Plazas
A town’s plaza is its finest face. It’s where people watching and intense conversations occur. Where all kinds of venders and street performers and photographers (to take your picture in front of some ceremonial something, for a fee) flock. Often, a man can be seen expounding for hours on some subject—from politics to penis enhancement (in Tena, Ecuador)—with a crowd radiating out from him.
The big cities all erected tall monuments in the center
of their plazas. Many of these commemorated their independence from the Spanish.
But even the smaller enclaves had some kind of statue to symbolize their town.
My favorite was a leaping fish mounted on a pedestal in a small coastal city
in southern Ecuador. They were known for their fish, I suppose.
The quest for shade in a sunny plaza....A man laughs at a performer.
 |
 |
|
One of the roving photographers—get a picture of yourself before a sign made of flowers....He looks unspectacular, but this comic was a master at aping peoples walks.
 |
 |
|
Looking to the south from El Museo de la Ciudad.
 |
 |
|
Lively conversation, and a bit of drinking, in a small Quito plaza.
 |
 |
 |
|
People in La Plaza de la Independencia, the central plaza surrounded by government buildings.
 |
La
ParqAmazonico La  |
 |
||
 |
 |
|||
A lively, and daily, soccer match in Quito.
 |
 |
|
The art of doing little.
 |
 |
|