Adaptation

I haven't written in a while... my bad. To be truthful, I've gotten so into the regular flow of things here, nothing seems unusual anymore. The people, their traditions and styles, even the grand city of Quito itself, all seem to blend into the normal way of living. Because of this(and my fairly empty pockets) I have found it hard to talk about my happenings in and around Quito. I have settled into a regular pattern of balancing friends and school and fun. It's strange to think that only three-and-a-half months have passed since my arrival, but I can just feel how things are going to be so different upon my return to the States. Back in North Carolina, at the International Study Abroad Orientation, they warned us of being so acclimated to a new culture that going back to the way things were would be difficult, strange, and even somewhat alien. I didn't believe a single word of it... you are who you are, right? But within the time I have passed here in South America my thoughts and opinions have changed on many issues. A lot of the people reading this may not understand how this can happen to a person's mindset in only such a short period of time, but believe me, it does. I don't want to go further with any of my personal views on life here compared to America or anywhere else in the world; it is my opinion that opinions should be kept to one's self. Rather, I would like to discuss some of the cultural factors that have altered my perception in one way or another.

The most standing issue in Ecuador, and South America in general, is the role of the genders. In the States we're all equal. Maybe not in everyday life, but the people understand that everyone should have the same opportunities. Here, it's a different matter. In the Latin American world, one very famous term separates men and women into a very strict class division, if you will. That word is "Machisma" (Muh-Cheese-Muh). It may look a little familiar, sort of like "Macho". But while we ascertain that a "Macho-man" is probably either one of the Village People out for a night on the town or just a rude steroid junkie, the meaning here has a lot more significance. Machisma is the position that men take in regards to their female counterparts. It includes being the man of the house, knowing what is best for women, and demanding, more or less, that women realize their place as the lesser being. It is absolutely sickening to see how the women are treated, and what little effort their is to combat it. Besides a good group of students at my university, one of the only liberal universities in South America, their is hardly a soul who even tries to point out the harsh reality of gender discrimination. I have seen men literally pulling their wives or girlfriends through shopping malls, men eye-raping women like they're only purpose is to present themselves as eye-candy, and even men who will grab women in certain areas as they are walking by. This is horrible, but unfortunately it is not the sad part of the story. The worst part of it all is that the women accept it like it's the next day's sunrise. It's nothing out of the ordinary, just the way that women are supposed to act. In recent studies of HIV/AIDS transfer, it was concluded that now the largest percentage of people who have STD's or HIV is the common housewife. It doesn't make any sense at first... why are housewives becoming the largest demographic that carries these contagions? It was found out that the cause of this extremely rapid growth rate was due to the fact that a large portion of husbands in South America have mistresses who also carry the diseases. The husbands sleep around, and in a predominately Catholic society where condoms and other forms of sexual protection are taboo topics, the husbands then bring the diseases home to their wives.

Staying somewhat in the same category as gender-relations is the almost as prevalent issue of homosexuality. It turns out that due to my alternative lifestyle (I'm a hippie, sort of), I have befriended someone with an alternative lifestyle of his own. He has turned out to be one of my best friends so far on this trip, and I am thankful that it is so. He is, as you have probably guessed, a tad bit on the flamboyant side. I just lied, sorry, this kid is honestly a walking rainbow. But he has helped me understand some of his problems that he has to deal with on a daily basis. Within his first week here a homeless man, a person with barely a piece of cloth on his back and no food in his stomach, thought it in good timing to call my friend "Maracuya" as he walked by. Maracuya literally translates into "Passion fruit", but carries the same connotation here as "faggot" does in the States. Seriously?? The homeless man obviously has never heard the phrase "don't through stones in a glass house," but it still astonishes me that he blatantly showed no respect for another human being. My friend has had to meet guys on an online chat room here because most other gays are still keeping their secret to themselves because of the ridicule and shunning they will face in public. The craziest thing I have heard though, and this is no lie, is the story my friend told me of one night here in Quito. My friend had met a guy online, gone out with him a few times, and after a fruitful night of drinking merrily, decided to take things a bit further. Neither could return back to their own house... kids do not move out of their parents' houses until they are well into their twenties or even their thirties... so my friend and his new beau decided to find a motel. They drove to one and were rejected by the clerk because it was two guys trying to rent a room and not a guy and a girl. So they left and drove to another. Same story. And it happened one more time before finally just one of them rented the room and the other snuck in an hour later. How crazy is that? Three different hotels lost business that night simply due to the fact that they didn't like gays. Welcome to Quito.

