Last night a friend and I went to her boyfriend's gig downtown in Quito... took the crowded Ecovia then met another chick for pizza at a street cafe, in front of the old Teatro Bolivar (the inside has faced some fires, but still a site so many stories to tell... if walls could talk).
We headed to the concert in la Plaza de San Francisco, and found hundreds of dozens of men and women in uniform... the convent was lit up and the whole side was lined with armed men with berets... it felt like I was stepping back in time to a Soviet May Day parade. Everyone had green uniforms and sharp hats... they were serving hot canelazo from camouflage tents covered in leaves. We sat down and 300-man military band started playing as the sun set and the full moon rose. Above us the panacillo sparkled and the Virgin of Quito watched the city. Their mixes of Strauss and national anthems were highlighted by a fog machine, fireworks, random balls of fire, and multicolored spotlights rotating between them and the audience. The white dress uniforms were sharp, unless you noticed the Ronald-McDonald effect of white laces on shiny black boots. After the show we ran for cover from falling fireworks (fire standards are different here) and hot chocolate in nearby cafe.
Quito... some nights are increible... but my heart and my head are somewhere else.
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