Tag: ecuador

Recommended Things To Do When You Are Staring Down Screenwriter’s Block In Quito, Ecuador: Bike the Ciclopaseo

Posted by J Roland Kelly – March 17, 2009

screenwritersblock

On the second and last Sunday of every month, Quito closes its main drag (the Avenida Amazonas) to all traffic but bikes.

Usually this city is not a bicycle friendly city, the traffic, the mountains, the pollution, etc. but on two days a month everything changes.

Suddenly everyone is on a bike, the city provides water stops along the main route, which extends from the south of Quito all the way to the airport in the north.

I “borrowed” a kid’s bike from a kid in the center of the Parque La Alemeda and rode all the way to the airport.

This is a great way to see Quito, you will pass through El Centro, the Mariscal Sucre, and Parque La Carolina all before watching a plane take off or land at the airport because the route goes right by the runway.

Everyone stops, drinks from their water bottle, watches one plane by the runway and then heads back.

I recommend this for tourists or expats alike. I did it two Sundays ago on Women’s day and it rocked.

I did return the bike.

-J Roland Kelly

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J Roland Kelly Wins Over Mountain View, California Hometown Crowd Over 65 and the Unemployed With Photo Taken In Otavalo, Ecuador

Posted by J Roland Kelly – March 6, 2009

Another Photo taken at the same time

Another photo taken at the Otavalo market

A photo of me that was taken in Otavalo, Ecuador back at the beginning of October was published today in the Mountain View Voice; that being the Mountain View in California, home of Google, and my old place of residence.

I was in Otavalo (three hours north of Quito) to visit the famous indigenous market. The market dates to pre-Incan times and is still a big deal even if it is a bit touristy, you can read about the history of the Otavalo market here.

You can see the online version of today’s Mountain View Voice here, just search for “postcard” to find my picture.

The girls are not wearing costumes that is everyday attire, they were well educated, spoke some English, and had email addresses, and I am not going to lie, I gave them five bucks for ice cream.

Thanks to Diane Martin at the Mountain View Voice for choosing my photo.

-J Roland Kelly

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Screenwriting & Filmmaking: Two Film Ideas – a place where everyone lives to 100 & a guy who loses his manhood

Posted by J Roland Kelly – February 10, 2009

old-people-givingthefinger

If anyone needs ideas, here are two that I will never use.

First, in true reality, there’s this town in Ecuador close to Peru called Loja where an abnormal amount of people live past 100 years of age.

I know a girl whose grandmother is from Loja and I bought ice cream for her 94th birthday; she’s still going strong.

But no one knows why. What is it about this town? Is it the mountain air, diet & healthy living, maybe it’s aliens (good or bad), maybe just the CIA?

It could start as a romantic comedy and then go aliens.

If you figure it out, let me know.

The other idea, and this is so obvious that it has to have been done already, but I can’t think of a example…

A guy… a normal guy… and then out of nowhere he loses his penis… an accident… I don’t know…

So what happens to the guy?

Does he become a serial killer? Is he able to push through it? Is he middle aged, and doesn’t like to fcuk his wife anyway?

It could be a heart-warming story about a guy who shows us all that life is magical and can endure anything.

Or he could kill every swinging dick in his apartment complex.

Maybe, he kills women because he can’t find any release, or maybe he finds the healthy relationship with a woman that he always needed.

I promise you this, every single guy has thought about this. If you add a female character, as in the partner then you have story that applies to every single person on this planet.

That’s one hell of a built in audience.

Just think of me when that beautiful bank teller is staring you down.

-J Roland Kelly

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Macintosh Sales, Service, & Repair in Ecuador: Quito is a Mac Friendly Screenwriting Town

Posted by J Roland Kelly – February 1, 2009

old_apple_logo

I’m still in Quito, and recently my MacBook Pro failed to recharge. The problem was the Magsafe power adaptor, which by all accounts is the weak link in the Apple’s notebook line.

I read online that Magsafe Power Adaptors are so prone to failure that Apple is now replacing them free of charge at the genius bar in Apple stores.

Quito. Sh!t. The closest genius bar is in Miami. What’s a poor expat screenwriter to do?

Apple doesn’t even officially sell notebooks in South America. No hope. And yet… Enter Act III.

I remember seeing a pseudo Mac store at a Yuppie mall here by a movie theater called Cinemark. You’ll find it, just get in a taxi and say “Cinemark.” The official address:

MundoMac

Plaza de las Americas Local 6 exterior

Av. America Y NNUU

Tel: 3318472-3318490

www.mundomac.com.ec

Really over priced. The owner imports everything himself with tremendous mark up and then with the IVA tax here it pretty much is double the price.

The $75 dollar adaptor would have been $150. My Mac is under warranty so a guy at the store (Patricio) pointed me to a certified Apple repair place in Quito at:

AppTek

Republica 189 Y Diego de Almagro

Edificio El Triangulo Local 116

Quito – Ecuador

Tel:  593-2 290 9082 

I went there late on a Wednesday afternoon. The guy took some information from my computer and said come back Friday morning.

In 36 hours I had a new, completely free 85w Magsafe power adaptor.

Props to Apple’s worldwide warranty; jeers to Apple for selling an inferior and faulty product. Most of the computers I see tourists carrying around are now Macbooks.

As Apple fills more and more niche markets worldwide with notebooks they need to step it up.

Otherwise plan B for me was to take the broken power adapter to the broken TV store on my street and make hand signs for soldering iron.

F that.

-J Roland Kelly

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Travel & Restaurants: Quito, Ecuador – Mistranslated American and Ecuadorian Cultural Symbols

Posted by J Roland Kelly – December 16, 2008

I’m still in Quito, and I continue to find things that are still new to me. I’m going to say as few words about the following pictures as possible.

Let me say the name of the restaurant, Menestras del Negro translated into English is something like Black Guy Beans.

ecuador-food

Notice the black guy. If you look closely at the menu, you will see an African guy hunting a dinosaur with a spear. Now, everyone knows the Chinese are the only ones in the modern era to hunt dinosaurs for food. But before you say, “oh, Ecuador is like that.” Check this out.

quito-restaurant

Old man Sanders and a guy with a bone fork in his hair together side by side. Fried chicken and beans- tasty. It´s all fun and games except for this restaurant.

kkk-restaurant

This by the way is just a Catholic church suit, as you might have figured out the restaurant is in a renovated church. But in case you think I´m seeing things that aren´t there, this is the front door of the restaurant.

kkk-food

Imagine seeing your refection in a door like that.

- J Roland Kelly

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