Earlier in the year I detailed how I was part of a weekly Thursday night pickup basketball thing. It is still going on and has been a fantastic way to me to get in better shape, network with people from around Quito, and have a good time.
Since then, we have also started an adult league that has been a blast. Playing basketball is one of my favorite things to do but I haven't been in an organized league since I played for my high school team. In this league, there are 6 teams. There are teams from other international schools, a team from the embassy, a team of guys who work at the airport, and the team from a local university.
It's a ton of fun and pretty official. There are refs and scorekeepers.Some teams hire coaches. Most teams get uniforms professionally made (but we don't). Many of the guys who play in our league (I believe 5-6) play on the Ecuadorian National Team and regularly compete in qualifiers for the Olympics so you could certainly say that while basketball isn't as big as soccer, we are playing against the best people in the entire country.
We play two games per week and the games last about an hour and a half or so.
It was told to me before but has become apparent since that the Ecuadorian referees love to express some of their personal preferences in games. Gringos get fouled a lot with no calls and if a gringo is near an opposing teammate they somehow foul them every time without touching them. I'm not one to complain about things that aren't under one's control in a game of basketball but it gets dangerous. The guy who organizes the league (a gringo from Kansas) had his shoulder separated last year and required surgery. Another teacher, has to get 15 stitches in his face last year. Both plays, no foul. I don't bring it up to complain, but rather to paint an accurate picture of the experience I'm having.
Terrible refs aside, it's been an amazing experience. I've met a lot of local guys, made some friends, and really enjoyed myself. So far we are 1-2. We got smoked by the airport guys. We lost in a close overtime game to the teachers from the local French school (defending champions) and beat another local American International school pretty badly. We're gearing up for another game tomorrow against the local university team.
Sunday, May 24, 2015
Friday, May 22, 2015
Matricula!!!!
HA! On January 8, I posted a story about how it had taken 17
days to get our car after we purchased it. “Oh, also
we still don’t have the car. It was paid for and the contract was signed 17
days ago. I now have my license. The transfer is officially accounted for and
processed and we don’t have our car. We hope that will be resolved today or
tomorrow; but while the hopes are high the expectations are not.” What a
fool I was. If you are ever in a situation where your patience is tried as we
were when we purchased the car, I want you to always keep in mind that it can,
and probably will get worse.
In Ecuador, when you purchase a
car, you get something called a matricula. Essentially a matricula amounts to a
car’s title, registration, and emissions inspection all in one. It is
reasonable to expect the transaction of a matricula to take as long as getting
a car’s registration in your name when you make a purchase. It’s essentially
the same step. But not here!
I have not posted anything about
this process since we purchased the car for fear of jinxing us. This week, we
finally got our matricula. It took 153 days. Now, for context here are some things
that one can do in 153 days: 2 trimesters of child incubating, biking across
the United States, and about 1/8 of a Presidential term.
Over the 153 days, we visited the
dealership between 9-19 times to harass the dealership manager and the salesman
who sold it to us. I heard the phrase “We’re so sorry, we’ll have it done by Monday
Wednesday Friday” at the very latest about 60 times. Our friend
who helped us through this process, and I made about 90 phone calls to the Jefe
(boss), his cell phone, the dealership in general, and the car salesman. Every time
we heard the famous Ecuadorian phrase “manana manana”
Apparently, the dealership received
the car because the previous owner had passed away. She did not have a proper
will and therefore her valuables were split between her 5 children. The executor
of the will sold the car and split the money but without securing the legally necessary
contractual agreements of all 5 children to sell their share. As a result,
while the dealership had possession of the car, they did not legally own it.
Therefore it was illegal to sell it to us. But..they did and pandemonium ensued.
Either way, 153 days older and
wiser we have our matricula and we officially own our car. That’s all that
matters now.
Graffiti Junction
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| Just one small example |
All around the world, there are cities and countries that
are known for “tagging” or graffiti artwork. I have limited knowledge on it but
my understanding of graffiti is that it started as an impromptu form of
protest-like expression. Graffiti, when done well and done right is not merely
a spray paint fueled defacing of property.
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| It's all around the city |
Something I did not know until very recently is that Ecuador
has a rich graffiti culture. There are artists who are considered famous in
Quito who go under the cover of night to transform clay walls, barriers, and
buildings into works of public art. All around the city, wherever you look you
see incredibly intricate designs and paintings. I’ve seen 80 foot long dragons,
oppressed farmers yelling in rage, and bunny rabbits doing vulgar things. It’s
really quite interesting.
