Quiteño Quirks: 2nd Edition

Does "Silence Mode" exist?
In Ecuador, no. No matter if Ecuadorians are in class, in a business meeting, eating with others, talking with the President, you get the picture, but they never turn their phones off. I feel like a national public ad about how exactly to turn on the silence mode should be in order.


You're so vain:
One thing about Ecuador that I never would have expected is that the majority of Ecuadorians are slightly obsessed with their image. Most Ecuadorians get all of their clothes from the U.S. or Columbia (or basically anywhere but Ecuador) and talk about clothes...a lot. There are also tons of advertisements for plastic surgery and seeing bandages on noses and faces is a common occurrence. But what is even stranger is that lots of people who can't afford it will just put bandages on their noses so it appears like they've had work done. Welcome to Ecuador and please don't mind my bandaged face...I promised I wasn't robbed.


Stealing and safety:
Branching off from my last point, unfortunately being robbed IS a very common occurrence. Although as gringos we're definitely targets (my phone was robbed along with about seven of my friends, two of my friends were robbed at knife point, and one was robbed at gun point), Ecuadorians also frequently get robbed. For example, my friend's host brother has been robbed over ten times, and once at gun point. Because it's so unsafe, you absolutely can not walk around after dark, even in small groups. The reason that petty crime is so prevalent is what disgusts me the most. I wish I was lying, but in Ecuador as long as someone doesn't steal more than $400 worth of stuff, they will not be prosecuted. The government's reasoning is that because petty crime is rampant, there is not sufficient space in prisons, but more importantly, that they don't want petty criminals to learn worse things while they are in jail. Therefore, robbery is basically legal. Cool, Ecuador, cool.


Latin American Men Obsession: whistling
Ever rolled out of bed, thrown on some flip flops, pants, and a jacket and thought of how messy you looked? Don't worry because everyday in Latin America this same outfit will make you feel like a supermodel because the men will wolf-whistle all day. I wish I was kidding because this is SO annoying. Learn quickly not to look because this only reinforces their habit.


Latin American Women Obsession: food 
Okay as a huge foodie, I understand the importance of food. I get it! But what I don't get is how the women here are obsessed with all things related to food. If you're in the kitchen, they will follow and stick with you like your pesky criminal record. If you're eating with them, they will practically force-feed you until you eat the exorbitant amount of food on your plate (EAT! Your mom in the U.S. is going to think I didn't feed you!). And if they're not physically bugging you, they'll spend all afternoon talking about food and being overweight. Thank GOD my host mom does not do any of these things. Instead she always is amazed and baffled by my downright love for food and by the sheer amount that I consume. Sadly, she is not the first.


Hace frío!

Even though I am from North Carolina and the winters are not exactly intense (whatever, I still think it's cold in NC), I have decided that Ecuadorians would die in the NC winter. Right now in Ecuador it is currently "winter" (please notice the quotation marks), which means that the daily high is about 70 instead of 75 like the "summer." I still get a kick out of the amount of times most Ecuadorians remark about the freezing 55 degrees every day.




Sacagawea coins:
Having a panic attack because you can't remember the last time you saw one of these beautiful inventions? Fear not, friend because ALL of the Sacagawea coins are in Ecuador. This is not an exaggeration. There are literally no more in the U.S.

The tale of the bruised hands

After my day spent with the bioplaguicides and extracts living the farm life, I spent Saturday and Sunday in Quito.

Kaya and her family were nice enough to invite us over for paella and sangria for lunch on Saturday. Sorry Dad, but you've got some big competition now. After the incredible lunch, we hung out on one of (not kidding, TWO) of the family's greenhouses.

The work of art: paella

Noah, Kaya's host dad, me, Hannah, Kaya, and Andrés livin' it up in the greenhouse

That night I went over the Hannah's house and we watched the world's best combination of movie: rom-com AND Christmas. If your mind isn't already blown, watch Crazy, Stupid Love because it was most excellent.

