backing up, forgot about Wed. night
So, yeah, Maya's friend, Jacob, an exchange student from Texas, called and invited us to go to see a live, Spanish language performance of Jesucristo Superstar. Yep, Jesus Christ Superstar, live and translated! It sounded interesting, plus I'd listened to the record a million times as a child and enjoyed all except the Yvonne Ellison track (how on earth do I remember stupid little details like her name from the '70's?!). It was free, and it was at a gigantic shopping mall, much like any large shopping mall you'd find in the US. After many phone calls and transportation arrangements, Jacob's ex-host mom gave us all a ride to the far away mall and dropped us off. We had no idea WHERE in the mall the thing was, so we went wandering, past the movie theater, past the food court, and then discovered a big long line of people. That's where we wanted to be. We politely waited at the back of the line until we got almost to the door and then they locked the doors. With 4 police guards keeping people out. What did they think the crowd to see Jesucristo was capable of?! Eventually a woman came out of the theater and berated the folks still lingering for being on "Cuenca time" instead of actually being on time and told us/them that the doors were closed for the night. Soooo, we headed back through the mall trying to decide on what to do next. As we came back upon the food court, we realized there was a gigantic movie screen that was simulcast broadcasting the Jesucristo performance into the mall. The sound and picture quality was awful, and Jacob thought the acting/performing was no better, although it was really hard to tell from the weird screen. All the tables in the massive food court were full, so we stood and watched for a couple of minutes and realized that we didn't understand any of the lyrics and weren't really in the mood for this anymore. We walked by the movie theater and decided we didn't want to see any of the movies there (Babel, Hard Candy, or the thing with the old guys on motorcycles) and eventually just went back to the hotel, where I packed for Quito and Maya stayed downstairs visiting with Jacob.
And that reminds me, too, that there are armed guards stationed throughout the cities of Ecuador. I saw unarmed guards in Guayaquil, or only armed with clubs, and plenty of machine gun armed guards in Cuenca. Usually they were standing outside of pharmacies, also banks. It wasn't really scary, just different.
Okay, back to the Quito story next.
And that reminds me, too, that there are armed guards stationed throughout the cities of Ecuador. I saw unarmed guards in Guayaquil, or only armed with clubs, and plenty of machine gun armed guards in Cuenca. Usually they were standing outside of pharmacies, also banks. It wasn't really scary, just different.
Okay, back to the Quito story next.