Along with the beautiful artwork that you see around, there
is also a lot of protest-centered text spray painted around. My understanding
is that at the moment, there are many people who are upset with the current
President and his Socialist leanings and I’ve read sentences scrawled across
signs and storefronts that can attest to that. I feel like that’s a site to be
expected in a city with such a rich street art culture.
 |
| Don't you dare forget to capitalize. |
But one thing I never expected is to see the work of a
vigilante grammar avenger. While walking to school recently, Shannon and I noticed
that a politically critical sentence that had been written on the side of a
building had been corrected for grammar errors, using red spray paint. It was
an image that got my mind rolling to the possibilities of pocket protector and
cape wielding grammar enthusiasts hiding beneath the cover of the shadows to
correct a misplaced accent or poor punctuation. I’m not sure if it was a
student due to the close proximity of the school (highly doubtful) or just a
well-meaning tagger on his or her way to paint a condor shrieking in the night
but either way I surely appreciated it.
Sunday, May 10, 2015
EcoVia
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| EcoVia Stop |
On Friday of this week a few of the guys decided that we
should take advantage of Happy Hour at a local restaurant. It was downtown
which would have been a 35 minute drive on a normal day but on a Friday, it
would have been at least an hour and a half. Traffic gets bad in Quito. It gets
especially nasty on Fridays from 2:00-9:00 so we all decided to take the EcoVia
instead.
The EcoVia is the bus system. It runs North through South through
all of Quito and in most parts of the city there are separate bus lanes that
allow the busses to pass through traffic. A ride on the EcoVia is a quarter. It is a nice alternative to driving and cabs
except for one thing, everyone knows it. The EcoVia is always stupidly full. There
are no regulations as to a “maximum” amount of people on it. I have frequently
seen it driving past me on the road with well over 200 people in it. Mind you,
it is the size of a normal bus that is meant to seat about 50 or so. On the
EcoVia, it gets so cramped that any semblance of the idea of personal space
disappears. On the EcoVia you are frequently close enough to count the ingrown
hairs on the neck of the person in front of you.
 |
| Imagine this plus fitting a dozen or so more people |
While that is to be expected, what is not expected is the
amount of crime on the EcoVia. People will frequently ride the bus with the
sole intent of pick pocketing you. It gets so crowded that your limbs are
limited in their movement. If one hand is on the handle or bar above your head
while standing, you have at least three pockets unprotected. We have heard
stories of people being pickpocketed, having things taken out of the bottom of
their backpack, and a variety of other creative theft strategies. It’s pretty
disappointing.
On Friday, a group of 10 or so gringos (already standing
out) dressed in shirts and ties (aka neck targets) got on the EcoVia and
through some clever interior jacket pockets/strategic placement of wallets and
cell phones, and general vigilance none of us were robbed. After the happy hour
however one of our friends had his wallet and cell phone taken. Just another
reminder of the dichotomy of benefit (convenient and quick $.25 bus ride) and
dangerous circumstances (crazy high likelihood of petty theft)that are ever
present when you live in a South American country.
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Into La Selva
The Napo River is one of the major tributaries
flowing into the Amazon River. And Justin and I had a chance to visit on our
last 3-day weekend. Our destination was a riverside lodge, reached only by a
20-minute canoe ride. We first drove to Tena (about 4 hours out of Quito). Once
there, we drove another 30 minutes to Punto Ahuano, the marina where we parked
our car. The next step was to hire a motorized canoe for $10 which then
transported us 30 minutes down the Napo River and right up to our destination,
The Anaconda Lodge.
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| The Napo River |
We opted for the all-inclusive “jungle novice”
package which included lodging, 3 meals per day, and guided tours through the
rainforest and up and down the river. I must say that I was pleasantly
surprised by the amount of flora and fauna we got to see without even having to
go too deep into the jungle!
On our first hike we got to see a canela (cinnamon)
tree, a palm tree that has a trunk as strong as steel and is used to make blow
gun darts, a garlic plant, some interesting water birds, leaf cutter ants, and
a caiman! (Though if I’m being honest, I wasn’t impressed by that skinny little
3 foot caiman. Come to Florida, we grow gators 14 feet long that swallow boy
scouts whole).
The next day we went even deeper into the rainforest.
