Ecuador Day 12: The White City

Have you ever been infected by the enterobacteria Yersinia Pestis? 

Although modern preventative medicine has stamped out the spread of the bacteria to a great extent, its still an endemic in certain parts of the world and about 4 to 10 cases are still noted yearly in "developed" nations. If the the name Yersinia doesn't ring a bell, then you might know it by its more dramatic name reference: The Plague.

If you happen to live during the first plague pandemic of 541 to about 750 AD or any of the other three up until very recently, or you happen to know someone currently with the infection, or just read stories about what Y. Pestis  can do, then you too would try just about anything possible to avoid it. That's because the bacteria is so easy to be contaminated by. It can be ingested from under cooked meat, it spreads by simple contact, and, its airborne; it can attack your lymph nodes, your cardiovascular system, your lungs, just about any region of your body critical to sustaining homeostasis and life support.

The reason I bring all this up is because Gabi and I spent the night in Ibarra, a town where the buildings of the time were all painted white in order to, that's right, help ward off the plague. Compared to the magic herbs and amulets scripted with protective warnings against the plague and other ravaging diseases, painting your house white doesn't sound that far fetched for the time, especially if your neighbors did the same, and they are still alive.

Today Ibarra is famously referred to as the White City, and it is the capital of the province. Yesterday, we were stumbling around in the dark, trying to find our barrings after a bus ride and didn't pick up on the characteristics of the city. This morning, we are ready to take it all in.
 

The directions we got from the hotel staff to the location of el centro, the center of town, were vague. "Just down this street," he told us in Spanish, "until you reach the main part, then turn left or right." Sure, we said, since that was pretty much what we did last night, and set off. 

Walking down the way, reaching the main part, we snapped a right instead of the left we took twelve hours ago. A few blocks down the way and we weren't sure that there would be too much further in this direction. We were walking by more and more homes and less people. Not to miss the opportunity, Gabi asked a woman walking down the opposite direction if we we're indeed heading toward the center, we were hungry and wanted to eat. The woman, looking more Colombian than Ecuadorian, smiled and told us that we were way off. But, by chance, she was headed there now and could walk with her as soon as she finished paying her phone bill around the corner. 

So we walked, and we talked for about 20 minutes until the presence of people and the smell of food increased. Pointing to what was obviously the city's market, I thought the woman would be off to continue her errands. She didn't. We walked inside together, still chatting away about her life and our travels, all the while leading us deep into the pit of the market place. After a while, I took note that we could no longer see the streets through the stalls, we had deeply penetrated the market place. 

She had lead us straight to were she had wanted - the juice stand. More like a row of juice stands but that didn't matter. There was food behind us, and lots of fresh drink options; we were happy. We bid the kind woman many thank you's and she smiled before turning away and disappearing slowly into the crowed of people.  

Gabi took like a fish to water and selected the juice stand with, reasonably, the most people at it. That was a smart decision and we drank juice (with a free refill of our glasses, the extra juice that was left in the blender that couldn't fit the first time in our glasses) while scouting a good place to sit down and eat breakfast. We landed and ate what you see above, award winning (literally) hornado and tortillas. 

To be honest, even after the great juice and meal, we were still stumped. I mean, we saw some building, that just happened to be painted white, but they were dispersed among other non white buildings and the image of a white city never really came into sudden focus. We were disappointed. Oh well, there were still other things to do we figured, so we took a bus ride out to the big lake adjacent to the city. 

Above you can see the lake that I wanted to walk around but couldn't. The second half along the mountains is reserved only for the locals who have lived there since longer than anyone can remember. And, I forgot to mention, that while on the bus to the lake, Gabi and I passed through the historical part of town and peered quickly upon the truly still painted white part of the city. Without having to even exchange words, we knew that we would jump off the bus early on the way back from the lake, and stroll through what we had come here to see. 

Relaxing lake side. What a great spot for a picnic.

Like the volcanic lake we visited yesterday, this one too sported cranes and other amphibians. It was a joy to simply lay back under the warm sun and measure the passing of time by watching the animals play in the foreground. 

 My older sister, like my mother, has removed wheat from her diet. And so we were super excited to hear that there was a restaurant in town that makes special emapenadas from corn. Lighter and flakier than the ones made with wheat, these were also a little smaller in size but packed more flavor. As soon as we ate them, we wanted more. But, more and newer food was calling us! 

Finally and casually, we walked by more and more white building until we reached what must have been the real center of town. Here, every building was still painted white and looks as though it had not been touched up in years. Unfortunately a white wall is an open invitation to graffiti and tagging.  

All the homes, shops, and churches in this area are all white. Even this administration building in front of a park. Of course, this building doesn't have any tagging and the white paint looks as though it was applied yesterday. 

Its not just the different shades of white that we walked by and enjoyed, its the architecture. The town's ambiance is just so outright and entirely different from the buildings in Japan. 

And whoa to my surprise, we found Mexican food!! I mean, Mexican food can't be that hard of a thing to find or much to be surprised about in South America, but it still gets me as giddy as the first time. The menu had lots of choices to eat, yet what captured my eye more than the food was the tall purple pitcher hibiscus juice. Its too bad that Gabi is off wheat since most all Mexican food uses tortillas in some form; well, besides nachos =) 

Yes, there were lots of choices to select from but there was only item I was going to order and everyone know it. Burrito mojado. 

Somehow we used up the whole day eating empenadas, ice cream, burritos and nachos, shopping for gifts and other trinkets. The Sun set behind the huge mountain whose peak hid above the clouds without notice and the night fell upon us slowly. This is what we looked out onto from the hotel window when we eventually made it home around 10 pm.  


Another full complete day of adventuring for the books. When we walked home again at night, the remarkable white buildings once again faded into obscurity and you wouldn't notice them unless you looked diligently. I fell asleep wondering how well painting a house white would really deter the plague by in-obvious or unpredictable ways. Maybe it was as simple as saying that this city of white was safe or pure against Yersinia Pestis' other dramatic reference, the black death.

-A