Be Vigilant

When we first accepted the post to Ecuador, we were told how wonderful of a place it was. Our conversations with our employers weren't entirely sugar coated though. We were made well aware of potential for crime here. Ecuador is an economically less developed country and as a result, there is a lot of poverty and as with most of the world; with poverty comes risk for crime.

We wanted to make sure we were aware of all potential risks and crime statistics so we did some research. What we heard from our bosses matched up with the stuff we found out on our own. Crime is a huge problem in Ecuador but it is usually nonviolent crime. The US State Department rates Ecuador "critical" in terms of crime and residential safety. Theft is a big problem; as is armed robbery. If you hand over your things, everything usually works out alright without anyone getting injured.

We have found in our time here that if you are smart and vigilant, things will usually work out alright. Avoid alleys and sparsely populated areas whenever possible. Try to avoid traveling alone. Don't carry more valuables than absolutely necessary. Don't wear visible jewelry. Pay attention to your surroundings. If you follow those guidelines, you are probably in good shape.

Since we got here in August, I have had someone attempt to pick my pocket at a culture festival. I luckily had nothing in it, and also felt it and slapped his hand away as he scurried away in the crowd. We have had friends who were robbed at knife point on the beach as well as friends who had phones stolen from their pockets at parties. This is just a part of life here, but if you are careful and vigilant, it usually works out alright. Shannon and I have been very fortunate to have avoided many of these scary situations.

I did however...have a close call last night. I think it was mentioned earlier in this blog that once a month the ladies get together at someone's house for "Ladies Wine Night." That was last night. It also happened to coincide with our Thursday Embassy basketball game. The guys decided that after basketball, while the ladies were drinking wine and hanging out, we would get some pizza and watch some sports at a friends' house.

Something that should be stated about our friends' house is that it is in probably the nicest part of Quito. His house overlooks the park and is on one of the safest residential streets in the city. Well, we were on our way to his house and as we were pulling onto his street, we decided to go to the tienda a block away to pick up some drinks. Normally, we would have parked the car at his place and walked but we just got done playing basketball for three hours so the drive seemed wise. While we were paying, we were delayed by about 5 minutes because the cashier had no change.

As we pulled up to his house after leaving the tienda, our friend Andrew and another friend Rudy ran outside. They told us what we had missed by no more than 30 seconds.

Rudy had parked his car on the well lit, nice neighborhood street to go to Andrew's house. While Andrew was checking out the window to see if we had arrived, he saw a nice car pull up alongside Rudy's car and there were two people inside of his car! Andrew started banging on his second story apartment window to get their attention to scare them away and one of the guys breaking into the car got out of the car, and while standing on the street took out a gun and pointed it at Andrew in the window. Andrew dropped to the floor to duck and stayed on the ground for about a minute.

When he got up in front of a different window he peeked out and saw them pulling away AS we were pulling up in our cars from the tienda. They both ran outside, explained the story, and examined the damage.

They had an air compressor of some sort that was used to blow out the passenger side key hole. They then opened the car door, tore open the dash, and stole the car's computer. The car was dead. The computer is a $5,000 part. When someone asked why they would steal that Rudy explained that this had happened before.

Apparently this is a big crime racket in Quito. A group of thieves will steal the computer and sell it to the black market in the shady side of town. When you go from shop to shop and realize that the part would have to be imported at a much higher markup, you eventually go to the black market and ask the part dealer for a part that matches what you had stolen. They inevitably have the same exact one that was stolen from inside of your own car and make you pay for it at a shady meeting spot at a shady meeting time. They frequently take pictures of your registration so they can look up your residential information and threaten to hurt you or your family if you go to the cops or come to the meeting with any other people. This apparently happens frequently. It is quite literally taking car parts for hostage.

Now Rudy has a $5,000 part to buy and a choice to make. Deal with these criminals again or import a new part and hope it doesn't happen to him a third time.

I want to clarify that I do not feel unsafe living here. If you take precautions and do your best to minimize potential opportunities where you are vulnerable, it is a great place to live. Rather than giving the false impression that this place is unsafe, I want to stress how important it is to be vigilant while you are in Ecuador. If you do that, it is a great place to live.

