Today season

Let's lay the entire Ecuadorian culture back on the couch. Go ahead, relax. Get comfortable. So tell me more about this problem you have with planning or thinking about the future. I see, so it's not a problem for you, but for others around you? Interesting. Tell me more about that. What, then, is their problem, and why do you think you are both different?

The buck stops...well now, where did it get to?

We had an apartment warming party the other night and our friends' 4-year-old, who is now functionally fluent, dropped a glass that broke on the wood floor. Teddy related later this thought that flashed in his mind: "I wonder if she'll blame the glass." And she said, "It fell by itself." Now this is not a story on clairvoyance. It is a ponderance on the Spanish language and my continual psych couch analysis of the Ecuadorian culture.

Art tour of Ecuador

Maternidad

Many people are familiar with the art, if not the name, of probably the most famous Ecuadorian artist, Oswaldo Guayasamín. He's reproduced here like a Wal-Mart picture frame photo. But the difference here is that the reproductions are done by hand, and perfectly. So even though Ecuador has its creative talents, it has far more technical artistic talent. What that means is that it has both rare and great under-appreciated art, and great reproduction art. Or said differently, it has really cheap, great art and also really great, cheap art. Here's a sampling of some of it.