Borges’s title that refers to the attitude of Ecuadorians towards the chronicles of adventurers, scientists and ordinary tourists who described, drew and photographed our country. Just as when we see our face in the mirror we are satisfied with the success of the hairdresser, we feel barbarically proud to read that they recognize the beauty of the territory and the virtues that we really have: how naked this foreign friend is! But if the same chronicler records the lack of physical and political hygiene that characterizes Ecuadorian life, we throw stones at the mirror: what will this prejudiced gringo believe!

This is what I think after reading it Andes and Amazonby the American researcher James Orton, whose alternative title is Travel notes from Guayaquil to Pará, originally published in 1876. A welcome joint edition of USFQ Press, the publisher of the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, and EdiPUCE, the corresponding publication of the Catholic University of Ecuador, it is the first edition in Spanish since the 200th anniversary of the original . A rich introductory study corresponds to the Ecuadorian historian Fernando Hidalgo-Nistri, an expert in scientific literature, who translated the text together with Irene Paz. As in all works of this kind, we find a multitude of descriptions of the reality and negative aspects of the country, the truth of which cannot be denied, since they have survived to this day; but, on the other hand, says Hidalgo-Nistri, it contains “a series of prejudices, superiority complexes and misunderstandings”.

Let us note that the country visited by travelers before the 20th century was little known among its inhabitants, because the baroque culture hostile to science prevailed here. Before her rose a romantic spirit, a lover of nature and an admirer of open landscapes, whose correlate was the development of natural sciences. Orton sought to reconcile his already Darwinian vision with his Protestant leanings. He will not be the first to comment that, as can be seen, this is a rich territory, but where poverty prevails due to a lack of entrepreneurial spirit, an outdated culture, a mistrustful attitude and ignorance of economic principles. Rather, his opinions about the shortcomings of South American Indians are contemptible; he ignores his great pre-Hispanic achievements, limiting himself to examining his miserable situation after centuries of oppression. The commentator reminds us that the researches of these travelers, romantics and intellectuals, were not completely alien to the imperialist spirit that drove their nations in that century. Without expressly ascribing to the doctrine of manifest destiny, this book is based on a clear conviction of the superiority of the peoples of the north over those of the tropics. Reading this chronicle and its complementary study is not in vain; In it, we will experience the horror of looking in the mirror, seeing what we have changed, but greater when we check what has remained the same: “You could see signs of indolence and carelessness everywhere… The contrast between human poverty and natural wealth. (OR)