Rewind Selecta! : Colonia, Uruguay

Hi people!

I thought that I'd go back to some bits in Argentina that I missed out on talking about. To be precise its about my day trip across the Rio Plata to "Colonia del Sacramento" in Uruguay! A 2 hour ferry ride takes you there from Buenos Aires. One can also get to the Uruguay capital, Montevideo on a 5 - 6 hour ride.

View from the lighthouse

The transit involves the usual immigration formalities but in this case there was an immense amount of paperwork for just a day trip. Exit forms and customs declarations galore, and if you don't retain some slips, on your return you get a lovely surprise in the form of a fine.

The Rio Plata is enormous!

The town itself is very quiet, with each street uniformly lined with trees. The day I was there it was clear skies and the place was baking in the summer sun. After changing from Argentinian to Uruguayian Pesos, I struggled to figure out if things are cheaper round here. Since the town is touristy prices for meals fluctuate from street to street sometimes by 100%!!

I didn't even risk getting runover taking this photo op....

We were welcomed into the centre of Colonia by a colonial "soldier" at the gate, dishing out promo leaflets for restaurants. A very appropiate way to fall from grace from days of conquest and pillage. From the lighthouse (the narrowest tower I've ever been climbed up, by the way) one can gaze down the murky brown Rio Plata and see, beleive it or not, the skylines of Buenos Aires to the South and La Plata City to the South East!

The narrow lighthouse

The attendant at the lighthouse seemed to be there to prevent people from falling off as he wasn't doing much else. The tower was crammed but there wasn't the standard jostling you get at tourist spots. Speaking of which, at the immigration queue on the way back, someone was trying to jump the queue and an argument took off with a European who was having none of it. I overheard an Argentinian mumbling something about "Gringos" and "uptightedness".

And now for a treat! The most lasting impression this town that has imprinted in my memories is the random array of classic cars on every street corner. See the pics below and check out the link for more! Ciao!

K.

http://www.flickr.com/gp/15198453@N00/r95wv9





Who called the ambulance?





The humble Fiat Cinquecento.....





The Ford truck! They love American chunky classics here...





What lays behind those curtains, in the "Barrio de Tango"?





A little streetcar far away from home....pobresita (poor thing!)!





There's some paramilitary freak loose on the streets. Hope he ain't packin heat!





Look at the way the palm tree shadows bounce off that bonet, for shizzle!





The slickest pickup I've ever seen!

Quito - Chuchaki Achachai - Part 1

Chuchaki means lack of sleep or hungover (Either or both, and in any order)! There was a lot of that, with my busy learning schedule (and socialising of course!). Achachai means its freakin cold! No idea what language they are but I guess the Quechua langauge has a hand in the funky terminology as a lot of Quechua words have "ch". Quitos unique equatorial winter meant that its hills had consistent cloud cover and there were annoying bouts of drizzle. The Brits would be amazed at how Quitenos don't complain too much about the weather, they got enough other problems on their plate. There were some nice sunny days tho.

After mass confusion and pendomonium settling in I got into the swing of things with my first classes of Spanish. All students at Equiniccial get 1 on 1 lessons and the afternoon class is usually an excursion. On the first excursion I went with Maria, my afternoon teacher, to several markets for fruits, groceries and artesan. I have never seen such varierty of fruit, some of which I have never tasted in my life! Some familiar ones that are special in Kenya include grenadine, maracuya and guava. Fruit is so abundant and cheap here but some items including apples and grapes are imported from Peru, Chile and the US. The famous 'Chiquita' banana produce comes from the south of Ecuador.

Succulent mangoes. mmmm!

What? Red bananas!!?

The chirpy fruit lady!

The trip to the city museum showed what Quito was like before those bad boys, the Spanish Conquistadores turned up. There is not much left to see with regard to Inca and pre-Inca settlements as the Spaniards pretty much flattened everything and built new churches and colonial administrative and residential buildings. Guess who did most of the construction work...the locals! To boost the legitimacy of the conquest, numerous Catholic orders endorsed the Christian faith and encouraged the indigenous folk ( by force or otherwise...even violence was advocated against the resistant ones....'thou shalt not kill' seemed to lose meaning here) to convert. An interesting aspect of the conversion is that some native people even ended up helping to build the churches but were never able to worship at the foot of the altar and in some cases only observed mass from outside the church! The was a rigid observance of hierachy in the seating: clergy-leaders-royaly-business people-traders-workers-indegenous folk from front to back!

A vivid reflection of contact, pillage, subduction and conquest...

The official Ecuadorian currency is...the dollar! Yes, Benjamin, Washington and co. circulate from Atuntaki to Cuenca, from the jungle to the Pacific. However the 'dime' and the 'quarter' mean nothing here so some 'sucre' (the former currency which was dumped as a result of spiralling inflation) coins were minted to reflect the 10 and 25 cent coins. The cost of things is not at par with the US. For example, the minimum wage in Ecuador is $200 a month and so a $50 note rarely circulates. When you withdraw money at a bank the highest bank note is $20! When I paid for my tuition in $100 banknotes the secretary had her jaw to the floor.

A tank full of worthless Sucres!

The botanical gardens were something else. The equatorial climate guarantees that one will see some interesting flora whether its blossoming, releasing funky odours or just plain strange all year round. For example the, "Rabbit Ears". They are common in the high altitude dry areas and literally have the texture of real rabbits!

Stwoking the Wabbit!

Ok, now this hibiscus looking flower will freak you out. The pollen from the flower contains a poison that causes you to lose consciousness on contact and thus some cunning "ladrones" or thugs sometimes use it to mug people. The only way to prevent this is to avoid prolonged contact with a stranger on the street eg. shaking hands or handling the person's things. Otherwise it has a lot of medicinal value (which I forgot as I only remembered the "ladrone" bit!).

Maria reveals the naughty flower in question...




Harmless looking, isn't it?.....muhuhuhaha!

In the botanical garden greenhouse we were in for a treat. I had never heard of the rarity and splendour of orchids but one spin thru the conservatory was enough to make any standard macho mushy inside. All the flowers were in blossom and open for a couple of days. Some friends who went there a week later didnt see much but the orchid plants and limp petals. See the link below for the photo gallery that will shake ur cornea (as a preview, have a look at the naughty orchid with an impression of what seems to be a monkey!).

http://www.flickr.com/gp/15198453@N00/y58410





"La cara de mono"! - Monkey face! (email me if u beg to differ!)




I call this piece: "Life and Death"

Another excursion class was a visit to the Presidential Palace. It is located at the Plaza Grande which has always been the location of the highest concentration of power since the Inca days. On the same square we have the Archbishops House, the Cathedral and the City Hall. Between the Archbishops House and the Prezzies Palace is Quito's most expensive hotel, the "Patio Andaluz", where heads of state sleep before hanging out with El Presidente Correa. Since Correa came to power a year ago he has allowed access to the palace (except his offices of course!). Its bright white and has a 3 wall painting by Guayasamin, Ecuador's most celebrated artist. We got a glimpse of the cabinet rooms, the chapel, bouquet hall and view over the square. See the link below:

http://www.flickr.com/gp/15198453@N00/4H0y6d



The guard is clearly shorter than me.....

K.