The PLEIN SUD crew gets some wings.
One must be as much a night owl as an early riser to be part
of the PLEIN SUD crew : that morning, everyone
got up at 6 a.m. Deprived of its jeeps, the team reluctantly
leaves Panama by plane. At the airport, waiting for their flight
to Quito,
Ecuador's
capital, some crew members manage to get a bit of sleep.
Madeleine takes advantage of this opportunity to catch up on
her readings, which include files and journals she then makes
notes of. Madeleine immerses herself in the historical
facts of the country's remote
past, as well as in its most recent
events. Seeing as Pierre is still preoccupied by the consequences
of the accident that occurred in Costa Rica, we wonder if he
will be able to keep his proverbial sense of humor.
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"The earth is blue like an orange".
The
earth is blue like an orange. The French poet Paul Éluard's
intuition was confirmed by science
when the first pictures taken from space by the astronauts surfaced.
If you trace a dotted line dividing this orange into halves,
you will be left with the equinoctial
line. Man has imprinted space around him when he set foot
on the moon or on this new continent he christened "America".
Footprints frozen in time are unearthed by scientific
reflection. Little shoe-shiners and picture
salesmen inherit this planetary past. What part will they play
in the future of their country and, by extension, of our planet?
Will it be a literary,
a plastic
or a political
contribution ?
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Indian artisans tell us about panpipe
crafting and disclose how to make almost "flying"
carpets.
It is disconcerting to find panpipes here in Ecuador,
when they were originally named after the Greek god of shepherd
and herds, Pan. Behold another mystery of the human being driven
to create, right down the ages, all kinds of objects with which
he could express himself! As for any type of language,
a country's music thrives on the influences brought on by
the different social and historical transformations it undergoes.
This Ecuadorian pipe-craftsman is living proof of this fact.
Not to mention he is also a very skilled salesman. Marc-Antoine
will come back home with a "Stradivarius" made in
Ecuador. When should we expect your first recital, Marc-Antoine?
People also try to sell him a beautiful, dream-like carpet which
soon urges us to fly around Ecuador
to promote ecotourism.
The carpets' pure colors and geometrical motifs are typical
of Ecuadorian
art.
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Marc-Antoine and Hélène
bump into Jean-François and Marc-André who are
also stocking up on souvenirs at the multicolored Otavalo Mercado.
Looking for a simple scarf, the coquettish Hélène
finds herself faced with a stream of shawls, each more breathtaking
than the other. She comes back from shopping at the Otavalo
Mercado with her hair braided like an Indian. Hélène
bought all sorts of trinkets, and although she doesn't smoke,
she purchased a turtle-like ashtray anyway. The ancestors of
the Indian "mama" who so nicely braided her hair have
all bowed before the Inca.
Among those merchants is perhaps a shaman.
Marc-André almost has too many tablecloths to choose
from for a Christmas gift to his girlfriend. As for Jean-François,
pragmatic as usual, he worries about the increased luggage ratio
caused by all of these new items. A Saturday walkabout at the
market is the ideal opportunity to mingle with the many different
faces of a culture.
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Great news from Montreal concerning
the PLEIN SUD docuWeb.
On route to the Volcanoes, the PLEIN SUD crew
is stopped by a telephone communication via satellite. Jocelyne
from the Montreal-based office is talking to Pierre who then
hands over the phone to Pierre-Paul. The docuWeb is Pierre-Paul's
baby, the realization of one of Trinôme's greatest dreams.
Good news, the baby is growing! The Bell broadcasting and new
media Fund pumps vitamins ($) into the project. Muy simpatico
Bell! Every week, the many visitors to PLEIN SUD's
docuWeb are a testament to this success. Internet
surfers can finally share in their passion to discover and journey
in an actual and renewed way. Internet, when you get a hold
of us...
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A halt in the mountains. In Sarayunga,
the PLEIN SUD crew tastes and takes note of the cuisine of the
911 Restaurant. Pierre-Paul is presented with pure chocolate
as a gift.
We're off again, driving through this mountainous portion of
the many
landscapes that make up Ecuador. A roadside curiosity :
people put out coffee or cocoa beans to dry along the road.
Soon, it's time for the crew's lunch break. Will they eat muchines
de Yuca, a fritada?
Pierre-Paul visited the kitchens. Madeleine strongly recommends
the chicken, ever mindful of health and safety measures. It
seems all the more important to oblige since the restaurant's
name is 911, the North American emergency code. Along with Martin,
Pierre-Paul carries on exploring Sarayunga, a small mountain
village. A charmed peasant woman hands him a ball of homemade
pure chocolate.
Pierre-Paul gallantly refuses. We meet up with the rest of the
crew at the 911 restaurant. How will this place rate in PLEIN
SUD's gastronomic guide of the week?
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To be an engineer who works in the banana
industry is far from being banal.
Pierre-Paul is heading for Machala, the self-proclaimed banana
capital. Mister Jorge Aguilar is an engineer for the banana
plantation of Senor Wong Mayorga, the second biggest banana
producer in the world. He explains to us what it takes for a
company to be Eco O.K.. The conditions which have to be met
to be certified Eco
O.K. influence the whole workplace, from the workers' wage
status to the use of non-chemical fertilizers or pesticides.
Ecology compels us to respect the harmony and balance which
must reign supreme between plant, mineral and animal spheres
of the living organism that is our planet.
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