As the World Turns

Guayaquil, Ecuador

Regarding My Abuelito
We will not be throwing his ashes in the Rio Guayas anymore! My wonderful but old-fashioned great aunt and uncle protested. It was a controversial decision down here in very Catholic Ecuador for us to have decided to creamate my late grandfather, particularly with my older relatives. My great uncle suggested that we put my granfather's ashes in the Villavicencio Family mouseleum. There's relatives who are at least two generations older than that of my grandfather resting there. If I understand correctly, no one has been laid to rest there in several decades. My mother is fine with this decision. She hadn't been too keen on the idea of scattering grandfather's ashes to begin with. I am happy with this final decision as well. As long as my mom and my great aunt and uncle are happy, I am happy.

My Days in the Great City of Guayaquil
It takes me a day to get used to the humidity here. Yesterday was especially hot, 37 degrees celcius, which I think was over 90 farenheit, with high humidity! But it didn't bother me. I visited a couple of museums in Guayaquil yesterday. In Ecuador, the cities of Quito (the capital) and Cuenca are known for their woonderful art and museums. Guayaquil not so much... Two years a go a new museum opened here. It's called the MAAC (Museo Arceologico y de Arte Contemporaneo). I was impressed with the structure but was a left a bit disappointed with the rather small exhibits. But I am impresseed nonetheless that the museum exists. Gradually, I hope the museum becomes better organized. The other museum I visited is the Museo Nahim Isaias, which I visited before durng my stay in Guayaquil in 2000. I love this museum! It houses a wonderful coolection of colonial religious art. Some of the pieces here date back to the XVII century.
I have walked around the city on a couple of ocassions and the city is getting cleaner and safer each new thime I visit. The municipality here has been doing a lot to promote tourism in Guayaquil and to simply promote having a city its citizens can be proud of. In the last six years I have seen amazing changes. BUt there is still a lot of work to be done.

At Your Service
It is hard for me to get used to getting served by maids or servants. My host, Nancy (my mothers' cousin and my godmother) has two working for her. My cousin Ivonne has one in her household. My cousin Lorena has one who helps her with her kids and in the kitchen. My great aunt and uncle have one too. After eating breakfast, every morning, I like putting my own plates away in the kitchen sink. But Nancy always reminds me that I don't need to, and she goes and calls her maid. I am not allowed to make my own bed either. I hate this. I feel like such an imposter. However, this all reminds me that growing up in Guayaquil, my mother's parents, whom I grew up with up until I was nine, also had a "helper" around the house. This is also, to me, so third world! It is such a status thing to have a maid. If you have a maid, it means you are not poor. Class concerns here, and in most of Latin America, are so irritating to me. It makes me appreciate the U.S.A. a little better.

Postcards From the Equator

Guayaquil, Ecuador

Wow! This is my first blog entry coming from another country. I am writing this a couple of days after having arrived in Ecuador with my mother for my grandfather's funeral services. He had been ill for a long time and was 92 years old. His two only children, three grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren all live in Southern California. My mother and I were the only ones who were able to come to Guayaquil from California for the services. There were plenty of other relatives present however. I saw many cousins, great aunts and uncles whom I had not seen in three or six years. They were all present. There were even some relatives present whom I had not had the opportunity to see in the two most recent trips that I had made to Guayaquil in the last six years. Meaning, the last time they had seen me, I was a little boy everyone called Felito or Felo. I lived in this humid, coastal city which is surrounded by rivers and estuaries from the day I was born, sometime in 1970, until April of 1980. I used to live in this humidity. Everytime I return, I am shocked at how humid and hot it always is here. And from what I understand, March is the hottest month of the year in Guayaquil.
The streets are fascinating here. There is traffic everywhere. Most streets may appear to have two or three lanes, but most drivers don't honor this. Drivers use their horns at almost every corner. It is very third world in that respect. Though you couldn't use this term with a more well-to-do native, like most of my relatives. If you have money here, you have all the luxuries of someone in the first world.
All of the funeral services for my late grandfather have been taken care of. He was creameted yesterday. I believe we will be scattering his ashes in the Rio Guayas soon. The family decided this a short while ago. When may grandfather was alive, and after my grandmother died (in 1981), he had the opportunity to join his family in California. He refused to leave his homeland. So now it wouldn't make any sense to bring his ashes with us to North America. Besides, you practically need a separate plane ticket to transport someone's ashes from one country to another. I didn't know this. I thought you could just put him in your luggage and that was it. It is all very strange...
I will try to write again. I am visitng other cousins today. I think I am going to the seaside (1 hour drive from the city) tomorrow. I return to California on Sunday.

My Weekend

Top Ten Favorite Moments of My Weekend

1. Hanging and chilling out with Kathy and Elias in their lovely new apartment in Oakland, before their housewarming party started on Saturday night.

2. Chuy was there too! With his I-pod, being fabulous and witty, and fixing us drinks.

3. Walking all over the Piedmont and Grand Avenue districts in Oakland by myself.

4. It was sunny and over 70 degrees the whole time I was there.

5. Steve Mitchell's impersonation of Heath Ledger's Ennis during our drives in Oakland and driving back home on the 5 freeway.

6. Serene and I text messaging one another, while sitting side-by-side in the car during our drive up to the Bay Area with Steve and his friend.