Fiestas de Quito

Our school "mom" frequently sends out interesting cultural information that might be relevant to teachers on top of doing her job. The week before Fiestas de Quito, she sent out a brief write up on what Quito Days are and how they are celebrated. I'll let her much more experienced and knowledgeable words lead the way here:

"The Fiestas de Quito was first celebrated on December 6^th, 1534, for the IV Century of the City’s Foundation.  This celebration has continued through the years. 

Every year, on the 6^th of December, Quiteños celebrate the anniversary of the foundation of the city.  The air in Quito takes on a more festive spirit throughout the first week of December as Quiteños, watch parades, and attend street dances, cultural events, food preparation, parties in hotels and restaurants, and ride around Quito on Chivas (open-air party buses complete with live music and drinks).  

The bullfighting “Feria de Toros Jesus del Gran Poder “of the Fiestas de Quito is one of the major attractions.  Presently these are held in Latacunga in lieu of on the full fight in Quito on Av. Amazonas.   The Quito bullfights always seem to draw the most outstanding personalities of the bullfighting cult from home and abroad. These include: bullfighters, current stars and revered veterans, knowledgeable journalists, proud “ganaderos”or bull breeders, aficionados, musicians, artists and other important social and political figures.  .

Another of the massively attended activities has been the Great Parade of the National Unity on the Parque Bicentenario (former airport), with allegorical cars, musical groups, acrobats and town bands. The musical contests always attract a large audience. Thousands of national and foreign tourists come to the city as though attracted by a magnet.

For several days, generally a week, Quito is filled with party air, and in spite of financial crises and difficulties, everyone is happy and ready to party, and even the weather cooperates with the holidays, because although Saint Peter keeps the “keys to the sky”, rains generally stop and the sun shines brightly."

Naturally, it's a pretty big deal here. We even got off from school on 12/5! All week, a lot of people were buzzing with anticipation of the event. We had our Spanish classes put on an assembly. Actually, three assemblies. There was one for the elementary school kids, which I heard included baby flamenco dancing and a "bullfight" complete with a child dressing as a bull. There was a middle school assembly which featured a few of my students pretending to be partying on a Chiva while holding up a cardboard bus. There was also a high school assembly, which I cannot speak much about since I wasn't there nor did I hear anything about it.

There were parties in the park, parades, and festivities all over the city. I think to liken it to the fourth of July would actually be underselling it. Latin Americans love to party. They love to party publicly. Most fourth of July celebrations I have ever attended featured BBQs in someone's back yard, maybe a trip to the beach, and then fireworks at the end of the night. Here, it's kind of that but all over the city. The fourth also lasts a day, while the celebration of December 6th lasts about a week. 

Don't worry, I would never say I favor Quito Days over Independence Day, it's not my holiday. I'm just highlighting what is certainly quite an elaborate and omnipresent party. 

Shannon and I actually didn't participate in most of the festivities but we enjoyed the day off and hearing about the spectacle nonetheless. 

I Call Bull

This weekend is Fiestas de Quito, which celebrates the founding of the city of Quito on the 6^th of December. As part of Quito’s Spanish influence, the holiday involves parties, parades, flamenco dancing, and bull fighting. I am morally opposed to bull fighting, just as I am to cock fighting or dog fighting or any other “sport” where animals are made to fight against their will and ultimately to their demise. And while I realize this may be considered a cultural experience, let’s break it down to what it really is: a bull is tortured and terrorized until it is in a frantic state. It is then trapped in a pen where it cannot escape. The bull then endures up to 30 minutes of agony as it is repeatedly stabbed and taunted. A particularly “macho” matador may even cut off its ears or its tail while it’s still alive – what a feat of bravery! Finally able to defend itself no more, to barely raise its own head (because its neck muscles have been paralyzed by multiple spears) it is killed – all to the chorus of cheering and singing fans. Horrific. By no means did I intend on participating in any of the local bull fights, even though that is “the thing to do” during Quito days. This is why I was flabbergasted to hear so many of my friends were trying to get tickets to a bull fight. These are cultured, educated, professional people, and yet – the lure of seeing one of these bull fights was irresistible to them.