Sunday morning my alarm rudely went off at 6:45am, but vale la pena because I met up with Katie S. and her host family to finally go biking. After questioning my physical fitness abilities (phew, I passed) Katie's host brother and Dad took us to El Chaquiñán, which is a 30 kilometer trail through Cumbayá and Tumbaco that follows old train tracks. We had THE most beautiful morning and enjoyed the 5 hour bike ride across mountains, over bridges, through tunnels, and with several refreshment stops along the way. Although the ride was beautiful, our super classy bikes (read: $5 for the day) weren't too cushion-y and although my butt wasn't hurt (score!), my hands were raw and bruised for the next couple of days.

(Photo from Google)

Roses, roses, and more roses

One of the things that you'll notice when you travel around Ecuador is that there are rose farms...everywhere. The greenhouses dot almost all of the mountains and because of their pervasiveness, roses are extremely cheap here.

On Friday I went with my Agroecology class two different rose farms, one conventional and one organic. Our entire class fit in one car equipped with a snorkel! Okay so the class is only 6 people, but the snorkel part is true. Anyway, the first farm used pesticides, but also used some sustainable tactics. One thing they did was put covers on all of the roses to preserve their color and protect them from the sun.

Blue covers to protect the roses

They also take the stems without buds and bend them towards the ground. This way all of the sun's energy is directed toward the stalks with roses. We also got to see the packaging process. After being cut, the roses are sent out in 3-10 days. After they are selected and packaged, they go into a refrigerator for up to four days.

So. many. greenhouses.

The selection process

Brr! It's cold in hurr! Inside the fridge

After stopping for breakfast, we went to the next farm, which is completely organic. We learned about and saw so many organic processes...it was an environmental scientist's dream. The farm doesn't use any pesticides and instead uses bioplaguicides and biofertilizers. They had hundreds of large containers of the natural pesticides and contained ingredients like garlic, chamomile, yeast, burnt bones, cow waste, and rice casing.

Some of the buckets of extracts and biofertilizers

Yummm...fermenting extract

Other than natural chemicals, they also use physical methods to stop bugs. They use large banners of white sticky paper that bugs stick to, and then die.

Sticky banner that catches bugs

Even in the final packaging process, the farm doesn't use an chemicals to remove any final bugs. Instead they uses citric solutions before they sort the roses.

My mom would be in heaven

The rainbow of packaged roses

Although that was a pretty nerdy blog post, I redeemed myself that night by going out. I went with a big group of my friends to La Ronda, a narrow street in the historic district that has a plethora of bars playing live music. While we were there, we tried the delicious Canelazo drink. Just kidding...although the idea of hot sugar cane alcohol flavored with natural fruits sounds quite rico, it was disgusting. After choking down the thick drink, we finished the night out at the Foch (also known as Gringolandia) with some more of our famous dancing. All I can say is that if you're on the dance floor, look out.

Más tiempo con la familia

As the semester starts to draw to a close, I have been making a conscious effort to spend more time with family here. The host family experience has been the best part of my time in Ecuador and it's something that I'll definitely miss!

Tuesday was 6 de diciembre (the founding day of Quito), and therefore another vacation day. Pablo and the family came over for the day. It was another great day of playing with Gabriel, the baby, and helping Emeliano in his constant quest for sweets by making a cake (we get along very well, despite the age difference).

Wednesday night I skipped my FLACSO class in order to go to Cumbayá with my host mom to see Martin, the oldest boy of the family, play in his piano concert at his colegio. The kids (from 3rd to 10th grade) played great American, Christmas, and Ecuadorian pieces and were extremely cute in the process. A couple of interesting things that I noted about Martin's colegio: there were more English signs than Spanish ones, the colegio was huge and really nice, and that almost every child was light skinned. Considering the high percentage of Afro-Ecuadorians and indigenous people in Ecuador, I thought it was really interesting to see so many white people. I don't want this to sound racist, but considering my class is all about afro and indigenous rights, I thought that this was the perfect example about the large class difference in this country. Just something to chew on!

Martin is the one in the very back, relatively in the center of the photo

The group of pianists

Galapagos Islands and Tortugrafía

For our fourth and final program trip, we got to go to one of the seven wonders of the world- THE GALAPAGOS! Compared to our other program trips, where we lived without running water and spent our time in charlas, the Galapagos was much less educational and only for vacation.

