Ecuador Recap 3/1/125

 

We made it home at about 1 or 2 p.m. yesterday.  I personally had a long night in the airport trying to find sleep, but Brian said he got a decent 3.5 to 4 hours.  We tried the floor, the airport lobby seats, massage chairs... finally we found a restaurant that had a long, wrap around booth with padded seating and that is where we got our best sleep. 

I was going to write a recap yesterday, but I was just too tired.  When we got home we were kind of just in zombie mode, really I think we're both still a little tired, even after sleeping 10 hours last night.

I asked Brian if there was anything he expected to see and hadn't or had observed and didn't expect, but he couldn't really think of anything.  I am trying to come up with a list myself and am floundering a bit.  I think the one thing I heard over and over again is "Don't worry if you don't speak Spanish, everyone else speaks enough English that you'll be fine." Wrong!  If I didn't know what little Spanish that I do, we would have had a much more stressful and confused time.  For the most part, typical conversations in Ecuador consisted of me trying to speak Spanish, using Google Translate, and hoping for the best.  The more ritzy and better educated areas tended to have very decent English skills, but if you're just doing daily interactions with normal, every day people, then you need some knowledge of the local language.

Another thing that I read or heard over and over again about Ecuador is that "they're the friendliest people ever!" Well, they're not "un"friendly, but they're not super friendly either.  I had always thought that statement might be an overgeneralized and stereotypical comment anyway and wondered what was meant by it.  Just like in the States (or probably anywhere), if you're living in a big city, you tend to be a little more guarded and cautious, if you're living in a rural area where you pretty much know everyone, you're a little more friendly and less guarded.  I feel like it's no different in Ecuador.  

Brian and I also read that in order to blend in, you shouldn't wear tennis shoes/joggers/running shoes, whatever you want to call them, or hiking boots. Also, that people in Ecuador only wear athletic wear when they're actively exercising, not as part of their daily wardrobe.  Any hiking type clothing in general pretty much pegs you as a tourist, etc.  Well, let me tell you, Brian and I are both tall, white, and blue eyed, we were going to be pegged as tourist immediately just because of that.  We literally stood a full head over most of the people there, unless they too were tourist.  But we saw plenty of people dressed like the everyday American.  Yoga pants, t-shirts, tennis shoes . . . Once again, it was very similar to in the States.  If you had a business type job that required dressing up a bit, you wore the appropriate clothing, if you're running around doing errands, you wear what you're comfortable with, attire was pretty much the same.  Here's the caveat: some people still wore the traditional clothing with their skirts, hats, and macanas. . . and I honestly don't know what the men wore, but the women's attire stood out. And, there was more than just a few tall white people dressed like they were going on a safari instead of walking downtown.   The mannequins at the clothing stores were different as well! I should have taken a picture of those.  They had big, bubble butts and large, perky breast, which made me wonder if that was the average body type of women in the area, it's not (at least that is what I gather from my own observations).  Just like us, the mannequins represented what they deemed an attractive female figure.  Their mannequins have a much curvier, hour glass figure compared to our average super thin, string bean type mannequin.

What else . . . I still don't understand the no washcloth thing, I will have to ask about that on our next trip. Do they not use washcloths because they think it is unnecessary? Do hotels not supply them because they are easily stolen... ? Am I just making a big deal out of something stupid?  Who knows.

Food in Ecuador - pretty cheap and pretty fresh, but pretty much the same each day.  I never made it to an actual grocery store other than when we were in Playas, but judging from the restaurants we went to, most meals are prepared from scratch. The vast variety of fruit is amazing, there were so many different fruits that I have never even heard of like guanabana, achotillo, tomate de arbol (tree tomato - but not really a tomato), naranjilla. . .  and there is always some kind of fruit in season. Fruit was served at most meals and fresh squeezed juice of several varieties was ALWAYS served at breakfast and lunch.   In fact, in Ecuador the lunch meal is their largest and has a set criteria.  It is served with a bowl of soup and a glass of fresh juice as the first course and the second course is a dish of rice, beans/lentils, and then some kind of meat and small salad/vegetable.  You don't get refills, you don't really have much selection, maybe 2 soup options and 2 meat options, and in our experience the waiters serve you and then move on to the next customer.  This meal is called "almuerzos y secos" translating to English as lunch and seconds (kind of).  Per Angel, the term "secos" was derived from tourist that didn't want the first course of the lunch and would just ask for the second course.  The English term "second" eventually became "secos"

