Turning Ecuadorian

I fear I may have officially been in Ecuador for too long for a couple of reasons.

One. I'm cold. Not just a little chilly, but freezing. I used to laugh at the Ecuadorians in their heavy coats and scarfs, now I am wishing I would have brought a couple more sweaters. Part of the problem is the fact that it is the rainy season so it's wet, which makes the cold feel worse. But really it's not even that bad. Today I was complaining to a friend back home about the cold, he asked how cold it was, so I looked online. It was 59 degrees.

Two. So when I first got here one of the things that annoyed me the most was the fact that when you ask someone for directions, if they don't know what you are talking about they just make something up. So if you are lost you need to ask someone every block or so to ensure you are getting the right story. So on Friday on my walk to work a car pulls up, with two Ecuadorian business men, who I presume were from out of town. Excuse me, how do we get to Amazonas from here. Oh yeah Amazonas, just go straight for a couple of blocks and take a right. Blatent lie. I mean, it is sort of that way, but the streets are rather winding here and it is definitely not that easy. I was just so flattered someone asked me I did not want to admit I had no idea. I told my coworkers I did this, and they of course found it hilarious. At least I am not on Ecuadorian time yet, that will be the final straw. Ecuadorians are sloooow and late for everything, it drives me nuts.

Another random thing I noticed again today, and think is interesting. When you go to a mall, or big store, where there is a parking garage they give you a ticket. At first I thought it was to record the time you arrived for payment later. However, I then asked an Ecuadorian about it. Apparantly you are supposed to bring the ticket with you inside, and when you leave you need to give it to the attendant to prove that it is your car. Basically it is a measure to help stop car theives. I guess it is a good idea, but it is definitely a bit strange.

Besos

Yesterday a conversation I had with Luis during my spanish class reminded me of something that I had mean to write about, but had forgotten about: los besos, or kisses. I am not sure how we got on the topic, I believe we were gossiping about my friends back home. He loves to gossip, and frankly it's a good way for me to practice my spanish. I think we were talking about crushes, or something silly like that, and he was like at least if you have a crush you get to kiss them hello and goodbye right? I was like no, never in the United States. He did not believe me. It took me forever to convince him this was how it was in the United States, to which he replied, oh that is why my new students are sometimes a bit taken back when I lean in the kiss them hello.

You see, in Ecuador, and most of Latin America really, the proper way to greet someone is a kiss on each cheek. Really you just kind of touch cheeks and make a kissing sound. For me, it is a little strange, since I am not a paticularily touchy person, but once you get used to it, its actually kind of nice. It is a sign of respect and friendship. Not many people in my office obey the kiss rule, but Andres comes in every morning to greet us. Also Santiago sometimes comes and says goodbye, but no major kissing.

The best is when you go to a gathering that is all Ecuadorians. You are expected to go around the room and kiss everyone. Boys don't have to kiss other boys, but girls have to kiss everyone. You can sometimes get out of this if you are a gringo, but its looked down upon.

One time when Jorge drove me home and his friends were with him, probably 5 guys and me in the car. We got to my house and I was about to just jump out when the one next to me leaned in to say goodbye. Crap. So I had to manuver around the car to give each one of them a goodbye kiss. So annoying. Another time I was with Tania and her friend and we ran into his two cousins. They gave us kisses, talked to us for about 2 minutes, then gave a goodbye kiss. Ridiculous.

Talking with Luis about it was interesting though, because I think it is absurd sometimes, and for him the idea of not doing is completely foreign to him. I joked to him that when I go home I will greet some of my guy friends like that and send him the pictures of their shocked, whoa Erin get away from me, expressions.

Anyways just an interesting cultural difference.

Tonight I went to a concert at a bar, that ended up being sort of rock/heavy metal. The Ecuadorians were all headbanging, and jumping around, it was pretty hilarious. My favorite was this boy who looked maybe 15 who was with his mom, and they were both dancing during the entire concert. Well I should get to bed, another day of work tomorrow.

Espanol

This is just a random little thing I remembered about spanish class. My teacher Luis can be pretty funny, but last week I did something that he said he laughed about all weekend.

