Attencion

I screaaam....

We are here in front of the presidential palace in Quito. It is also the place where the government make their important decisions, for the delight and the indignation of the people.

In the foreground an locally made ice-lollie with  ​​coconut . Tilted and with real cocnut inside. Yummi-yummi :-)

On the road

Moooo-ooo

The road is for everyone. But some are more equal than others.

If you meet these señoritas on your way, you've just have to wait. As you, lazy tourist, only get lost on the highway on the way to the "playa", these ladies get a job to do. Life in rural Ecuador is hard, milking, fertilization and so on before bedtime.

So, take a break until the procession is over. And give these hardworking ladies a kind thought while you later are enjoying yourself with an umbrella drink at the beach.

Carnival

Last weekend we celebrated the carnival.

In Ecuador carnival is identical with a proper water war. The sale of spray cans with foam was even better than the bananas. If you love your neighbor you give him a proper shower!

Minors choose with love foreign-looking men with dignity. Get therefore a couple of high capacity water pistols and a some spray cans to defend yourself. And, not least, take revenge!

The intermediates also use flour, eggs and other food items in their arsenal. This year the mud became an additional factor because of the large amount of rains. In this picture we could see some of the fighting demons leaving the arena of Mindo.

The great Alpaca

The alpaca man

No. This is not an invisible man.

We have only dispersed a few selected items from Ecuador's fall collection, of course in alpaca.

Perhaps a modest hat to impress the ladies? A robust and stylish sweater, good gloves and warm socks  this year's colors are also among the products.

All clothes are designed and manufactured by the Indians in Otavalo, a small town a couple hours south of Quito, The inhabitants are hard-working and inventive craftsmen. There are few tourists who do not return home from Ecuador with some of these creations in their luggage.

The skip





The galapagos seal

The skipper sits proudly on its own ship. Many are the passers who wonder how a seal can make such a career.

Or is he just a guard taking his liberties while the real captain is for a walk at earth?

No, in the Galápagos island is the etiquette that Father seal can take a strain on deck when the boat are anchored up. But he certainly wish to be able to maneuver the boat for fishing a little to his own domestic.



Christmas is dead

We are in the middle of january and the coke-tree besides the mall El Jardin is standing nude, without glitter, grey and empty of gas.

The shop-owners are crying over the lack of capital among the good citizens as this totem of comercialism is fragmenting piece by piece.

But there will be times when this monster of aluminium and plastic will rise again and recall the people the real message of Christmas.

The Panama Hat

Did you think the panama hat is made in Panama?Wrong and 0 points for you.

All the panama hats in the world are of course made here in Ecuador. The exclusive raw material is the straws of a plant which is growing in the coastal parts of this country.

This picture is taken outside a combined museum and hat shop in Cuenca. Here will you find hats in all sizes, different qualities and a wide specter of prices. You could also get a demonstracion of the complicated process of making them.

But why do they call them "pananahats" then? Well, you se, for export to Europe they had to send them trough the panama canal. And so the europeans thought it was a panamanian product. The hat were also frequently used by the workers during the construction of the canal.