South America

Gallery: Argentina

sarah — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Gallery: Peru

sarah — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 09:52:00 GMT

Gallery: Saquisili

sarah — Sat, 1 Jul 2006 07:47:00 GMT

Thursday Market

crackers for jesus

sarah — Thu, 4 May 2006 10:22:00 GMT

Last night I found myself sitting on a grassy knoll, looking out over the mist, keeping an anxious eye on the shrapnel raining down all around me. Welcome to cracker night, Ecuador style…

I guess there were about a thousand people there, in a dark and usually quiet neighbourhood on the outskirts of Ibarra. They'd created a carnival atmosphere, with a brass band and some entrepreneurial types barbequing skewers of processed meat and potatoes. Families sat together on the wet grass, drinking box wine and giving it to their kids when they made too much noise.

Some boys made a cluster of big bonfires under the hill we were sitting on, and whenever the blaze subsided someone would slosh petrol on the pile of branches. Then the boys would throw firecrackers in the flames, and they'd explode towards where we were on the hill.

And that was just waiting for the show to start. The official crackers were the most elaborate I've ever seen. There were five bamboo structures, about ten metres tall, that spun in the ground like a Hills Hoist. The poles were lit painstakingly, one by one, by men wearing raincoats to protect them from the sparks, and lasted about half an hour each. The fireworks made pictures- a cross, a church, jesus, two men kicking a football... things close to Ecuadorians' hearts.

The most exciting part was at the climax of each one, they spewed rockets and coloured sparks into the masses. I was terrified, but the locals only responded with coos of "¡que lind-o!", or when they got hit by the carnage, "¡que fe-o!".

Gallery: Mindo

sarah — Thu, 4 May 2006 09:06:00 GMT

Gallery: Good Friday

sarah — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 09:40:00 GMT

Procession in Quito

easter

sarah — Sun, 9 Apr 2006 09:11:00 GMT

In Quito for Good Friday Catholic priests dress up like purple Ku Klux Klan and parade through the old town. Other men drag wooden crosses that weigh more than they do, obviously in pain.The whole parade goes for about four hours, and anyone can join in. All the purple and religious fervor really was very impressive.

I watched the procession with my gringa possee from the sidewalk crush, taking so much care of my bag and camera. There were four rows of people in front of us, but none of them were over 5' 7'', so our view was quite good. After about half an hour, we wanted to move, so joined in between the purple blokes and a wooden float of the Virgin Mary and escaped to a plaza in the centre of the old town.

On the steps of the church in the plaza, a small but energetic group seemed to be protesting. We sat and watched them for a while. but still couldn't figure out what they were chanting, and why they were waving around posters of what looked like a middle aged used car salesman. We went and asked... it turns out that Jesus has already come again. He's Puerto Rican, lives in Miami, and has a website about how you can join him.

Gallery: Easter procession

sarah — Sun, 9 Apr 2006 08:31:00 GMT

state of emergency

sarah — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 02:52:00 GMT

Even the Ecuadorians were fed up with the paro by the start of this week. The President finally declared a state of emergency for this province and three others on Wednesday, and the military came in to remove the indians and their rocks from the roads.

I found out about the state of emergency at breakfast, ate my bread rolls and drank my papaya juice, then went to work. Mid morning the bloke in charge came around to tell everyone that there was going to be a protest at the bus terminal here at 2pm, so we should be back in the office by then. I went home and ate my beans and rice. Sonia was watching the news bulletins and fretting about civil war. She actually got up to lock the door in the middle of dinner, like it would stop the 'end of the world', I think were her words. I went back to the office and glimpsed the protesters filing past a few streets down, but it was all calm again by home time.

That evening, a couple of friends came over and saw five armoured vehicles in the block and a half between our houses, but I missed out once again. By 9pm the streets had cleared, because of the rain, and also the curfew that had been called for between 10pm and 5am. I didn't really understand what would happen if you were to be on the street then, but people seemed to take it seriously. My friends went home, and that was it.

