This was a busy day, with us going into the country to Chilcatotora, attending a Catholic mass baptism, going to an art show, a wine tasting, and finally having guests over for dinner for two experimental dishes.
First though, we have noticed a surprising number of “closure for tax fraud” signs going up lately. I first saw one yesterday on Chill & Grill, one of my favorite hamburger lunch spots. In the last day, I have seen it on three other restaurants. It appears that these are from the Ecuadorian version of the IRS (called SRi), where they have done undercover tests and then raided the stores for failure to report all taxable income. Looks to me like they are trying to put the Fear Of God into other businesses, to reduce tax evasion, and increase tax revenues.
We started today though, with another trip into the country with Alberto Soriano. Evelyn set up to paint another plein-air landscape. Alberto did the same, while also spending time helping Evelyn with her efforts.
As always, Evelyn gathered a group of young fans around her, including one that picked up a pencil and started to draw a portrait of her. After awhile, I decided I had gotten all the photographs I expected to achieve, and went into an abandoned building to practice my Spanish using my Pimsleur tapes. My stumbling Spanish brought the kids around though, and I ended up with some of the better portraits of the day.
While Evelyn was painting, I got a chance to see typical farm life in the Ecuadorian country. As expected, the dogs had the easiest life, lying and sleeping in the sun. The father cut trees for a fence, while the children all pitched in, gathering rocks and helping to set the newly cut posts.
On our way back our condo, we came across something about to happen at Iglesia de la Merced. Waiting around a few minutes, we discovered several parents bringing out their infants from a Catholic Baptism ceremony. One family in particular was willing to pose for us. The email they supplied bounced, but we finally found them on facebook this morning, so copies of these photos are on their way now.
Art Dance Practice from Burt Johnson on Vimeo.
Later we went out to an announced art exhibit, and saw some young people practicing an unusual dance routine. From there, we went on to a wine tasting event. Did you know today was International Malbec Day? Neither did we, but it was a great chance to taste a dozen Argentinian malbec wines!
When we got home, I experimented with a new chicken lasagna recipe for dinner, followed by a new key lime pie recipe for desert. Both were a major success, and I am now sitting down because I can’t walk after eating that much! ☺