"On the Trail"

The Journals from the Road

Friday, October 13, 2000: Music and almost goodbye - Ambato, Ecuador

Paty´s father in action More Photos

My sombrero went missing and Paty was not around for us to say goodbye so we stayed another night, otherwise we were ready to go. I am glad that we stayed because our internet work went much smoother. I also played some harmonica for some street vendors. It was a lot of fun to play for them. They even recognized one of the songs that I played (the lambada song).

On our walk back to Paty's we stopped off at several guitar builders' places. It was fun to see the inside of a guitar under construction. As we got nearer to our temporary home we were invited by a bunch of teen agers to join them in the tienda (store) where they were hanging out. We had fun telling them about our journey and about the type of music that we like. Then I was asked to play some tunes, so I played and sang "Framed" (Tad helped lead the chorus), "Nose Open" and several other tunes. It was fun. I felt slightly concerned when Tad left, but not enough to leave. I hung around a bit more and tried to answer all the questions that they had.

We had a nice family visit in small kitchen during dinner and I relaxed while Paty and Tad went to rent a couple of movies. Here, piracy of video tapes (at the video stores) is very common. They also snuck into the stadium to catch a bit of a futbal match during their walk. The rest of the evening was quiet.

-Developing an understanding attitude makes life a happier experience.
-Frank Pollari

back to top

<---previous journal | journal list | next journal --->