Now there are a few soldiers around Ibarra, but everything else is going on as usual. There are rumours about the paro starting again tomorrow, when the negotiations over agriculture are scheduled. Next time, I'll have to get a photo of something more exciting than an ibarra city bus.

Gallery: Ibarra Scenery

sarah — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 09:11:00 GMT

el paro

sarah — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 05:10:00 GMT

This weekend I'm staying in Ibarra, because the roads in most directions are blocked. The government is about to sign a free trade agreement with the US, and indigenous of the sierra have spend the past week sitting on the major roads in protest. They've blocked the Panamericana with burning tyres, piles of volcanic rock, logs and vehicles. Quito is normally two hours away, but now it is taking six hours via the back roads. Apparently there is no milk in the supermarket, and the UNCHR missions have been suspended because there is no petrol.

The most astonishing thing is how readily everyone accepts the strike (el paro). Noone even seemed fussed until it had lasted five days. I was talking to one of the Colombian asylum seekers at work about free trade agreements, and told him that when Australia signed up a lot of people weren't happy, but didn't fight like they are here. He looked puzzled, and wanted to know "if the people weren't happy, why wouldn't they protest?"

There's an election coming up in October, and the government doesn't want to upset the considerable indigenous vote. In a country that's gone through seven presidents in the past 10 years*, it will be interesting to see what happens.

*thanks CIA factbook and Bradley!

smile and nod...

sarah — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 05:09:00 GMT

I am so often confused here. Sometimes it's because of the language, but sometimes because things actually make no sense. Like Saturday two weeks ago, when three tradesmen arrived very early, dug a hole in the floor of my perfectly adequate shower, then left. They came back the next day, and retiled the whole floor. Now when I shower, the water comes up to my ankles before it drains away.

I'd just finished sloshing around in the shower yesterday afternoon when Sonia started garbling through my door about going somewhere. It sounded urgent, so I got dressed and hurried down to meet her and her daughter Karina in the street. Once I was in the car and committed to wherever it was we were going, I learnt that we were off to buy pyjamas for Karina's daughter Valentina. She's nearly three and really very cute, even when she mocks my pronunciation. Ironically, 'pijama' is one of the words she teases me about...

We drove to the far side of Ibarra to a specialist pyjama store, where we passed up several pairs of perfectly good pyjamas and got back in the car. Then we went to another part of town, and parked so the doting grandmother could go and peruse more tiny pyjamas, in several different shops.

Half an hour into the mission, I was quite confused why it was so urgent to buy pyjamas for a kid who already has loads of clothes, and probably several pyjamas already. Then Karina explained to me that it was actually orange pyjamas they were looking for. Because, she explained, Valentina's recovering from the flu, and orange pyjamas are best for that.

Ibarra

sarah — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 09:51:00 GMT

Ibarra is where I'm living.There are about 100,000 inhabitants, but no cinema yet, so the debate continues over whether it is a small city or a big village. It's about 2-3 hours north of Quito, and surrounded by huge mountains every direction. Cloud sits on them in the morning and the afternoon, it's wonderfully picturesque. There was even snow on the summit of the tallest one this morning. The locals are so proud of their weather, it's a pleasant 20 degrees practically every day. They love talking about how much better the climate is here than in Quito.

The population is a blend of mestizos, indigenous, afro-ecuadorians and an increasing number of Colombians. Another favourite topic of conversation amongst the locals is how much safer Ibarra was before the influx of Colombians. Convenience stores, there's one on every block, have the unnerving habit of trading behind bars. To get into my house, there is a locked gate, a metal gate over the front door that gets padlocked at night, and then two locks on the door itself.

During the day time things are completely fine. Except for the school boys throwing waterbombs and buckets of water at passers by for Carnival. I think they give themselves extra points for gringos.

Gallery: Lita

sarah — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 03:41:00 GMT

ANCUR Festival http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/news/opendoc.htm?tbl=NEWS&id=441063162

Gallery: Otavalo

sarah — Sun, 12 Feb 2006 01:41:00 GMT

Saturday Market

Gallery: Cotacarchi

sarah — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 02:12:00 GMT

Gallery: Quito

sarah — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 08:11:00 GMT