I was saddened by this, but what really enraged me were the excuses that I heard them making. Such idiotic justifications: “Well, I know it’s pretty horrible, but I feel like it’s a cultural experience that I just need to see.” Or “Oh I know I’m probably going to regret seeing it, and be scarred forever, but I just really have to see it one time. It’s cultural, you know?” BULLSHIT. Don’t try to make it some cultural obligation that you owe it yourself to be a spectator at this most barbaric, gruesome and cruel ritual. You know what else is “cultural”? Beheadings. Public stoning deaths. Child brides. Honor killings. Animal sacrifices. Genital mutilation. Gladiator fights. You could say the same thing about any one of these – these are rituals and traditions that are ingrained in a culture and have been going on for hundreds of years. They all have aspects of what is perceived to be honor and sacred custom.  It doesn’t make them artistic or beautiful or enlightening.  And it sure as hell doesn’t make them a “cultural experience” that you “just have to see” when you get the chance. One friend even drew this outlandish analogy – she likened watching a bullfight to watching a “ping pong show” in Thailand: You wouldn’t go to Thailand without seeing a ping pong show, so how can you go to Ecuador without watching a bullfight, she reasoned. How is watching a woman doing things with ping pong balls anything close to watching the slow, excruciating slaughter of an animal? Absurd.

Do you know what they do to a bull prior to making it fight to its death? They file down its horns so it’s less dangerous to the matador. They hang heavy sandbags on its back to weaken it. The beat the bulls testicles and kidneys. They feed it sulfates to cause diarrhea and weakness. They lock the bull up in total darkness for 24 hours leading up to the fight to make it mad with terror. They slice cuts into the bull’s legs and rub turpentine into them. They plug its nostrils to make breathing difficult. They rub Vaseline into the bull’s eyes so that it is nearly blind. Does this sound like a fair fight to you? And I’m supposed to be awed by the bullfighters’ “courage”?? By his splendid bravery and masculinity? Are you freaking joking me? That is torture, plain as day. And torture is not culture.

And while I realize I may be coming off a little self-righteous here, I don’t care. That’s what blogs are for, right? I find anyone who derives entertainment out of the pain and suffering of a living creature to be a little disturbing. And I can’t say I’m not more than a little disappointed in some of my friends for doing just that.

American Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Obviously, I love all the food and feasting, but I really love Thanksgiving because it’s the kickoff to the holiday season. Before all the chaos of Christmas starts, it’s just Thanksgiving – a low-stress, low-pressure meal with loved ones. Your last calm, deep breath before the season kicks into full drive. And I also love Thanksgiving because at least in my family, we always wind up picking up a few stray friends for the feast. Friends whose families are far away, old friends of the family and seasonal boyfriends all make their way to our Thanksgiving dinner and I love it because it’s just such a loving, come as you are, everyone is welcome kind of feeling.

Ecuador does not celebrate Thanksgiving, clearly. (Though they do have Black Friday sales, so explain that to me…). And while in the States, we’re used to getting a whole WEEK off from school on Thanksgiving week that was sadly not the case here. We did have to work the whole week, but we did get a half day on Thursday for our actual Thanksgiving. The next day, Friday, the school hosted a Thanksgiving luncheon for the entire campus. Parents were asked to provide all the dishes – turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing, graving, green beans, salad, and desserts. This was a BYOP (Bring Your Own Plate) dinner and we all sat down under huge tents in the courtyard and had a massive meal together. It was actually very well done. And did help alleviate the homesickness I was feeling for my usual Thanksgiving meal.

Friendsgiving 2014

A few days later, we were all able to have a proper Thanksgiving meal with our friends. Which we dubbed, Friendsgiving. On Sunday afternoon, our friends hosted about 20 of us for a Friendsgiving meal. Since most kitchens in Ecuador are pretty small, everyone had to prepare a dish ahead of time and bring it to the party. Justin made three pans of bacon macaroni and cheese and a pan of green bean almandine. Our friend made two turkeys – one roasted in the oven and the other he cleverly cooked by filling the bottom of a gas grill with charcoal and turning into a smoker. We lined up all the tables in the house we could find. We even had the traditional “kids table” which meant that a few people sat on the floor and ate off the coffee table. After the meal, the gang settled down on the couches and floor to watch an NFL game, streamed over the internet via an VPN. Whatever it takes, right? For dessert we had warm, homemade whisky bread pudding. This pretty much put us over the top and Justin and I had to call it a night.

Post-Food, Pre-Coma Watching Football

And while it wasn’t quite as good as having Thanksgiving with my actual family, it was the next best thing. 

Christmas Time in Hollis, Queens

I would first like to start this post off with something to set the mood of this post.

