Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and Guayaquil barely touch the stuff. Perhaps they're too busy with
Canelazo
, a
cinnamon-spiked alcoholic tincture bearing sugarcane spirits and brewed with
naranjilla
juice. This Andean welcome drink can also be consumed without the alcohol, just ask.
Morocho
is a warm drink from the sierras that eventually gained popularity on the coast
and is now widely consumed. It consists of white hominy boiled with milk, sugar, cinna-
mon and raisins, somewhat resembling rice pudding. The creamy concoction is drunk as
dessert or snack.
Cinema
The history of Ecuadorian cinema can be traced back to the early 1900s, when films like
El Tesoro de Atahualpa
and
Los Abismos de la Vida
began propelling their way into the
public sphere, but Hollywood films dubbed in Spanish have always overshadowed them
in mainstream Ecuadorian theaters. A few movies during the century showed hope, but it
wasn't until the 1970s when cinematic organizations and film schools began to open up
around the country that the national standard for film was raised. In 1999, the break-
through Sebastian Cordero film,
Ratas, Ratones y Rateros
(Rats, Mice and Thieves) co-
produced by acclaimed Mexican directors Alfonso Cuaron and Guillermo del Toro, won
international awards and showed promise for the future of national film, beginning a new
era of cinema in the country pushed forth by the new millennium, and the movement
shows no signs of slowing down.
Entre Marx y Una Mujer Desnuda
(1996)
Between Marx and a Naked Woman is a film adaptation of the 1976 novel of the same
name by Ecuadorian poet Jorge Enrique Adoum. The film blurs the line between fiction
and reality through four stories that parallel each other and center on young revolutionar-
ies in 1970s Quito.
Ratas, Ratones y Rateros
(1999)
This film follows petty thief Salvador through the gritty streets of Quito's ghettos. When
his criminal cousin Angel shows up with a bounty of his head and the hunters eventually
find them, the two narrowly escape death and hide in Salvador's crush Carolina's room
while she is away. It just gets darker after that.
Crónicas
(2004)