These two topics are huge human rights topics, but they do not bother me on a large scale, most probably because I am a straight male living in a society dominated by straight males. But there is one issue that bothers the Hell out of me, and I briefly mentioned it in the last paragraph. The issue is the level of dependence children have on their parents. There are maybe, and I say maybe with extreme emphasis, a handful of students in my university of 5,500 that do not live at home with their parents. Kids do not normally leave home until the nights of their weddings, and this is no joke. The majority of the international students, myself included, live with host brothers or sisters that would not be able to tie their shoes if their parents were not around to do it for them. My host brother, a thirteen-year-old young adult, asks him mom to pour him water from the gallon jug when he is thirsty. If he wants seconds at dinner, mom gets it for him. He does not have a single household chore (very similar to my host father), and he is not asked to carry any weight in the family. But it isn't just him... my Ecuadorian friends in my my age group do the same things. They don't know how to wash clothes or make their beds or put their clothes away or even make a freakin hotdog in the microwave without mommy standing next to them instructing them how to do so. One of the happiest moments in my life was finally moving out of the house and being independent to the largest degree thus far in my life, but that is so not the case here. The longer you can stay at home, the better. And aside from all of this, I have not met a single Ecuadorian who has had any type of job... and I mean any type. Teenagers make up 0% of the work-force in Ecuador. They don't work in fast food resturaunts, they don't bus tables or clean dishes, they don't operate check-out lines, they don't even cut grass for an extra buck on the weekend. Laziness is the only word that comes to mind.

So their are some of my cultural concerns... I don't know how they will affect me when I land in beautiful Wilmington on May 22. But I do know that they have left an everlasting impression on me, and they are important issues I will always remember. Until next time...

Movin' My Feet

Life in Quito is still going just swell. The contemplation of remaining here has begun in my mind, so now it's just a matter of convincing the parentals and making sure I have sufficient funds. School, while still unbelievable intriguing due to the number of extremely hot Latina women, is becoming just another semester of mundane classes and doing the same in-and-out procedures that make your head numb. I am constantly making more and more Ecuadorian friends, which is probably the only reason I am enjoying myself so much. The kids here really now how to throw down and have a good time, and I seem to fit in. My host family continues to treat me like a king. And life here just keeps on getting better. So instead of writing about the city life, I have decided to write about my adventures outside of the city of Quito.

The second week I was here, the group of international students, a.k.a. "whiteys", that I clung to and I decided to head to the quaint city of Baños, about a three hour bus ride away. We arrived on a Friday night and immediately found a hostel that suited our tastes. For six dollars a night we stayed in one of the most luxurious hostels I have ever seen or heard of. While the bedrooms were of the same class as a fairly nice hotel, the view is what sealed the deal. The fourth floor patio, welcome to all late-night partiers, was situated within fifty yards of a one-hundred meter waterfall. With no development behind or around the hostel, the waterfall felt like our own, and it definitely made the night much more soothing. The next day we all coughed up dinero for a seven hour bike ride, including a superabundance of beautiful cascades and waterfalls. The most amazing of the waterfalls required us to "Gollum" our way through a narrow crevice in the side of a mountain, but it was well worth it. At one point we were able to swim in the base of another waterfall, and although my manhood turned into tiny marbles due to the extreme cold, I haven't had as much fun swimming a long while. Along the bike ride I strapped on an Ecuadorian-made harness and took a leap over a Class 4 rapid, so there was no apparent risk of danger (That's sarcasm). We returned to the actual city of Baños fairley late in the evening, so after enjoying a little of the nite-life, we allowed our aching muscles to recover. The next day was replete with crappy weather and a sore body, so while the majority of the other gringos found a horse back tour for twenty dollars each, I stayed at the hostel and enjoyed some music and the next-door waterfall. While relaxing I met a girl from Canada who traveled South America in search of an education in Macramé. Of course, with my newborn dreadlocks, I had no option but to get an intricate weaving through one of my dreads. It turned out looking marvelous, and provided a nice cap on my weekend. I hope to return to Baños soon because our hostel was in the process of installing an Olympic-sized hot tub, and I have a feeling that I need to make a guest appearance.

