A Cultural Primer

Ecuador's culture is as varied as its population. Mainstream culture is a mix of Amerindian, Spanish, African, North American, and other Latin American influences. Its mixed heritage has ensured the existence of a wide array of crafts, literature, architectural styles, and musical rhythms.

Architecture

Ecuador's buildings offer a charming mix of old and new. Quito is perhaps the South American colonial capital that has changed the least since Spanish rule. The city's very impressive colonial churches were built in the baroque style, including the Iglesia de Santo Domingo and the Iglesia de San Francisco. Several neoclassical and Beaux Arts buildings also survive from the beginnings of the republic.

Some of the most beautiful buildings in Ecuador are found in Cuenca. La Inmaculada, the city's main cathedral, was completed in 1885 and houses a famous painting of the Virgin Mary, along with modern stained glass. The city's other cathedral, El Sagrario, was completed in 1557 and built over Inca ruins, some of which are still visible. Several other colonial and colonial-esque buildings dot the historic city, including the district Supreme Court.

In Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city, fire wiped out most of the old colonial buildings, and today modern high-rises co-exist with tin-roof slums, though poverty is not laid as bare as in other urban areas of Latin America.

Though not as elaborate as the structures in Peru, some Inca ruins are visible in Ecuador. The principal Inca site here is Ingapirca, near Cuenca. The stone structure is small but well-preserved. Other sites include Rumicucho, near Quito, La Tolita, near Esmeraldas, and Tomebamba, in Cuenca.

Art

Ecuadorian artists range from folk artisans working in a variety of forms, materials, and traditions to modern painters, sculptors, and ceramicists producing beautiful representational and abstract works.

Pre-Columbian artisans produced a wide range of pottery, paintings, sculpture, and gold and silver work. Intact pottery figurines dating to 3000 B.C. were discovered in the coastal village of Valdivia, and are still on display in several museums. After the arrival of the Spanish, art became increasingly influenced by Christianity. Paintings from colonial times can still be seen in many churches and museums. During the 17th and 18th centuries, painters of the Quito School began to combine Spanish and indigenous influences, but this movement fell out of favor following independence, when the focus shifted to formalist depictions of the great heroes of the revolution and the social elite.

Indigenous woven tapestries and clothing are still available for sale throughout the country, as are fine basketwork, leatherwork, woodcarving, ceramics, and jewelry. The most famous indigenous craft is the Panama hat, as much a must-buy in Ecuador as cigars are in Cuba.

Several galleries in Quito and Guayaquil carry a wide range of locally produced art.

Literature

Though Ecuador's literary tradition is not world famous, neither is it barren. Worth reading is Jorge Icaza's controversial 1934 novel Huasipungo (published in English as The Villagers: Huasipungo), an indictment of the oil industry, an exposé of the plight of indigenous peoples in the Sierra, and a pioneer in the "indigenous literature" movement. Another notable work is Jorge Enrique Adoum's Entre Marx y una Mujer Desnuda (Between Marx and a Naked Woman), a very clever novel about novels, and about Ecuadorian society as a whole. Although not yet translated, it was made into a 1995 film by Camilo Luzuriaga, and you can sometimes find a subtitled copy of the film at better video stores.

José Joaquín de Olmedo, famous for his role in the independence movement, was also a noted poet. Perhaps the most respected Ecuadorian author is Juan Montalvo, a political essayist. Others, such as Alfredo Pareja, Demetrio Aguilera, Enrique Gilbert, and Humberto Salvador, became known for their writings advocating social justice.

Quito is also saturated with a different kind of literature: graffiti. As a local saying goes, No hay muros blancos -- there are no blank walls in Quito. Graffiti writing is taken far more seriously here than elsewhere in the world, with politicians, writers, and journalists frequently quoting the social, political, and poetic sentiments expressed on the walls. An oft-quoted graffiti expression is "Es más fácil describir lo que no es amor" -- "It's easier to describe what isn't love." Think about that for a while.

Music

A variety of musical traditions come together in Ecuador. In Afro-Ecuadorian folk culture, the marimba is king. The traditional music of the Andes features wind instruments such as the guaramo horn, the pifano and pinkullo flutes, and panpipes (rondador), supported by percussion. Its distinctive pentatonic scales give it a very haunting feel.

Songs in mainstream contemporary folk music fall into one of three forms. The first is pasillo, a slow variant on the waltz played with guitar and rondin flute. The second is pasacalle, a dance rhythm, and the third is yarabi, a sentimental style that has retained its popularity for generations.

Urban discotecas spin salsa and merengue, though a new style called reggaetón is starting to dominate. Reggaetón is a combination of hip-hop and Jamaican dancehall reggae whose firmest roots are in Panama, though the music was popularized in Puerto Rico. In recent years it has skyrocketed in popularity in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, most Central and South American nations, and among Latinos in the United States. Its biggest stars are the Puerto Ricans Daddy Yankee and Don Omar, whose explicit lyrics and videos filled with submissive, scantily-clad women evoke hip-hop's greatest excesses.

City bars feature those rhythms as well as pop and rock en español. The current darling of the latter genre is the Colombian-born Juanes, though Ecuador boasts its own national bands, largely based in Quito. Fans of harder rock should look out for concerts by Pulpo3, Resistencia, Crucks en Karnak, and Caja Cañon.