I visited Quito with a group and we had a guided tour with police escort, which made us feel safe. Two policewomen were assigned to our security, which was quite pleasant. When we arrived at the square in front of the Church of Santo Domingo in the old town, we noticed people feeding pigeons, a common practice in other countries as well, including South America. For example, in La Paz, Bolivia, pigeons are also fed in front of the presidential palace. However, in some countries, it is strictly prohibited and even punishable by law. We also heard vendors shouting, "¡Que riiiico, que riiiico!" [1]. As we approached the church, we saw rosaries, flowers, and even newspapers being sold, featuring scantily clad women. Our tour guide, Pablo, explained that the woman selling those items was just trying to make a living and couldn't afford ethical concerns. We didn't mind it, but it caught our attention.
We then entered the beautiful church. The foundation stone was laid in 1540, and the architect Francisco Bercerra supervised the construction until his death in 1581. The church was completed in 1688 [2]. Although it may sound like a long time, it's not as long as, for example, the Cologne Cathedral took 600 years to complete. Inside the church, the baroque high altar naturally caught our attention, but I was particularly interested in something else. In a side niche, I came across a note stating that President Gabriel García Moreno received Holy Communion there on the day of his death. He was stabbed and shot in front of the Cathedral of Quito, also known as the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. His grave is located in the cathedral. The year 1875 was also interesting for other reasons: the Theosophical Society was founded by Helena Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott, and Hans Christian Andersen, the famous Danish fairy tale author, passed away.
Gabriel Gregorio Fernando José María García Moreno y Morán de Butrón (his full name) [3] lived from 1821 to 1875. He was a conservative and, as mentioned earlier, very religious. He had already served two successful presidential terms and was elected for a third, but he was assassinated by Faustino Rayo and others. Faustino Rayo struck him with a machete, while three or four other assailants emptied their revolvers on him. I must note that using a machete and firing guns simultaneously was not without danger for the attackers themselves. However, four of the assailants were later executed. The president, unfortunately, lost his life and was buried in the cathedral.
Links and Annotations:
[1] Claudia, a friend of mine, and I found amusement throughout the rest of the trip due to the exclamations of "¡que riiiico, que riiiico!" She was sitting next to a 10-year-old girl on the plane who kept saying it as well. It was only after the trip that I found this exclamation as an example in an academic book: "Regional norm variants (variantes de norma) in the phonetic area would be, for example, affective vocal lengthenings not usual in the Castilian norm, as found in certain South American (Rioplatense, but also Peruvian) norms, such as ¡bueno! as ¡bueeeeno!, ¡que rico! as ¡que riiiico!" Originally: „Regionale Normvarianten (variantes de norma) im lautlichen Bereich wären z.B. in der kastilischen Norm nicht übliche affektive vokalische Längungen, wie man sie in gewissen südamerikanischen (rioplatensischen, aber auch peruanischen) Normen findet, etwa ¡bueno! als ¡bueeeeno!, ¡que rico! als ¡que riiiico!“
Wolf Dietrich and Volker Noll: Einführung in die spanische Sprachwissenschaft. Ein Lehr- und Arbeitsbuch. Erich Schmidt Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin 2012 (6th edition). ISBN: 978-3503137190. p. 57.
[2] https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iglesia_de_Santo_Domingo_(Quito) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Santo_Domingo,_Quito
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Garc%C3%ADa_Moreno
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