Next up on the list of hot spots is Atacames. Atacames is the closest beach to Quito, about a six hour bus ride. After nine hours of traveling, we reached our sandy location. The weather was nice the whole weekend. We had the sun, the surf, and the sand, three of the things I miss most from back home. Unfortunately, and I'm not eager to say this, the beach was the nastiest thing I have ever set bare-foot on. With great stupidity, we traveled to Atacames without doing much research. It turns out that Atacames is home to fifty bars, all lined up next to each other with no room to walk between. All of the bars are open on all sides, more like giant gazebos. And nothing distinguishes one bar from the other, they all look amazingly similar. The only contrasting aspect of all fifty plus of the bars is the music they play. If you walk down the row, you will hear salsa, then reggae, then merengue, then classic rock, then back to salsa. How boring. I believe I forgot to mention that the entirety of these bars lined the beach. So any and every drunk Ecuadorian, when it was time to empty a bladder or throw away a bottle, simply had to walk ten feet onto the sand in order to do so. Yum. Not to mention that one day I even witnessed parents of a small child instructing their kid to literally bury all of the family's trash in the sand. All in all, if you're not a heavy drinker, I would advise you not to go to Atacames. You will not enjoy yourself, you may actually end up hating yourself a little more for wasting your time and money.

After the first two trips, largely in groups of international students, I decided not to travel anymore until I was able to do some with local kids, plus one morning I woke up and found my wallet pretty empty. It wasn't until this past weekend that I decided to take my third adventure, only a day trip, to the inactive volcano of Cotapaxi. Cotapaxi is one of the most famous volcanoes in the world, partly because of its history, and partly because it is a challenging undertaking for climbers internationally. Although the group was in did not do the climb to the peak, which would have required days and a background in climbing experience, we trekked the path to the base-camp refuge. It took a few of the other gentlemen and myself about 45 minutes. I can't say that the ladies fared as well, taking them about twice as long. We were blessed enough to relish in a light snowfall as we climbed, allowing the hot chocolate at the top to be the best drink ever to touch the back of my throat in my life. The climb up was made difficult by the infinitesimal amount of oxygen. I was told before that it would be a tough climb, but I did honestly expect to have to stop ever two minutes to catch my breath. The Cotapaxi trip was amazing, and the two dollars it cost to traverse the mountain was the best two dollars I have ever spent.