7. Our host Pete's hospitality in Piedmont.

8. Seeing so many familiar faces at Kat and Eli's party.

9. Stopping at an In N'Out in the middle of the 5 freeway (I think the town's name was Kettleman) on our way back to L.A. and ordering a Double Double cheeseburger and a milkshake.

10. Watching "The Sopranos" last night after getting back into town, at Robert's house with Serene and Anna.

Spring is in the Air

I don't know what happened to my blog, but for the last few days whenever I would attempt to read it or check for comments, I would just get an empty page. I called my web troubleshooter (Ms. Spleengrrr) and she fixed the problem for me. For a second there, I thought there was someone out there trying to sabotage me or silence my rants. Anyway, for better or worse, I am back!!!

On Monday, I tried writing about my nice weekend. I tried writing about the play I went to see with Steve Mitchell and Serene Ford (Chekov's The Cherry Orchard, with Alfred Molina and Annette Bening at the Mark Taper Forum). It was a great staging!

I also tried writing about my allergies, which are back again. I have been getting seasonal allergies since the spring of 1998. I always get them between the months of March and early May. It is something I have learned to live with. I take medication, but they only reduce the symptoms, and never truly eliminate them. Whenever people ask me what I am allergic to, I love to respond by saying, "I am allergic to beautiful days!" It is true. If it is a gorgeous, sunny, breezy, cool day in spring in Southern California, you bet I will be sneezing!
Well, this weekend, what at first I believed to be allergies, really turned out to be a cold! I am feeling better now, though I did take Tuesday off. I watched so much t.v. that day and didn't leave the house at all.

I am looking forward to tomorrow. I will be going to the Bay Area for a quick visit. I will be celebrating a dear Piscean friend's birthday and housewarming.

Happy weekend to everyone!!!

My Dinners With Joanna

I've been trying to get together more often with my friend Joanna Leiva. We have known each other for over 15 years and were once almost inseparable. She lives in Silverlake, just south of Sunset. In fact, we have the same zip code. She also works at a neighborhood legal office, some four blocks away from my house. You'd think we'd make time to see one another more often, but in the last couple of years, I have only seen her on three separate ocassions. And in the last five years, I have met with her only one additional time.
After playing phone tag for a while, we decided last month to meet for dinner at Masa's, on Sunset and Lemoyne (where Carmelo's used to be). We had such a fun time. It was great trying to catch up with her and learning what we've both been up to with our lives. We both ordered salads and we shared a delicious plate of green mussels. We also shared Masa's bread pudding, which is quite delicious. That night, we decided we would start getting together once a month.
Yesterday, in the early evening, we ate at La Autentica, a Mexican restaurant, also in Echo Park, at the corner of Sunset and Douglas. She ordered a burrito mojado in green sauce. And for some stupid reason, I ordered a hamburger, which was only as good as a hamburger gets in a Mexican restaurant. (I highly recommend anything served in their mole sauce and their chilaquiles.) We ate everything! We talked. We reminisced. We caught up on news on old friends. And had a great time once again. What I love about my friendship with Joanna is our understanding that although we do not see each other more often, we still hold special places in our heart for one another. We are still the same people. We will always be friends.
We are planning another outing in the coming three weeks. I can't wait!

The Worst of Oscar

Last night's Oscar telecast was pretty boring and disappointing for me. I mean, I loved Jon Stewart as a host and I loved all the montages in the show. The bit about how queer cowboy movies are was brilliant! It was also a thrill to see the great Robert Altman get an award. That was long overdue. However, what I hated about the Oscars last night was how predictable it was.
It is always wonderful to see an unexpected, welcomed surprise here and there. I still remember when Marisa Tomei shocked everyone by winning Best Supporting Actress for 1992's MY COUSIN VINNY, or just a few years ago when Adrien Brody won the Best Actor prize for THE PIANIST. I was expecting to see Clooney, Weisz, Hoffman, and Witherspoon go up to the podium to receive the awards given to them in their respective categories. And we did. I was expecting to see Ang Lee get the Best Director prize he so much deserved for BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN. And we did. The one shocking, outrageous and totally disappointing surprise that came at the very end of the show in the category for Best Picture was the most unexpected!
CRASH besting out BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN has to be the most stupid upset at the Oscars in recent history. All of the films nominated for that award were more deserving than CRASH. I did not hate CRASH when it first came out but I do find it to be a horribly overrated picture. The reason why CRASH has been so popular with the motion picture academy is because it makes them feel as if their community is being progressive for touching on the subject of racism, class and culture. What the academy failed to see is how extremely formulaic and predictable CRASH is. In the end all the "bad white people" in the film are redeemed. But one of the black hoodlums dies. A Persian man nearly kills a Latino man out of revenge. And a Korean woman is outted as being a slave trader.
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, on the other hand, was an epic film! A sweeping love story about star-crossed lovers, beautifully written and directed. It would've been a groundbraking feat to see the film win the Oscar as it dealt with a love between two men. But never mind the gay cowboy theme. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN was the better movie of the two. And the best movie nominated for the top prize. I hate the idea of Hollywood patting itself on the back for picking CRASH as the winner because it deals with racism. Hollywood did not break any ground last night! They went for the safest, tamest choice. All of the other nominees: CAPOTE, GOOD NIGHT GOOD LUCK, MUNICH, and BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN would've been far better choices.
CRASH winning last night was not the kind of upset or surprise I was looking for from the Oscars. Too bad!