People

PEOPLE

Ecuador is a multiethnic and multicultural nation. It has a population of more than 12.6 million with a less than 2% annual growth rate. About 40% of Ecuador's present population are Indians, and another 40% are mestizos. The ethnicity of the coastal population changes from north to south. Esmeraldas has the highest percentage of Afro-Ecuadorians of any province, and it also has several Indian tribes upriver from the coast. Further south, the population is more mestizo - the typical Spanish-Indian mix prevalent through Latin America.

Ecuadorians were heavily concentrated in the Andes highlands region a few decades ago, today the population is divided almost equally between that area and the coastal lowlands. Migration toward cities, particularly Quito and Guayaquil, in all regions has increased the urban population to more than 50%. Due to the recent economic crisis, more than half million Ecuadorians emigrated to the U.S. and Europe, mainly Spain and Italy, from 2000 to 2001. The provinces with the greatest number of immigrants are Pichincha and Guayas. The tropical forest region to the east of the mountains remains sparsely populated and contains only about 3% of the population.

The official language of the country is Spanish, but other languages, such as Quichua Shimi, Awapit, Cha´palachi, Tsafiqui, Paicoca, A´ingae, Huaotirio, Shuar-chichan, and Záparo, are widely spoken in areas with large indigenous populations. The predominant religion is Roman Catholic, but there is a scattering of other Christian faiths. Indigenous Ecuadorians, while outwardly Catholic, tend to blend Catholicism with their traditional beliefs. Many communities still preserve their ancient beliefs of worship of the earth, the mountains, and the sun.

More than 14 indigenous groups live on the Ecuadorian mainland, maintaining their own traditions and ways of life. The principal indigenous groups of the Amazon region: Huaoranis, Achuar, Shuar, Cofán, Siona-Secoya, Shiwiar and Záparo. The main indigenous groups of the highlands are the Quichua -by far the largest group, amounting more than 2 million-, Cañaris, and Saraguros. In northern Ecuador, live the Awa community. On the Pacific coast, live the Chachis, Cayapas, Tsáchilas, and Huancavilcas. The nations cities and villages are primarily populated by people of mixed race, white, and Afro-Ecuadorians, although large numbers of indigenous migrants have moved from the country to the city.

Culture

Amazonian frontier towns, Pacific coast fishing villages, rambling old haciendas, packed markets, and colonial cities provide the stage on which Ecuador's cultures intermingle; each striving to maintain its own identity and history while also charting a meaningful path into the future. Even outside these cultural crossroads, in a day, because of Ecuador's compactness, one can experience any number of Ecuador's distinct cultures.

The Amazon basin is equally as rich in indigenous culture as the highlands. Despite increasing pressures from the industrialized world, shamanistic traditions still thrive within the rainforest worlds of the Huaorani, Zaparo, Cofan, lowland Quichua, Siona, Secoya, Shuar, and Achuar.

Modernization has not robbed Ecuador's cities and towns of their distinct local flavors largely because it is people not just historic sites that give these places their character. Otavalo, long famous for its warm, enterprising indigenous people, continues its friendly tradition in the twenty-first century. Banos, with its hot springs and agreeable climate, welcomes visitors day in and day out with unwavering smiles. And Quito, the country's political center, has developed into a cosmopolitan city while maintaining its small town candor and geniality

Ecuador's pre-Columbian peoples excelled in pottery, painting, sculpture, and gold and silver work. The Spaniards trained indigenous artists to produce colonial religious art, which can be seen in many churches and museums. The Quito School of the 17th and 18th centuries combined these two influences but was replaced by formalism after independence, which favoured subjects such as heroes of the revolution and members of high society.

Ecuador's colonial religious architecture is predominantly baroque, although domestic architecture tends to be simple and elegant, comprising whitewashed verandahed houses built around a central courtyard. Traditional Andean music has a distinctive haunting quality based on an unusual pentatonic scale. Wind and percussion instruments, including bamboo panpipes and flutes, are staples of the sound. Local crafts include fine examples of basketry, leather work, woodcarving, weaving, ceramics and jewelry.

Ecuadorian food consists mainly of soup and stews, corn pancakes, rice, eggs and vegetables. Seafood is particularly good, even in the highlands. Local specialities include caldo de pates, a soup made from cattle hooves; cuy, whole roasted guinea pig; and lechón, suckling pig. Guayaquil, the heart of the south coast, has the gamut of cuisines. Patacones, fried plantain chips, are a favourite side dish of the coastal dwellers.

Oswaldo Guayasamin, Ecuador's best known artist

Oswaldo Guayasamín was born in Quito on July 6, 1919. Son of a Native father and a Mestiza mother. Proud of his backgrounds, he creates trustingly a portrait of the human and social differences as criticism towards the reality that we live now a days in our society. Oswaldo Guayasamín dedicated his entire life to painting, sculpting, collecting and fighting the injustices of life. His death on March 10th, a day of national strikes by indigenous (whom he spent his life supporting) and other sectors of society, was a great loss to Ecuador. He was one of our national treasures.

All of Guayasamín's paintings or sculptures evoke an immediate reaction. The strong colors, often disturbing images and forceful themes are meant to make the patron stop and take notice. Since early in his career, Guayasamin used art to fight against the cruelty of life, violence and injustice. "The Dead Children", which is a group of naked cadavers, was based on a brutal memory of when a childhood friend and others were gunned down by a random bullet.

From then on, Guayasamín would continue to use his paintings and sculptures to combat "cruelties and injustices of a society that discriminates against the poor, the indigenous, the afro-ecuadorian and the weak" explains the Guayasamín Foundation. He never belonged to a political party, but rallied in support of Castro and against the "abuses and aggressions of powerful and imperialistic countries". Sadly, the Ecuadorian Embassy had just convinced him to do an exhibit in the United States, when he died in Baltimore from a heart attack.

The Guayasamín Foundation was created to showcase his most important works. It includes a collection of pre-Colombian sculptures (3,000 pieces), colonial art (800 pieces) and his contemporary pieces (250 works). In the contemporary gallery his most forceful works from 1964 to 1984 are exhibited. The Nazi invasions, the concentration camps, Hiroshima, Vietnam, the "CIA sponsored invasions of Panama and the Dominican Republic", and the tortures and genocide by the dictators of Latin America are all expressed through his eyes and on his canvases.

Since 1996, Guayasamín had been working on a life long dream, the creation of "The Chapel of the Man" a 6,000 square foot mural that could rival the Cixtine Chapel. It was meant to be a history of "Our America" from pre-Colombian times to the present. This masterpiece was declared to be by UNESCO a "'cultural priority". Saddly, Guayasamín was not able to complete this dream.

Pablo Neruda described Guayasamín as "One of the last crusaders of imaginativeness. His heart is full of creatures, earthly pain, oppressed people, tortures and signs.He expresses his all and everything into painting. Fashions pass through his head like flimsy clouds. He has no fear of them". As Guayasamín rests in peace, he will be remembered for all this and more - for his political beliefs, his creativity, his courage and his dedication. While Ecuador is being torn apart, his art will unite us for one thing - to mourn his passing.