The last trip I took was spur of the moment. The night I returned from Cotapaxi I received a text message from a couple of Ecuadorian amigos. They were going to Mindo in the morning, a very humble town known for canopy tours and zip lines. We left for Mindo at six in the morning in order to get there in enough time for the tours. Nobody in our party of six decided to bring more than twenty dollars in cash, because carrying more than that means you'll lose more than twenty dollars if, and more likely when, you get pick-pocketed. Our greatest discovery in Mindo was that there was not a single ATM within an hour radius of the city. We bought our return tickets and some beer, not knowing that the house of a friend we were supposed to stay at was later going to bail ever-so-hard on us and we would then have to find a cheap hostel. At least the beer was cheap, twelve 24oz beers for eight dollars. What a deal. We found a hostel and literally spent the rest of the day walking through the dense forest, almost a jungle, receiving a fair share of mosquito bites and pleasant visits from my best friend the spider. We found a free salsa bar to occupy our night, as we were on our last 15 dollars for the group by 3:00 in the afternoon. After dancing the night away, we threw in the towel. The next morning we spent the remainder of our pool on a one way ticket into the jungle where we would be able to bush-wack our way to a series of waterfalls and natural springs. The waterfalls we found were absolutely breathtaking, and there were very few other people, so we took advantage of the opportunity and enjoyed the waterfalls to their full extent... we jumped!! At least twenty meters of pure adrenaline, followed by another episode of my manhood shrinking due to Mother Nature. We had to plead and bargain our way to get back to the city with only five dollars leftover, but we were able to do so in the bed of a pickup truck. We made it back to our bus stop as the bus was taking off, but thankfully they were nice Ecuadorians and stopped for us.

My trips thus far have been exciting and new for me, and also very cheap in comparison to any trip you can go on in the States. I have one more plan to travel to a remote beach for our vacation in November. The beach is called Canoa, and there will be plenty of sun and surf and very little trash, or so I've read and been told. Hopefully it's not a lie. I will probably adventure into more parts of Ecuador if I stay for another semester, but more or less I have visited the main regions of Ecuador and often a fell for what the country is like all over. I love this place...

Fear and Loathing in Ecuador

If half the kids I knew from back home were here right now, they would have empty wallets and a stomach full of booze. I have heard of kids going to pretty much any other country in the world and enjoying the 18 year-old drinking age, but I definitely overestimated how tied to alcohol any country could be...

Just two weeks ago, Ecuador voted on a new constitution, a constitution written by a new president who assured his people that if the new document didn't pass, he would remove himself from office. This is coming from the eight president of Ecuador in the past ten years, so his words were not taken lighthearted. When the people here don't like a president, they overthrow him, no hesitating, no delaying, no trying to find alternative solutions. He's out, hasta la vista, baby. That is why the current president, Rafael Correa, had to make sure that his new constitution suited the desires of the rich and the poor, or he would find himself amongst the latter shortly after his new proposal would fail. Luckily for him, Ecuador, like America, wants change, and that's exactly what the new constitution brought to many people. "Vota Sí" was graffitied all over the city, and I mean from top to bottom of every wall on every street corner. My favorite had an American twist to it: "HEY BRO,Vota Sí!" Of course with catchy propaganda like that, no one had a choice but to be persuaded into voting yes for the 444 article constitution. And so it passed, but in a democratic manner with a slight variation. Voting here is obligatory, eghteen years and above. If you don't vote, you will surely find your rights stripped away the next time you enter customs or have a not-so-friendly run in with the police. Because voting is mandatory, for the five days surrounding the vote, alcohol is completely prohibited.

...And so here I am, trying to show you the importance of alcohol here. Ths long, dry weekend left the city of Quito, again, a city with a population of over 2 million, completely and utterly silent. Not a single college kid on the streets looking for a discotec, not a single old man passed out on a bus or under some stairs because he thought happy hour meant from 7 am till whenever you're happy. I have definitely hit the bottle here, not near as hard as some of my other American or English friends. But I do have to say that it was one of the most boring weekends ever, and all because of alcohol.

