades, and it is a tradition to buy them if you pass by Cayambe.
Families gather to prepare bizcochos in the morning, they bake them and sell them with “queso de hoja”. The oven is built of bricks and it reach very high temperatures.
So, if you want to taste bizcochos you have two options: Go to Cayambe! Or prepare them at home with my mother´s bizcochos recipe. If you choose the second one remember the recipe is a family secret!
Ingredients:
- Flour, 6 pounds.
- Margarine, 3 pounds.
- Sugar, ½ pound.
- Salt, 2 ounces.
- Milk, 1 liter.
- 6 eggs.
- yeast, 3 ounces.
Preparation:
Make a “volcano” with the flour and put inside the margarine, salt, sugar, 6 eggs, yeast and the milk. Mix all the ingredients and little by little add the rest of the flour. Divide in small parts. Let it rest for 10 minutes and form rectangles with each part. Bake them for 40 minutes at 160 ºC (320ºF).

Correa Names New Defense Minister

2007-01-31T14:00:00.000-05:00

Today, Correa named Lorena Escudero as the new defense minister to replace Guadalupe Lavarra who died a week ago in the helicopter crash. Correa promised that the position would again be filled by a woman as part of his plan to make a gender-equal cabinet.

Best place to live

2007-01-29T10:26:00.000-05:00

In a recent publication made by www.mirror.co.uk there is an interesting article about the best place to live. For this, France is in the first place, for its high quality of life. The top ten also includes Australia, Netherlands, New Zealand, United States, Switzerland, Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg and Argentina, in that order.

Ecuador is the 38th place right after Britain. Other Latin American countries were Mexico (25th), Uruguay (28th), Panama (34th), Costa Rica (43rd), Republica Dominicana (47th), Brazil (48th) and Chile (49th).

The original publication was made by International Living Magazine and it judged the cost of living and leisure, economy, environment, freedom, health, infrastructure, safety and risk, and climate.

What is your best place to live?