Shopping Time

Part of the compensation package at our school was a “settling in allowance.” The amount of money was also larger since Shannon and I aren’t married and it is a great asset to help with apartment down payments, furniture, food, and anything else you need upon arrival.

The first place we went was to the cell phone store. We were all instructed to unlock our phones in our previous countries so they would work oversees. When we got to the cell phone store, we found out it is Ecuadorian law that you cannot have a phone plan unless you have been a resident for more than 6 months. So here we are, a bunch of professionals used to the finer things in life like wine, good credit scores, and entitlement; and we were told we had to go back to prepaid phones like we were zit-faced teenagers who couldn’t be trusted to hold a phone without dropping it into a bowl of nacho cheese while taking a selfie. Oh well, we set up our prepaid phones with our Ecuadorian cell phone company, Movistar and we were on our way.

Once people had apartments, the school took them to the bank with their checks and waited while we cashed them. While waiting in line, we felt the room move and shake and realized after a second or two that we were having an earthquake. All of the teachers looked around for guidance like a tiny infant bumping their head deciding whether to cry or laugh. The Quitenos all turned to look at us to see if we would react and then muttered and smiled as if to say “Foolish Gringos…” No one even got out of line at the bank. I repeat, there was an earthquake (a  4.8 we would later find out, not that big of a deal but still) and no one even got out of line. Of course, we took our ques from the Quitenos and kept our place as well, thus proving our bravery and/or foolishness or something.

When we finally got to the front of the line, we cashed our checks and let me tell you, it is unsettling to know that you are cashing a check that you didn’t reallllllllllllllllly earn that is greater than a third of what the average person makes in your new country. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad they gave it to us, but it makes you a little nervous when you are in a bank and a mall and you stick out like a green thumb because of your culture and on top of that you have an uncomfortable amount of money in your pocket. Another variable to this equation is that the banks give these large sums in 10s and 20s, so your pockets stick out like you’re trying to smuggle juice boxes.

It was all good though because we immediately spent half of that money. One thing I need to make clear is that manufactured import goods are expensive in Ecuador. Like Scrooge McDuck expensive. While our apartment was furnished, it had a twin and a full bed and as grownups we had to upgrade that. We ended up ordering a bed and dropping half my settling in allowance. After some groceries, our apartment deposit, and a coffee it was all gone.

Now to be clear, as a couple without a car it is an important feature that most stores in Quito provide free delivery. The problem lies in the address. We had our apartment issues figured out but they don’t really do addresses here. The translation of addresses would equate to “the road on the way to ____.” There are no street numbers, sometimes no street names. So our ordering and delivery consisted of a bunch of hand drawn maps, a landmark, repeating the few applicable things we knew in Spanish, and pointing and grunting. Amazingly, this works. We have successfully had a bed delivered and the cable guy come to the apartment with no real issues. It takes some adjusting but hey, a new culture is what we wanted.

In Quito, there are some sketchy places to go shopping, some local artisans, and MEGAMAXI. Think of MEGAMAXI as a Super Target. Upon our arrival to the school, we were given a Megamaxi discount card which would help us with discounts on all of our furniture, food, electronics, etc. Every cent of the discount is needed. Imports are expensive, like I mentioned above. To prove this, here’s an approximate pricing guide for some of the stuff we looked at.

-Crappy coffee maker in the U.S. $15/Ecuador $60
-Crappy branch 32” TV in the U.S. $275/Ecuador $400 on sale
-Crappy bedsheets in the U.S. $20/Ecuador $60
-Crappy floor lamp in the U.S. $20/Ecuador $300

You get the idea. Now this isn’t a completely awful thing. Labor, local items, restaurants, beer, wine, and food are all super cheap here. Even fresh flowers are cheap. You can get 25 roses for $1 at any number of florist shops on the street. I guess it all equals out in the end. Either way, we outfitted ourselves with what we needed in terms of food, blankets, and other essentials and we are eagerly awaiting our shipment of belongings.