We were learning how to put together verbs to show that the action is reciprocal. For we talk to each other. He asks me for an example. I think for awhile. I decide that maybe we take a picture of each other.

Nos tocamos...he writes it down and looks at it and starts laughing. I try to stop him so he can add the pictures of each other. He reminds me that it's tomar fotos. And continues to laugh. I look at it and realize. Basically that means we touch each other in a very personal way. He keeps laughing, saying that its right, but wow Erin. Knowing that I had made a mistake. So he lets me try again.

I think we eat with each other. Nos comemos. Laughter ensues again. What? That means you eat each other, like this, he puts his arm up to his mouth to show. Oh dear. By this time he can't really stop laughing.

I don't remember what my final example was, but at least I brought some amusement into Louis' life. Oh the joys of learning another language.

On another note, Luis is determained to find me an Ecuadorian boyfriend. He explained to me they only whistle and cluck at you when they don't know you, and then can be very nice. Right. Latin Americans hate to see a single girl for some reason.

Pictures from Otavalo

At last I am posting my pictures from Otavalo.

First a lake outside of town. Even prettier in person.







The next couple are shots from within the actual town of Otavalo.

I finally got a camera last week on Friday, even though retrieving it ended up to not be an easy process. Nothing is easy in Ecuador; any bureaucracy seems to be completely inefficient. I got up early so I could be at the package place at 8:30 when they opened, figuring it couldn't take more than a few minutes. When I arrived they were still in the process of opening. After waiting a bit I gave my slip to the woman, and she told me she needed two copies of my passport. Ok. I asked her where a copy place was, and she must have been in a good mood because she went and made the copies for me. Then more waiting. At last a guy took me into a room to open the package and looked at him. He and the other guy were really concerned because it said it should be worth 200.00. They looked and all they saw was candy, I wisely decided not to say anything. They felt badly for me and at first reduced it to 50.00, then to 30.00 The taxes would have originally be around 80, and ended up 20, so that was nice. Now that I look back I think the man saw the camera but pretended not to. This was about an hour into the process. They gave me a sheet of paper and said to go to the bank and pay the tax. This is pretty typical here, and is really a pain. A 15 minute walk later I was in line at the bank, I paid and walked back. More waiting gave the man my slip that said I paid, then had to go sign some things, wait some more, and at last was given my package. I arrived at work at about 10:30, a full two hours later. Luckily there was a huge bag of M&Ms in the package, so no one at all cared I was late.

That night I just hung out with some work people. We went to find food by the Plaza de Torros, and John convinced me to eat what I call street meat. It has a name, but I always forget it, he loves it. Basically there is this little tiny restaurant, and outside is a grill and a bucket of shish kabobs with just meat. You pay a dollar inside, go hand the guy a voucher, and wait for him to cook your meat. All I could think is I do not want to know how long that has been there. When it is done they slather some green stuff on it, and hand it to you. It was decent, I did not like the two chunks of sausage, but the beef was not bad. Sort of like beef jerky to be honest. That is the nice thing about being here for awhile, I can eat pretty much anything and not get sick. I can even drink the water. I have been told the water in Quito is fine, just don't drink water outside of the city.

Saturday I got up early to go to Otavalo, which is a town about 2 hours away. Jorge, me and Caroline went, and Jorge was nice enough to drive. The ride up was beautiful, Ecuador truly is a gorgeous country. We arrived at about 10:00, and mostly just walked around. Both Jorge and Caroline love taking pictures and have super nice cameras, so they took loads of pictures. I mostly looked around. It was so busy, and there were so many types of things, it was definitely interesting. We returned home at about 4, stopping at this lake for awhile, which was nice.

Since I have a camera now, I have pictures, but the internet is being mean right now. I will post them tomorrow I promise!



Sunday I went to Paul and Katie's house for a Barbeque. It was a really sunny warm day, perfect for the event. We hung out there until about 6 or so. The highlight for me was calling Grandma and my Aunt Kathy. Paul and Katie are from Minnesota and have some sort of phone that you can call the states for free. Afterward we went to a mall and walked around, and then I came home, finished some laundry and relaxed.

We get Friday off of work, so a shorter week. Also it is Caroline's birthday on Wednesday, so I am sure we will do something fun for that.