Guayasamin's Capilla del Hombre

The bus ride from Otavalo to Quito was $2 for two hours. I am dropped pff at some northern terminal and grab a taxi, because I now have two bags after the shopping haul in Otavalo. The darn cab to La Tola is $10, and the driver barely has a clue where to go, but I know (so he should pay me). I get the top floor single suite at Casa Tolena and lay down to rest and read the guide book on what I should fit into the last day and a half. Can't rest long, though, because the first thing I read is that the Capilla del Hombre, which houses some of Guayasamin's biggest work is not open on Monday and I have about an hour and a half to see it. I cannot find it on the map, so I grab map and haila cab. Cabby has no clue what or where this place is, but he tells me to go take a bus...but which one and to where?

I grab the red line "EcoBus" and get three different recommendations as to where to get off. The common denominator is "La Paz," but there I am told I should have gone one more stop. I finally find the Capilla on the map and realize I should go two more stops. Then everyone agrees it is uphill from there. Of course, this is Ecuador!

This is as close as Quito has to a subway. The bus has two cars and its own lane, with stops where you pay and get on when the subway-like doors open. When they are full, it is pickpocket heaven.

It took 20 min to get to the righht stop, but the hike up into the Bella Vista neighborhood was about 30 min in a full sweat. Nice views of the city.

And classy houses that take in that "Bella Vista" (means pretty view)

It is about 5pm when I get there (top of Bella Vista) and the Guayasamin house and museum are closing, but El Capilla del Hombre is still open. This was to be a chapel to house the artist's greatest statements, but he died before it was completed, and it was made into a foundation and museum to house his work, much of which laments the problems of man in society (servitude, slavery, racism, malnutrition, war...dark stuff). There was a period at the end of his life where he painted about "tenderness" to balance it all out with a solution. No pics from inside, but here is a little bit of the surroundings. The man was on a par with Picasso and the Nobel Laureate Chilean poet, Neruda. He got his message out there, and his work is an Ecuadorian treasure. I am so glad I did not miss it completely

Guayasamin was friends with Allende, Neruda and Jara, all of whom were dead within a month of the 1973 Pinochet coup in Chile. Guayasamin clearly believed hey were all murdered. ( Allende reportedly shot himself, Neruda's health was declining, but then his driver said he only deteriorated after the doctors gave him a particular shot...)

http://mg.co.za/article/2013-04-09-pablo-nerudas-body-to-be-exhumed-over-pinochet-regime-murder-claims

See the artist's painting regarding this controversy:

http://www.wikiart.org/en/oswaldo-guayasamin/tears-of-blood

The above reflection applies to the paintins of Quito below (view from his house)

I enjoy the walk downhill, although a neighborhood resident offers me a ride, saying I should be careful walking around there.

I get off the bus at La Mariscal to look for dinner. This is known as "New Town" in English, Plaza Foch in Spanish. Also known as "Geingolandia" No wonder... Look what they have done to the name, putting a whole screwed up sense to it in English. Is this supposed to be funny or stylish? Neither, I think.

I had a great, light meal (but Gringolandia expensive) meal at Boca del Lobo a block away from the square. Glassed in dining area and a "Mediterranean" menu.

 

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