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Published: April 15th 2009
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Gored with a Spear
The toreador on horseback is well padded, as is the horse - the horse is also blindfolded; the rider spears the bull as it attacks. This goads the bull even more ready for the other toreadors to continue parrying with him. Sunday 12.04.09
Easter Sunday and it{s like a ghost town in Mariscal (new part of Quito) - all shops and businesses are closed. 'Got a taxi to the Plaza de Torres to buy a ticket for the bull fight later, and went on to Plaza Independence - lots of people here. Just off the square there was a cultural event starting - an Andean music group were playing some traditional music, using a variety of pan pipes; there were lots of girls dressed in elaborate traditional costumes, waiting in the wings to do some dance display. I only had time to listen to the music group - they were very good. I made my way back to the Plaza de Torres for the start of the bullfight; I needn't have hurried as the stadium was only half full when I got there. There was a display of horses and carriages to begin with, followed by a brass band. About 12:20 the stadium was filling up fast. Before the first bullfight they played the Ecuadorian national anthem to which everyone stood and, except for the visitors, everyone sang. There followed three bullfights where each bull was bigger and heavier than the previous.
Thermal Baths at Baños
Baños is famous for its hot refreshing baths from the water of the thermal springs. It was quite a ritual pageant with the torreodors, matador and the man on horseback who speared the bull, being the main characters. There was much parrying, teasing and goading the bull until he was weak and tired. When the bull was finally killed with a swaord thrust through his brain, he was dragged out of the arena by a horse and team of helpers. This was my first visit to a bullfight and I can't say I enjoyed the spectacle. There seemed a lot of needless cruelty and much gore. There were two occasions where the bull caught out the torreodors; on the first the bull knocked him over and trampled on him and on the second the torreodor was tossed in the air when the bull caught him with his horns. Neither were badly injured. I left after a couple of hours and on the way back went via the Basilica to Independence Square. I also walked on to see the Church of St Francesca but it was closed. The rain started - almost on cue every afternoon - and I sought shelter in Iglesa Merced - one of Quito's oldest churches and admired the beautiful paintings and
Easter Girls
These were some of the girls in traditional dress ready to do a dance display at the cultural centre just off Independence Square in Quito frescoes inside. When the rain eased I just browsed around some of the craft and souvenir shops in the historic centre. After a bite to eat I caught the Echovia back to the hotel.
Monday 13.04.09
When I went down for breakfast Guido was there; they had returnedl last night from their Easter holiday in Loja. 'Spoke to Martha after breakfast and checked out. 'Got a taxi to the bus terminal and bought a ticket to Baños. While waiting for the bus I met a guy from Boston, USA, who was 72 and travelling alone; he was very fit for his age. He had come to Ecuador with his daughter who was doing some voluntary work for four months as a nurse in the Amazonias. 'Chatted with him all the way to Baños.The journey took 3 and a half hours but about 45 minutes outside the town we had to change busses; we were transferred to a crowded one and had to stand for the rest of the journey. The mountain scenery on the route was great. I checked into a hotel near the bus terminal in Baños - basic but comfortable. While at the reception desk I booked
Andean Pan Pipe Band
Again on Easter Sunday in the Cultural Centre this Pan Pipe band played typical Andean traditional music -they were great! in for a tour of the surrounding area in the afternoon. The tour took us 22km up into the mountains towards Puyo and into the national park. We saw many waterfalls, deep gorges and the rivers Negro and Verde. We went for an hours hike down one of the gorges into the rainforest where we saw some hugh colourful spiders and ended up at the bottom of yet another waterfall. At one point we stopped where they were doing some bungie-jumping, I declined. Instead I took a cable car across a .5 km deep gorge to get some good photos.
When we got back to Baños I had a walk round the town - very pretty. It was dark but they had made good use of light to highlight the town's features. At 9:00pm I went out with a group who were going up to see the volcano; it's an active one and the coach only could go up as far as the viewpoint for it. Although we had a fantastic view of the town by night, we couldn't see the hot ash of the volcano as it was obscured by some cloud. The volcano had erupted in 1999 destroying
Horse & Carriage Parade
Just before the Bullfight in Quito on Easter Sunday there was a parade of horses and carriages in the arena. some of the houses on the mountainside. We were shown where the people were rehoused in a different community. While we waited for the clouds to clear we were given some cocktail drink - cinnamon with tequilla. It was after 11:00 when we got back so I went straight to bed where I had no trouble sleeping after such an energetic day.
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