 I expected Ecuador to be much cleaner in general.  The litter and waste REALLY bothered me.  I understand that they're technically considered a second world country, but I was not expecting to see all the filth everywhere.  And there was a lot of filth.  I did not expect a culture that just discarded their trash and turned a blind eye to it.  Cuenca was better, but they had city workers that actively cleaned up the city.  Actually, all of the little towns we visited near Cuenca were cleaner with less litter.  When we approached the towns near the coast though - it was disgusting.  I am not sure if it is because of the province that we were in or if it is just a difference between the mountain and coastal towns. I guess I expected people to take care of what they had and not just use it once and discard it like I see at home.  I was hoping for more of a recycle and reuse type culture. 

Driving in Ecuador - I don't think I will ever do it.  If there are painted lines of any sort on the road, they're more of a suggestion than a rule.  Double yellow line, on a curve, going uphill, but you're in front of a slow vehicle? Just pass them, it's ok.  Busy intersection with everyone merging?  Just forget about lanes, do whatever you can to get in front.  Riding a motorcycle?  Well - swerve in and out of traffic, go in between lanes, ride the shoulder... whatever you need to do.  Motorcycles (or rather street bikes, because I am not talking about Harley or Honda touring motorcycles) are an extremely common form of transportation.  It was also not uncommon to see people transporting things on their motorcycles.  I saw more than one ladder strapped to a motorcycle, a person with two bike wheels slung around one shoulder and an arm, a lady with a young toddler in between her and a young (5ish) child.  We also so a guy on a motorized unicycle riding down the road in Cuenca.  When it comes to driving, they're fearless.  We only saw one wreck though, and it was pretty minor.  

While on the driving topic, the different vehicle brand names also amazed us.  I can recognize pretty much any emblem on a vehicle in the States, but I could only recognize maybe 1 out of every 5 in Ecuador.  Hyundai, Kia, Chevy, Isuzu, Mitsubishi, and Mazda were common brands, but there were so many others as well, several from Russia and China, or so I was told.  With all the current politics bringing tariffs to the forefront, I also wondered how America's car companies would fair in other countries.

Each village in the Andes seemed to be known for a certain trade. One town did guitars, another leather work, this one did weaving, another one was known for jewelry, etc.  I thought that was odd until I thought about how it is similar to several other cultures (past or present) that I have read about.  I have read about things like this area makes this product, it's what they are known for, everyone in town makes it, then they go to a bigger town to trade at the market for the things that the other places make.  I mean, I guess if you think about it, that is pretty much how trade worked until technology changed things.  

In general, I feel like Ecuador is on the cusp of a great growth IF they can make it happen.  Areas like Cuenca are very well developed and have embraced their history and their growth.  They are actively shaping their town and surrounding areas to bring in more international tourism and still trying to focus on the environment and their heritage while they grow.  Then you have other areas that we drove through and it's like they tried and just walked away.  The United States has both of these scenarios as well, I have driven through almost every continental state, I have seen worse areas in the States than I did in Ecuador, but Ecuador seems to have a higher volume of it.  Once again though, I only drove through a small portion of their country and I am making a hell of a lot of assumptions. And we all know what happens when you make assumptions.  Will we go back?  Yes, probably next winter.  We already have the beginnings of a plan formed.  Will we move there?  Pretty unlikely.

I think that pretty much sums up what we (or at least I) thought of Ecuador, we really weren't there long enough to get more than just a first impression, I am sure our thoughts will change the more familiar we become with it.  When we got home yesterday, we were both pretty exhausted but very happy to be home.  My mom did an excellent job taking care of our house and Milo while we were gone and our neighbors (Brian's parents) kept an eye on everything else.  Waiting for us when we came home was an early birthday present for me (cones of cotton thread for weaving💗) and a "Welcome Home" gift from Brian's dear friend and former coworker Sheila.  Sheila made sure we had everything we were missing while we were on our trip, she gave us a roll of paper towels, a roll of toilet paper, and a bar of soap.  We got a good laugh out of it and I am pretty sure I am just going to save it for our next trip to Ecuador.  Next time we will be much better prepared!