Thursday, 20 August 2015

Packing Up

This morning we embarked on the final packing of our bags before returning home. Our return flight to the UK is not scheduled until the end of the month; in the meantime we will take an excursion to the Galapagos islands with a small amount of luggage. Today we jettisoned the sorry-looking remnants of our clothes that show the wear and tear of our past year's travel like a clothing curriculum vitae and crammed the remaining space in our rucksacks with the enormous number of gifts and souvenirs we have accumulated on the way.

With bags stuffed and other essentials acquired - everything is marked up in Galapagos owing to its remote nature - we rubbed elbows with the local vegetarian quiteños at Ari and partook of the set lunch: corn soup followed by a mix of healthy vegetables with 'carne vegetal' and llapingachos (potato cakes).

Llapingachos

Nourishment for the soul in the afternoon came courtesy of the small gallery inside the former home of Camilo Egas - the 'first' indigenous painter in Ecuador.

Egas' works depicting indigenous dance and celebrations were warm and aesthetically pleasing, but his later style - drawing from abstract pieces by European artists - left me cold.

We side-stepped the gathering crowds of police - presumably preparing for further demonstrations by the anti-Correa protestors - and went for a final drink at Bandido Brewing.

Keeping out of trouble

This evening saw the final MIVA showcase and the now familiar improvisational display by the staff-cum-performers was no less bizarre than yesterday's.

I have no idea any more

The video shorts threw up examples at either end of the scale. The event started with an interminable piece by Alex Schlenker of his wife cavorting in their bathroom - filmed from two orthogonal angles - which almost had me walking out. I was glad I stayed, as the following pieces were of much higher quality and contained amongst them a sublimely original, bizarre and macabre piece of claymation by Allison Schulnik, called Eager.

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