"Survivor" - Ecuador

October 6, 2012

My Cousin Todd

You ever have days where you feel like this????
I’ve been much more emotional, less energetic, and at times, overly “thin-skinned” and sensitive than usual for the last couple of months…
And I don’t think it’s just me: I’ve talked to a lot of people lately who seem to be experiencing the same thing.

 

I’m pretty sure it’s not “culture shock” *, since we’ve been coming to Ecuador for five years, and lived here permanently for over two of those (though I am a little disappointed in myself that my español isn’t as fluent as I had hoped by now).
But it seems that quite a few generally “normal” situations are going sideways at the moment.

 

 

Like take for instance,
this stupid baking tray I bought
that had the label FIRMLY stuck on.
 By the time I got the label scrubbed off,
most of the teflon had been scoured off as well.
Rendering it perfectly useless for baking.
Which happened to me in the States as well.
WHO are these sadists who come up with
these stupid ideas?
 What were they thinking?
Aren't they aware that a few drops of
rubber glue is sufficient?
WHY do they have to
cement these things on?

 

Who knows?
May be the planets are in the wrong alignment; may be I’ve gone too long without real Mexican food;   perhaps it’s “karma” coming back; it could be menopause (which I thought long past) taking a whack at me one last time.

Todd and I went to Quito a couple of weeks ago (for 3 days) to take care of some paperwork/business. We busted our butts to take care of last minute business in Olón, had to spend a wad of dinero to fly there from Guayaquil ($80-90/one way – depending on airline and flight times) on a Tuesday flight to make a scheduled  Wednesday morning appointment with attorney. Which of course, ended up being delayed “till later – not everything ready”. 
Which we knew to expect, and had decided beforehand not to let our expectations be too unrealistic. 

We stayed at the Magic Bean ($40 per night/private double room/continental breakfast included) in the popular gringo Mariscal tourist district – okay place to stay if you’re there for a few days or an overnight stop, but can get loud at night because of its location. But the staff is very friendly and helpful.

 

“Mission” was accomplished by late Thursday afternoon (at least I think it was) in time for our Friday trip home (we were going to take the scenic/cheaper 12-hr bus trip back to Olón, but by then, we couldn’t wait to get  home, and spent another wad of money to fly (without reservations, including  a long wait for first available flight on a Friday) from Quito to GYE, connect with one of our drivers once there, and get back to Olon by late Friday night.

The weather was glorious and sunny/cloudless in Quito while we were there - an absolutely perfect time  to do some site-seeing, like taking the TelefériQo cable up the mountain, or to visit the nearby  Equator museums especially because we were there during the “fall equinox”- which on the “day of”, no shadow cast if you are standing there. In particular, I recommend the Inti-Ňan site (which is the true GPS location). Pretty "touristy", but interesting, informative, and fun.

("Coincidently", exactly 5 years ago to the week, I stood there for the first time, the day after the equinox).

 

But we ended up spending most of time on “stand-by” in the hostal room waiting. By then we were both so crabby with the Ecuadorian bureaucracy (and frankly, with Quito in general by this point), we were starting to snipe at each other out of our frustration.

It happens down here, folks…
For sure, expect that expatriating to a new country (any new country, not just Ecuador) CAN be hard on the best of relationships (and this is something not always talked about/admitted to frankly on the ex-pat forums or blogs).

Which segues right into my next current aggravation:
 
It is a small world here, and the gossip and innuendos and “hearsay” among the gringo expats/”wannabe” expats CAN and DOES get out of hand at times.  There are a number of several good Ecuador-geared expat forums (mostly on Facebook) that are wonderful resources for information, but often threads get off topic, or lean towards differences that would be  better addressed in private emails rather than being “aired” in public. Often when the topics veer off subject, the comments are funny, but lately on some of the forums, the comments have taken a nasty turn, which is too bad, because – after all – we are all in this together.

I’ve gotten a lot of private emails regarding some of these situations (MORE information than I care to know), have been very distressed by some of these conversations, and have found myself spending WAAAY more time than I care to, responding to many of those.
And I am experiencing the sense of a couple of impending votes against me during the next few “tribal council(s) ---- she said laughing".

 

 

Okay, now to completely change the topic:

 

President Correa gave his Saturday morning speech from beach spot in Montanita last Saturday. I was running late getting there, but quickly made a handmade sign that said “Gringos for Correa” to hold up during the speech.  I suppose I arrived at the event about an hour after it started, and ended up in the back crowd standing behind the 100 or so seats/roaming media cameras set up in front/near the stage.
There was a large contingent of uniformed security present, but no one was “screened” by x-ray scanners, etc. This is the second time since we’ve moved here that President Correa has visited our area, and I am always astonished at his “accessibility” to the public (as opposed to the security measures implemented in the States in similar circumstances).

 

 

 

 
But what also surprises me is the somewhat "blasé" attitude of a number of locals who seem to take it as a "matter of course" that the PRESIDENT of their country is nearby. Only 50 yards away from his platform/stage, folks were surfing, having pic-nics, etc, as usual and didn't seem to take much notice of President Correa's presence (other than the ever present roaming vendors). 

   

 

 

 

 

(As an aside comment, I try my best to keep this blog non-political, because I am neither an expert on USA nor Ecuadorian politics, policies, or governmental issues –though for sure, I have my own opinions. I will only mention for now that anyone living/considering moving down here should read the book “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” by John Perkins, and “Collapse” by Jared Diamond (long slog to read, but worth it).  

We think President Correa is doing a darn good job running this country (not to say that we agree with all his policies, but we do support the sense of stability he has given Ecuador during his tenure, and frankly glad for his stance on giving J. Assange asylum in Britain, and for not backing down on Hague agreement(s) regarding foreign embassy sovereignty status.

Shortly after I arrived and holding my sign up high from the back, I was told by a guy in plaid shirt (who I assumed to be a “plain-clothes”security guy) to hold the sign down. I wasn’t sure if he was saying I was “blocking the view” or I wasn’t allowed to do it. So I drifted further towards the ocean, and further away from the stage, still holding the sign waist-high, and was chatting with a few Ecuadorian and gringo friends when several of Correa’s media coordinators (?) wearing official tee-shirts came and “got me”.

 

At first, I was a little scared about being singled-out, and wasn’t sure if I was in trouble or not. As it turns out, they led me through the uniformed security, opened a seat for me to sit nearer the stage (and the roaming “live” crowd TV camera boom) and indicated that I should hold my sign up high. 

I sat and listened to the last hour of Correa’s presentation (though I probably only understood about every tenth word) and I did what I do when watching football or soccer games (the rules of these games are as foreign to me as Spanish): I enthusiastically waved my sign when everyone else cheered and were waving Ecuadorian flags.

 

 

 

* A great book to read is Nicholas Crowder's book "Culture Shock", which covers a number of subjects not normally found in other Ecuadorian travel books.