Dance

The nearby volcano, Cotopaxi, which recently awoke from its slumber to start letting off clouds of grey ash, was this morning spewing said ash into an unusually clear blue sky. We, following the people of Quito, carried on as usual, with no particular sense of foreboding. The threat of an immense and potentially destructive geological event hanging over the populace seems to do nothing to create a sense of urgency.

The continuing unhurried pace in the capital - ostensibly under a "state of emergency" as well as an uprising of the people against President Correa -  was best evidenced by the small café we visited for breakfast of tortillas de maíz y trigo with a hot cup of morocho.

Tortilla and morocho

Aside from us and the ladies tending the searingly hot grill dishing out the tortillas, each table was filled with police in yellow reflective jackets. I lazily assumed that they get their breakfast for free, perhaps in exchange for extra protection or perhaps just to turn a blind eye to the shelves of counterfeit DVDs at the back of the shop.

Faces of Quito (outside the city museum)

Heading from breakfast to the Museo de la Ciudad (city museum), housed inside the former hospital, we tried to fill in the blanks on Quito's history. Saints for earthquakes. San Jerónimo was named patron saint of earthquakes after the destruction wrought in 1587. San Miguel, already patron saint of locksmiths and swordsmiths, was added as a protector in 1655 following a similar event. Only a few years later, in 1660, Pichincha started erupting, precipitating the announcement of La Virgen de la Merced as the patron of the city of Quito. This was a role she appeared to excel in, as she halted three days of tremors that rocked the city in 1755 and led to her being named "special protector" of Quito. However, the run stopped soon after, in 1797, when earthquakes destroyed many buildings, killed an estimated 40,000 people and set off Cotopaxi volcano.

Courtyard of the former hospital

After piecing together the fascinating history of the city from the museum's artifacts, we took advantage of the good weather and ate in the courtyard of La Cuchara de San Marcos.

Colourful San Marcos street

Soup and 'lasagne' of courgette - actually more of a rich ratatouille - were the lunch menu of the day, followed by a small pancake filled with strawberry coulis.

Lunch in the sun

Sadly they had run out of the excellent cerveza de la casa, so we enjoyed the sunshine with a fresh-fruit blackberry lemonade before hopping on the bus to Cherusker Cervecería Alemana for a sip of their Dragón Rojo and Super Doble.

Seating at Cherusker

Following the series of cultural events for the beginning of summer, the MIVA 'festival of cine' opened this evening at the Casa de la Cultura. Despite being advertised as a showing of short films, the event began with an unexpected piece of improvisational theatre. The ushers proceeded to change out of their formal attire and asked the audience to select at random from a list of sentence fragments, such as "the artist and suicide", which they then interpreted.

Improvisation

After this strange introduction, the presentation began, which centred mostly around dance. Several video pieces of modern ballet took full advantage of the medium and several - such as Fibers by The Animation Workshop, and Under by Kevin Frilet - stood out for me.