December?

Yes, it is December. But the signs here for the start of the Christmas month are different.

No bundled-up-in-scarf-and-mitten shoppers, no snow predicted in this century. Instead we do listen to the chiva buses making their evening rounds, and we have heard the traditional song "Chulla Quiteno* " a hundred times already!

The bull fights make some city streets unnavigable, and the blue and red flags of Quito are flying. Once the "founding of Quito" holiday is over, things will begin to seem a little more like December for this South Dakota girl.



I should be happy that our backyard has a blooming 7-foot poinsettia tree . . . but I long to walk into my family greenhouse and see my brother bending over his little potted poinsettias instead. I should be glad that our grass in very green and lush and there are blooming impatiens and marigolds 12 months a year, but just for a few hours a good blizzard would be better for me!!

May the month of December be a peaceful and blessed one for you!!

love,
Kathy

*Melodía - Pasacalle: Alfredo Carpio Flores

Letra: Luis Alberto Valencia

Yo soy el chullita quiteño,

la vida me paso encantado,

para mi, todo es un sueño

bajo este mi cielo amado.

Las lindas chiquillas quiteñas

son dueñas de mi corazón,

no hay mujeres en el mundo

como las de mi canción.

La Loma Grande y La Guaragua

son todos barrios tan queridos de mi gran ciudad;

El Panecillo, la Plaza Grande

ponen el sello inconfundible de su majestad.

Chulla quiteño, eres el dueño

de este precioso patrimonio nacional;

Chulla quiteño, tú constituyes

también, la joya de este Quito colonial.

What are they are singing on those open busses with live bands? Here's a
translation --done by Ralph-- that may help tell the story. A "chulla" had one
pair of shoes (nicely polished) and one suit and lived an existential, somewhat
Bohemain lifestyle. Please leave a comment if you have suggestions on improving
the translation.

I am Quito's high class bum
in my happy-go-lucky life
For me, it's all a dream
under this beloved sky.

Ah, the beautiful Quito ladies!
To them my heart belongs
No other women in the world compare
With those I sing of in this song

The Great Hill and the Guaragua
they're great barrios in my wonderful city
Bread Loaf Hill, Independence Plaza
Leave an undeniable seal of their majesty

High class hobo, you are the master
of this precious national treasure
living for the moment bum, you too belong
the jewel in fact, of colonial Quito