Friday morning was spent on airplanes. Even though the entire flight was only about two hours, we received a full meal that actually tasted good. Ecuadorian planes > American planes. Our first island for the weekend was called San Cristóbal, which had a town in addition to the airport. After a delicious lunch, we met our boat at a beautiful beach. We were breath taken by the white sand, black rocks, and crystal clear water as well as our first introduction with the locals. What they say about animals at the Galapagos is true...they come right up to you! 

The beautiful bay area

Meeting our first local

Sea lions were everywhere- on the docks, benches, & boats

We all piled on the boat and spent the rest of the afternoon snorkling. Our first stop was Isla Lobos (Sea Lion Island) where we got a foot away from a group of 20 playing baby sea lions.

Next we went to León Dormido (Sleeping Lion) where we saw tons of sea turles (so cool!), glow-in-the-dark-esque sea urchins, and colorful starfish.

Our final destination for the day was Playa Grande where we saw our first marine iguana and got to watch the beginning of the sunset. Qué lindo!

Playa Grande

Getting to another local: the marine iguana

Red crabs as the sun set

Me with the sun setting in the back

Saturday morning we boarded another huge boat and after poppin' some (sea sickness) pills, drove over two hours to our next island destination, Santa Cruz. As we drove up to the dock, we got to see a marine iguana in action.

Next we went to the Charles Darwin Station, which is a laboratory, research, and rehabilitation center for turtles and iguanas. We learned about the fourteen different species of land tortoises (but 3 are now extinct) endemic to the Galapagos about their rehabilitation efforts. We also had the honor of meeting Solitary George, who is over 100 years old, more than 500 pounds, and is the last member of his species. All attempts at breeding George have failed thus far, although a couple of years ago they discovered two fertilized eggs in his enclosure, but they later died. George was a little shy so we only got a view of his butt, but it was pretty incredible to see the famous George (seriously, almost everyone in the world knows his tale).

Baby turtles

Solitary George gettin' wild and crazy (but he deserves to rest...he's got a lot of pressure on him!)

One of the many land tortoises we saw

Terrestrial iguana

The last part of Saturday involved going to the beach, called la Bahia Tortuga (Turtle Bay). Words alone (and not even pictures) can do this beach justice.

The locals were just so friendly

After a night of relaxing in the beautiful pool and hot tub at the pool, we woke up Sunday morning and took another long boat ride to Isla Floreana. We learned all about a German couple that fled and colonized the then deserted island. The Wittmer family arrived to the island in 1932 and lived off the island until the Baronness Wagner de Bosquet, Lorenz, Phillipson and the Ecuadorian Valdivieso arrived. After a series of mysterious assassinations and disappearences, Margaret Wittmer was the only one left on the island. She set up a hotel which remains on the island.

Other than the Wittmer house and hotel, we saw the trickling waterfall that provides freshwater to the island, pretty flowers...that are made into date-rape drugs (run when the wind blows your way!), and a group of 30 huge tortoises.

Brings a whole new meaning to the term "dangerously pretty"

Then we saw caves (made by pirates!) in the natural rock formations as well as a carved statue. Apparently pirates had a lot of extra free time.

After lunch we finally got to see the ever elusive Blue-footed Booby (too many boob jokes to count), which, along with the tortoise, serves as the symbol of the Galapagos.

Blue-footed Booby, blue feet exposed and all

Although all morning the weather had been misty and cold, we put our snorkling gear back on and (reluctantly) jumped in the icy cold water. However, the cold was definitely worth it as this was the best snorkling spot. The hundreds of huge fish, plants, and other sea creatures were astoundingly beautiful and some of my friends even got to see a Galapagos penguin!

Me, Bethany, and Kaitlyn getting ready to snorkel

After another night of relaxing in the hot tub, Monday morning was our last day in the Galapagos. We drove to Hacienda Primicias, which is a tortoise refuge. After taking a bunch of silly pictures inside of a giant tortoise shell, we saw a pond where about 20 ginormous tortoises were relaxing. We took a bunch of pictures with the turtles, and one of my friends coined the term tortu-grafía. So witty.

The group with our turtle friends!

Then we headed to the airport where we met a nice surprise: we got to go on an earlier flight AND the entire plane was basically empty. Translation: TWO free airplane meals! Score!

The Duke in the Andes personal plane