Going to the Circus

Maya, Eric and I saw Kooza today, the latest Cirque de Soleil spectacular. It was magnificent. I began to wonder what we will do for entertainment in Quito. I like to go out and see movies, listen to music, experience theatre, try different foods. I am not one to stay at home and watch television or pursue hobbies. What do Ecuadorians do in the evening? How do they entertain themselves? When I dragged Erika out for a dance performance one night in Quito, she was not impressed and told us she preferred staying home. There were several events happening at the cultural center we visited. There is a theatre in the historical center of the city. It has been recently renovated, and when we visited, I was quite sure I saw a billboard with advertising of culturally relevant entertainment.

Being in a different culture will be interesting in and of itself. We will have new experiences daily, everything will be an adventure, so that evening entertainment may not be relevant anyway. But I am curious. There is a tradition of Ecuadorian traditional music and dance. When I visited the home of Ximena, a friend of a Spanish teacher and his wife who live in Baltimore but once stayed in the jungle in Ecuador and have contacts there. Ximena's husband Mauricio is a music professor and plays guitar. He composes music based on traditional Ecuadorian songs, and he and Ximena sang for me when I visited. He had a dozen guitars in his music room, and played some of his compositions. Some songs were typically Andean, but most sounded entirely different. I look forward to listening to more.

I spoke with my daughter Tara tonight. She is studying theatre in New York and is planning to move to Ecuador during the year we are there. She is taking a film class this semester and is very excited about bringing a camera to Ecuador and filming. I too am interested in filming when we are there. Tara is more interested in creating a story, but I want to document people and places of interest. With the software available, I believe this is entirely possible. We can film in digital, download to my laptop and create movies. I know I must learn so much about managing the software, but it is entirely doable. One more project during my stay in Ecuador. I have no time to learn how to make the movies now, but perhaps those evenings in Quito, I can spend time learning how to make movies!!!!

We will also be involved in the clssical music scene in Quito. Maya will want to play in an orchestra, as well as take lessons to improve her playing. I am sure, just as in our lives here in Balitmore, we will be attending her concerts and will get to know the musicians she plays with. Hopefully through her dance interest, we will also be exposed to the dance scene as well. I am so lucky to have such artistically oriented children.