Quilotoa and Study Abroad Assignment

A couple weeks ago, I went with my friends Megan and Stephanie to a lagoon in a crater in a volcano called Quilotoa. To get there we took the bus to Latacunga, and then took another bus to a tiny little town called Zumbahua. From Zumbahua, we hired a ride to take us the rest of the way to Quilotoa. This ride was a fun experience as there were four of us squeezed into the front of a truck (somebody got to sit on somebody's lap each way), for a very bumpy ride, in the rain, with no windshield wipers. We got to the Lagoon safe and sound though, and then started a little walk down a very muddy trail to get a view of the lagoon. The trail was actually very long, but we did not go the whole way. Just to a nice view point, or, what would have been a nice view point if you had been able to see anything through the very dense fog. We decided to hang out at our view point for a little while, eat some fruit, take some pictures, and during this time, the fog started to clear. So then we legitimately took pictures as the view continued to improve. It was rather cold though, so after awhile we headed back up the trail and went to a little café where we had soup and tea, and then got back in our crazy truck to go back to Zumbahua. It had stopped raining while we were at the lagoon, but it was raining again when we arrived in Zumbahua. We then got to spend an hour in the rain waiting for a bus to come through that was going back to Latacunga. When we finally got on that bus, there weren't enough seats, so I got to stand the whole time. With the buses in Ecuador when traveling outside of the city, the way the prices generally work is that it costs $1 an hour. The man collecting money on the bus told us that it was going to be $1.25. We were okay with this, but then the people around me started telling me that it was actually only $1 and he was trying to rip us off. So we questioned him, at which point he told us flat out, foreigners pay more.
We got back to Latacunga, and then got another bus back to Quito. On the way into Quito we passed by the trolebus station and Megan and Stephanie both got off there, and I kept going to Terminal Terrestre to get a cab. At Terminal Terrestre, there are lots of cab drivers there waiting for the people to get off buses, but they always want to rip you off. Especially because they know you don't really have another option, especially at night, as it's not the safest part of Quito. I had spent more money than I had planned during the day and only had $3 left. So I got off the bus and a guy asked me right away if I needed a cab, so I told him I needed to go to Mariana de Jesus and asked him how much that would cost (you can barter for prices when leaving Terminal Terrestre as they don't use the meters then). He told me $4, and I told him I had $3, and we went back and forth for awhile. He told me $4 was a fair price (which it's not), and even got his other taxi driver friends to tell me that $4 was a fair price. But we did eventually settle on $3, and walked over to his cab. Which turned out to be an unmarked car. Although not my smartest decision, and not something I would do again, although it worked out fine this time, I got in. He turned out to be a nice guy and we talked on the way home, mostly about Ecuador and places I've been. He's from Riobamba. He also told me how difficult it is for Ecuadorians to get Visas to go to the US, but he really wants to go. He asked me how I like the food here, and I said I loved it, and he said that there are a lot of really good meats here, at which point I told him I was vegetarian, which he found hilarious.
All in all, it was a good day, and a good adventure.
As part of being abroad, I have some questions to think about and answer in terms of life in Ecuador, so I am going to try to answer those now.
One of the things I did for my assignment was talk to the nanny who works in my house, Mirella. Mirella is 23, has 3 kids, and is a single mother. She lives at my house Monday through Friday, and the whole time I've been here, I've been feeling sorry for her because she only gets to see her kids on the weekends. I recently found out though that her kids live in Cuenca with their grandmother and the rest of her family. This means that she does not get to see them most weekends as Cuenca is an 11-13 hour bus ride, or a plane ride away, and she does not have the money to go see them more than once every month or two. She stays here though because she has a job, and in that particular sector of jobs, it is hard to find work, and harder to find work with decent pay. Ecuador has a machismo culture, which translates to families as well. Men are not required to help in the situations of single mother, or a family that gets divorced. The kids are the mother's responsibility, no questions asked, and the father has no obligations either in the legal sense, or what is culturally acceptable. Mirella told me that once she asked the father for help, but he said no, and in such a rude and mocking way that she will never ask him again. This is a part of her life that is determined by culture.
Mirella is one of 13 kids, and she is the only one who does not live in Cuenca. In Ecuador, families tend to stay close, even once they have married and have families, or have moved out of the house. My host brother Fausto lives with his wife and child in an apartment that is attached to my house, and my 28 year old sister still lives at home. This is VERY normal. So Mirella really branched out by going to Cuenca, and she does miss her family, especially her kids, terribly. She plans to never leave Ecuador as that would be far, too far, away from her family and she can't imagine living her life like that. This is both culture, and her own personality. My host sister on the other hand, has broken the cultural norms in that she is very independent. She loves her family very much of course, but also loves to travel and has traveled all over Europe, and various other places as well. When I got here she was in Argentina where she was living for 6 months. She was there for work, but it was not a great sacrifice to her. She is also looking for an apartment to move into, which makes my host mom very sad as she is "only" 28.
The other thing I'm going to address is perceptions of the US in Ecuador. First let it be said that no Ecuadorian likes George Bush and there was A LOT of excitement here when Obama won the election. In general though, the US is seen as a place of opportunity for Ecuadorians. For instance, my taxi driver who desperately wants to go to America, and asked me, half joking, if there was anyway I could take him back with me. Gringas in Ecuador attract a lot of attention, and part of the time, especially with the more serious people who hit you up as you walk down the street, you know that the reason is a chance at America. It's the Green Card effect. Another reason though, that gringas draw a lot of attention, is from the people who believe stereotypes about American girls, such as that they are all easy, and all rich, either of which could result well for the guys calling out to them. There is an overall perception that Americans are rich, which you find in situations such as bartering, when the prices start WAY too high. It's kind of a shock to a lot of people that I work, let alone that I work more than one job, when I'm at home, because they don't think of Americans as having to work that much. And I for sure, am not rich. The most common question that I hear though when people here I am from the US, whether it be from my family, a street vendor, a security guard, etc. is, "Have you been to/are you from Florida/Miami or New York?" These are the places that most Ecuadorians have been if they have been able to get to the states, or they know somebody there, or their cousin has a friend there, or they once worked with a guy who's brother had a friend who went there. I have met one man who went to Oregon though. These are the general perceptions about America, life in America, and people from America.
I will be posting another blog in the near future about my AMAZING trip to the rainforest, and then, in less than a month, I'll be home!