I have met a lot of new friends since arriving here from all over the world. We've got the States, Canada, Egypt, the UK, Australia, Switzerland, and even New Guinea representing the gringo population, plus the remainder of South America. Some of the friendships I have made will surely last past or experiences here in Ecuador, and for that I am thankful. But to be completely honest, the coolest kids I have met are the locals themselves. Growing up around such low levels of poverty and in such a rough political setting has led many of the Ecuadorians my age to thoroughly enjoy life to the fullest. Very little is taken for granted, and these kids know how to take the dullest moments and turn them into pure fun. It really puts a damper on my views of back home, and how many things we ignore we have on a day to day basis. Not to say that anybody I know i spoiled or greedy, but it really puts things into perspective when you hang out with kids who have lived a crap-life, who really had to push and push in order to get into just a regular public school so they didn't end up as one of the bus-vendors selling ice cream or banana chips. I beginning to become a little more grateful for what I have, and the opportunity to be here, which is, I guess, one of the main reasons I came besides for my education. All in all, it's just one giant eye-opener.

Apart from the humbleness of the locals, it is amazing to see how nice they treat gringos. I have made a few Ecua-friends who are the best hosts ever. They takes us to museums and churches and art exhibits and salsa clubs, and overall they just completely immerse us in South American culture. If not for these Ecuadorians, my trip would surely be a lot more sour. Seeing these things from the eyes of kids your own age is so much more impressive than traveling with your host family or a group of American international kids, a.k.a. tourists. I have felt at home with the new friends I have made, and hopefully I will be able to show them just the same amount of fun should they ever visit the states.

Catching up

So, it’s been about a month since I last blogged it up. I quickly discovered how hard it is not only to find time to write, but also to find a good internet connection. Apart from taking a plethora of different buses to find a decent internet café, finding a reliable internet source is very difficult. But anyhoo, here’s the next installment of my grand adventure here in Quito.

Week one of orientation and classes went by without problem. The university I am studying at, La Universidad de San Francisco de Quito, is a very quaint but extremely beautiful university. While the campus is only about a three minute walk from end to end, the landscape and architecture are compared to none other. Cobblestone sidewalks are lined with huge palm trees, buildings all interconnect through marble staircases and neat little side hallways, and a waterfall in the heart of the campus constantly feeds a pretty lake replete with a multitude of fish. The best thing USFQ has to offer, though, would have to be the chiquitas. There is not a doubt in my mind that every gorgeous latina (with rich parents to boast) attends USFQ. I am constantly wondering why the university has even spent the money on landscaping and architecture when surely there is hardly else any straight guy could look at. Miss Quito 2008 herself goes to USFQ. Fortunately for me, my light eyes and straight teeth are a rarity, so I’m thinking if I play my cards right I should be able to walk out of this experience with a souvenir family (Just a joke, Mom).

My classes, all in all, are fairly easy. Intro to International Relations, my only class in English, is a very amusing class simply because I pretty much represent the United States, and all of our discussions tend to end up with me defending the states in whichever way I can. The two Spanish classes I am taking are guaranteed A’s, so long as I do what I do best and open my mouth. Finally I have Climate Change, which proves to be a challenge because of the advanced Spanish vocabulary that I am not so familiar with. Luckily, we are taught the principles of climate change and global warming since the third grade back home, and here it is not a topic to discuss until you are at a college level. “Greenhouse gases” was a new concept to a lot of the students in my class. I am almost certain that I will take this light load of classes and turn it into a very decent GPA.

Aside from school, which I only have on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I recently got a job! I am working at Ilingua, an international language academy. I work on the days I don’t go to school, minus the weekends. I am sent out to different corporations and businesses such as lawyer’s offices to teach business English. I have to arrange lesson plans, distribute homework, and keep track of how all my so-called students are doing. It is not tough, especially since the first day of class I am allowed to implement a “No Spanish” rule. As of now my pay is uncertain, but I will be making anywhere between 6 and 7 dollars an hour. That may seem like a very small amount compared to the States, but considering that minimum wage here is 200 dollars a month filled with full time- 40 hour work-weeks, I think I am doing quite well.

