[the following program was pre-recorded for broadcast at this time. just like pbs...] Often, before our medical team leaves Ecuador, we are treated to an evening of music after dinner. The traditional Andean music includes flute, pan pipes, charango (small 10-stringed instrument, originally made with an armadillo shell) as well as guitar and simple percussions. [...]
Archive for the ‘Ecuador’ Category
Ecuador: la musica
Posted in Ecuador on February 24, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Ecuador: the snows of Cayambe
Posted in Ecuador on February 22, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Apologies to Ernest Hemingway. This may be the only blog entry while here in Ecuador. All others have been pre-scheduled, but we finally got a chance to see the mountain for which this town is named, so I thought I’d pinch a photo off the internet and give you a glimpse. In fact, it’s a [...]
Ecuador: when you see the Southern Cross for the first time…
Posted in Ecuador, Music on February 21, 2012 | 2 Comments »
I don’t always see the Southern Cross while in Ecuador because it comes up late at night this time of year, and the sky is often cloudy or bothered by street lights. It’s the most prominent constellation unique to the southern hemisphere, and on the flag of several nations. When I saw the Southern Cross for the first [...]
Ecuador: more churches
Posted in Ecuador, Religion on February 19, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
[Another in a series of automatic blog posts. There is nobody at the helm.] Last year about this time I put up photos of various churches in Ecuador. Take a peek HERE for those. Here are a few more. I’m running out of time for posting beforehand, so these photos may be thrown in with the last-minute [...]
Ecuador: lago cuicocha
Posted in Ecuador on February 18, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
[another in a series of pre-scheduled blog posts... see also posts from last year by clicking the Ecuador link to the right...] On the weekend we’ll go and relax somewhere, and here in the north of Ecuador we’ll likely go to Otavalo for a day of shopping. What? Shopping? Relaxing? Try Otavalo. Very colorful and [...]
Ecuador: more fine art
Posted in Ecuador, Visual art on February 17, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Last year I posted on Oswaldo Guayasamín, an artist whom I like very much. He’s considered the Ecuadorian Picasso and you’ll see reproductions of his work everywhere, on postcards, T-shirts, in restaurants, and some of them are really poor knockoffs. His home overlooking Quito is now a museum, not only of his art but of the many pre-Columbian [...]
Ecuador: surgery team
Posted in Ecuador on February 15, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
[I've scheduled several posts to go up while we're away on the trip. The wonders of WordPress.] Our surgery team sets up in an underserved hospital and, in effect, takes over the place. The local staff doesn’t know what hit them until a few days into the project, as they are accustomed to only a [...]
Ecuador: clinic team and valentines
Posted in Ecuador on February 14, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
This year we begin work on Valentine’s Day. Here they call it el día de San Valentín, also called el día del amor y de la amistad, the day of love and friendship. While in Ecuador we split up into two very different teams: the family medical clinic, which travels each day by van or [...]
Ecuador 2012: Cayambe
Posted in Ecuador on February 7, 2012 | 2 Comments »
We fly this coming Sunday morning from Bangor and arrive in Quito, Ecuador, before midnight. I’m with Hancock County Medical Mission again, my 15th trip where I serve as a translator. This year we’ll work in Cayambe, a small city of about 30,000 people in the north of the country. Cayambe is at an elevation of nearly 10,000 feet, [...]
Ecuador: last day
Posted in Cartoons, Ecuador, Humor on February 26, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Updated flight schedule: We just got word of the change yesterday. This is another pre-scheduled blog entry, updated in Quito… We’re scheduled to leave Ecuador today (leave Quito 12:30 AM, lv Atlanta 7:25 AM, lv Detroit (NOT La Guardia) 9:30 AM and arrive Bangor on Delta flight 6017 at 12:16 PM Saturday (NOT 2:41). If you’re picking somebody up, bring [...]
Ecuador: fine art
Posted in Ecuador, Visual art on February 25, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I love the paintings of Oswaldo Guayasamín, and if you’re ever in Quito make a point to visit his home, now a museum dedicated to him. Like images of Che Guevara, many of Guayasamín’s paintings show up on T-shirts and knock-off tourist paintings. He’s more or less an Ecuadorian Picasso, and I also love Picasso. [...]
Ecuador: they feed us cuy
Posted in Ecuador on February 23, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
[leftover cuy from previous years. pre-recorded blogpost.] They are a delicacy. The Incas ate cuy (pronounced kwee because that’s what they sound like before you kill ‘em and eat ‘em). kwee kwee kwee kwee Poor little things. The poor little things are pretty tasty though. Something like chicken. Serve on a bed of white rice with ají [...]
Ecuador: plenty of fruit
Posted in Ecuador on February 22, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Fresh fruit juices every morning—pineapple, orange, mango, mora, papaya, tree tomato. And fruits we have never seen before and can’t pronounce. Here is a tray of them, labeled, that the kitchen staff put together for us a few years ago. Click once or twice to enlarge. [This blogpost has been previously scheduled to provide juice for this occasion.]
Ecuador: Presidents’ Day
Posted in Ecuador, Political on February 21, 2011 | 2 Comments »
They do have a president here, but I forget his name, and that’s probably a good sign. Nothing controversial. He’s a leftist they say, friendly with Evo Morales of Bolivia and Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. Funny how I remember their names, though. The government here can be described as “a stable, corrupt democracy”. “Oh, it’s [...]
Ecuador: Churches
Posted in Ecuador, Religion on February 20, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
[Pre-recorded for broadcast at this time. Just like PBS] On Sundays, those who wish may attend a church, whether católica or evangélica, or we’ll hold a service of our own at the hotel (we kinda take over places, whether hospitals or hotels. Or schools to hold clinic). Often the pastor of a local church will have [...]
