A Night of Flamenco, Córdoba, Spain
Flamenco isn’t hard to describe. If you speak Spanish. There’s a word for it–duende. It doesn’t really translate into English. I suppose if you had to try just one word, … Read more
music
Statue of Freddie Mercury, Montreux, Switzerland
When I think of music and Montreux, of course the famous jazz fest comes to mind. You know, people like Sonny Rollins, Count Basie, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, who have … Read more
Food, Music, Art–The Vienna Triple Play
Vienna was cold at the end of November. It was below freezing and worse, there was about a 40 kph wind blowing all the time. And since we hadn’t planned … Read more
Bottle dancing in Quito
Saturday and Sunday are the best days to walk around the city for two reasons: everyone else is doing it, and the city provides entertainment in the form of music and dancing.
First, the people watching part: both weekend days are big shopping days. On Saturday, all shops are open and are doing big business. Squeezing through the stalls of the Quiteño equivalent of a mall is an experience in itself. The shopping centers mostly resemble a U.S. storage locker facility where rows of 12 x 24 foot empty spaces face each other across a narrow hallway. Here, though, those lockers are packed to the top with merchandise of all types. One stall has underwear, the next has shoes, the next has small appliances, and the one next to that has mattresses (which reminds me, I need one.)