I have done so many exciting things since my arrival. The first thing I made sure to check off my list, though, was getting the dreadlocks I had been awaiting for a very long time. It took a plane ride out of the states to be far enough away from the parentals so that I could get them hassle-free. It was one of the coolest, and sketchiest experiences of my life. I spent five and-a-half hours on a dark street corner in Plaza Foch, an area know for mass crime less than five years ago, and a couple of questionable “hair-stylists” to get the job done. I have never felt so much pain over such a long period of time, but I have to say that I am very happy with the end result. In a couple of months I expect my locks to be well matured and looking marvelous.

¡Estoy aquí!

After months and months of planning, I'm finally here. And I must say, I couldn't have chosen a better location. The city of Quito is nestled in the heart of the Andes Mountain range in Ecuador. A total of six and a half hours on a plane (Or what could pass as a plane since I flew Delta) heading straight South led me to one of the largest hubs in South America. From what I have learned from various guides and the internet, Quito is 23 miles long and about 2-3 miles wide. This was more than apparent from my plane window. The 9:45 landing gave for the perfect view of the city at night, entirely lit up, entirely as busy as during the day. After going through customs (whoever said patience is a virtue never traveled abroad), I soon met the most lovable family that Quito has to offer.

Ana Cecilia, or Anita, is the caring mother of Sebastián, my 12-year-old "hermanito". The man of the house is Borýs, a software programmer. Anita works for Colgate-Palmolive as a sales representative, which fortunately leaves me with all of the free toothpaste and soap I could ever desire. Sebastián attends school when he's not asking me questions about life in America and what my family is like. I have never met a kid who can talk so much, but I guess it's better than having a little brother who doesn't talk at all. They live in an apartment in the North side of Quito on the sixth floor. From the patio you can see the majority of the lay of the city and the mountains that provide the most awe-inspiring backdrop you could ever imagine. Pictures really can't capture how beautiful the scenery is, outside of the city, of course. Within Quito there is the most distinct class division I have ever laid eyes on. At every traffic stop (I would say traffic light, but I think there's like 3 in the whole city), kids as young as 4 and women as old as 137 offer to sell various fruits, drinks, or just ask for money plain and simple. It is often heartbreaking to say "no" to a young "pobrecito", but is necessary in order to ensure that a million more don't attack your car while stopped.

The only thing I am so far afraid of is being on the road. There is only one rule when driving, and that is "Do what you want." Nobody heeds any signs or lane markings, if there are any. I still have yet to see a speed limit sign or a police officer who has pulled over any car for any violation whatsoever. Es muy loco. If you don't like the way another driver is handling their vehicle, you let them know by honking your horn and giving them peaceful body gestures. Apparently, nobody is pleased with anybody else's driving skills, because horns are blaring all day and well into the night. The scariest thing is the lack of respect for pedestrians. I dare anybody to come here and walk across a street with oncoming traffic a couple hundred feet away, and just see if they slow down. If anything, they'll speed up and call you lovely names as they play God with your life.

Aside from the constant noise you will find in a big city and the realization that the poorest person in America is better off than half the people here, it is calming to say that the weather is more than delightful. Although Quito is extremely close to the equator, it's altitude of about 9,200 feet allows the climate to consistently remain in the upper-60's to lower-80's all year long during the day. At night, the temperature drops about twenty degrees. There are no floral seasons in Ecuador, just a dry season and a wet season. You can wear shorts and t-shirt or pants and a coat, and you'll be fine either way. The only thing I mistook from living at the beach for so long is the strength of the sun here. Twenty minutes outside without sunblock, cloudy or not, will surely leave you with a cute red hue glued to all of your exposed skin. I know this one from personal experience, but thankfully I did not get burned that bad.

So all in all, I am more than ecstatic to finally be here, living amongst the Ecuatorianos and learning so many things that one would never even have the opportunity to do in the States. I have a solid couple of days to explore the city before I begin my classes on Thursday, which I am kind of dreading now that I know how hard Spanish is to understand when it is not being spoken by your Spanish teacher. But I'll manage. That's it for now... ¡hasta luego!