When I was growing up, my family was always really big into Christmas. My mom had one of those "NOW That's What I Call Christmas" type CDs she would always play as we were decorating. Every year, in fact multiple times a year, it would go from Bing Crosby to this song and she would start dancing and singing to it. My mom dancing to Run DMC...one of my favorite Christmas traditions.

Anyway, when it was time for us to start decorating for Christmas, we took ourselves to the Christmas Pirate store and picked up a few things. We held off on doing all of the actual decorating until the day after Thanksgiving.

Starting Point

Final Product

We had our plant guy, Robert, deliver a tree to us along with some poinsettias. We knew it was coming about a week in advance and we made our minds up that we were going to have our tree stand and be prepared. Nope! We went to five different stores and couldn't find one. After talking to a few locals, we heard a lot of "we don't do that here" kind of stuff. When asked what they do instead, we kept hearing "we just put it in a bucket." Well Saturday morning was here and we didn't know where this thing was going to go. Robert and his son carried it up our stairs, and low and behold, he had a bucket and some rocks. Apparently that's how you stabilize the tree in Ecuador. We arranged for him to pick it up when January rolled around and he was off.

We made one more last minute trip to get a llama blanket to use as a tree skirt, and picked up a few more ornaments and came back to decorate. Yes, of course we listened to Christmas music and Run DMC specifically.

Threading the Floss

After the tree was up, our stockings were hung, and some other stuff set up it came down to putting the ornaments on the tree. One more thing about an Ecuadorian Christmas. They don't use hooks or string for their ornaments. We couldn't find any at any of the stores we visited. Not even Christmas Pirates! Apparently, they take the top off, and pop that sucker on the end of a tree branch. The end. Well, we weren't going to be having any of that.

Shannon got to work on using dental floss to thread through the ornament loops and I strung the lights up and started hanging the ornaments. Our final product looked pretty good!

Next came the last decoration, our family nativity scene. This one requires a bit of explaining, but I'll try to be brief. My family has had the same nativity scene since my grandparents were children. It was this beautiful, hand-carved masterpiece complete with farm houses and some sweet animals. As the years progressed, my uncles and aunts, and of course my mom broke some of them on accident as kids do. Also as kids do, my family would put a new piece there to replace the old one. If a sheep broke, a horse was put in. Eventually the family caught on after enough random animals started showing up and this nativity/Noah's Arc became the tradition. Each year, every family member who was spending the holiday with the family had to make an animal contribution. It could be random, but ideally the animal should represent something from that person or their year. For example, on our first date, Shannon and I came across an injured bat and tried to save him. For her first Christmas with me, she donated a bat.

Yes, that is a hippo and two dinosaurs...

When I moved out as a teenager, my sister rightfully inherited the nativity set and I received

my own as a gift to start my own tradition. Well we set ours up and made our contributions; for me an alpaca for obvious reasons, and for Shannon a tortoise to commemorate our upcoming holiday trip to the Galapagos.

We still have a few more small things to set up, but it was great bringing my family tradition, and some of our holiday spirit to our home as we prepare for the holidays.

All Ready for the Holidays!

Chivas!!!!

Last weekend we were officially exposed to one of the local party traditions. One of the teachers who has been here for a few years invited us and a "few" friends out for his birthday. He told us about something called a chiva that he rented out and we were all going to hang out on.

We ended up meeting at a friend's apartment in the bohemian district of Guapolo. It was a pretty low key hang out complete with fish tacos, a few drinks, and some music. At around 10:00pm, the guy whose birthday we were celebrating told us it was time to go up to get our chiva.

We had to walk a little ways up to a hotel parking lot. This happened to be the same hotel the school put us up in for our first few days in Ecuador so it was a nice little reunion and moment full of some confused and overwhelmed memories.

As we waited, more and more people joined. It was apparent that the guy we were celebrating was apparently really popular. We ended up with about 43 people. The chiva finally came, a bit late and we all piled on.

The best way to describe a chiva is that it is an open air party bus that consists of two hosts; one is a DJ and the other is handing out drinks. The whole bus is a mobile dance floor that is meant for about 25 people. Again, I repeat we had 43.

The chiva drove us all around the city from parks to cathedrals; all the while being...well, a dance party. Nothing even remotely close to this could have possibly been legal in the US.

It was a great time. The chiva dropped us back off at the hotel and we cabbed it home. It was definitely a unique experience to the area and something I won't soon forget, even if many won't remember it.