We got back in the canoe and this time motored 30 minutes in the other
direction to land on a short sandy beach where we immediately sank in
quicksand! It does exist! Before we could enter the selva, our guide Cesar
painted our faces using the smashed seeds of an achiote pod. We then slogged
through shin-deep mud, around enormous spider webs and menacing conga ants. We
saw more medicinal plants including one used as an antibiotic and antivenin
treatment, and another plant called hoja de sangre hat is actually used as an antihemorrhagic
for men who have sustained injuries hunting or women suffering from heavy
menstruation.
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| The Lodge |
But perhaps my favorite part was Saturday night when
our lodge had a special visit from a much honored Quechua shaman. At the time
there were only about 15 people staying at the lodge and after dinner we all
gathered around in a circle in the open air common area. One of the guests
volunteered to participate in what was to be a traditional cleansing ritual.
Our host explained how the shaman is the most honored person in the community
and is treasured for his power to use the old spirits and the plants of the
forest to heal. This local shaman, given name Salvador, and age unknown though
estimated to be around 85 years old, was small in stature with warm, bronzy
skin that seemed to glow from within. He was shirtless, save for strings of
beads and his arms were strong and sinewy. He then proceeded to conduct a
cleansing ritual that lasted about 20 minutes long and a calm fell over the entire
lodge as we sat listening to his chanting and singing in old Kichwa,
accompanied by the steady, gentle rustle of his dried leaf wand (for lack of
better word).
It’s probably Hollywood’s fault, but I’ve always
sort of thought of shamans and medicine men to be kind of dark, mysterious,
almost a little frightening. But this was one of the most peaceful, natural,
and beautiful spiritual ceremonies that I have ever witnessed. Calling on the
spirits of those passed and the powers of nature for cleansing and healing –
what could be more right and natural then that. It was simple and benign yet
incredibly moving and comforting in a strange sense. When the ritual was
concluded I realized I had tears in my eyes. And the woman being cleansed had
relaxed into a half sitting-half lounging pose, resting on the strong, small
legs of the shaman, a look of utter peace and contentment on her face.
And I think this is the memory I will carry of my
first visit to the Amazon. When I first envisioned the Amazon rainforest, I
thought of the towering trees I would see, the snakes, the monkeys, the insects
and crocodiles and the huge snaking river that connects them all. But my
special association now is of the indigenous people living harmoniously there
that embody the spiritual union and interconnectedness of them all and who
remind us that we are of nature and the power of nature is within us.
Super Duro
 |
| Welcome to the Jungle |
Shannon and I are truly fortunate and very lucky. We tell
each other this every week. When we first decided to go to an international
school we were prepared to go without truly knowing where we would end up. We
were fortunate enough to end up in a place that has some of the most unique
locations on the planet to visit.
In the past 9 months we have hiked through cloud forests. We
have swam with sea lions in the Galapagos Islands. We have hiked up volcanoes
and slept at the foot of giant snow-capped
mountains. And now we can add another
truly remarkable trip to that list.  |
| Chocolate Leaves |
Last weekend, Shannon and I spent out three day weekend in
the Amazon Rainforest. THE AMAZON RAINFOREST. As in, the very same one that
centered your elementary school science units. The most famous collection of
wilderness and animals and plants the world has to offer. I still can’t believe
we are afforded that opportunity whenever we want. Anyway, here is a brief
account of our experiences.
We woke up early on Friday, intent on getting to the lodge
as early as possible. The drive was projected to be about four hours. I have
detailed before that while the country is small, our location in the middle of
the mountains and the necessity to drive winding mountain roads leads to long
drives. In an effort to keep this post interesting but still accurate I’m going
to zoom through the next bit. We got turned around on the road and added two
hours to our journey there. There may have been a frustrated meltdown or two
but the point is we got there.
 |
| Quechua Yucca Potions |
When we arrived to our destination, we still had a way to
go. That sounds weird but let me clarify. When you are going on a trip to most
lodges in the Amazon you have to get there by motorized canoe. There are no
roads that lead into the jungle or parking spaces. So we parked our car at a
public lot and paid a canoe driver ten dollars to take us a half hour up the
river to our lodge. Unfortunately the actual Amazon River does not go through
Ecuador so while we were in the Amazon Rainforest, we were on the Napo River.
The Napo River is either the largest or the second largest tributary river to
the Amazon but I digress.
The river looked exactly as all rivers in the Amazon look on
tv. It is dirty, murky, and dark but in a very natural way. As we took our
private 30 foot long canoe to our lodge, Shannon and I discussed the creatures
that potentially lurked just below us and strategies for escape if the boat
capsized. The gist of that conversation is that I would have saved her but she
would have used her swimming coach techniques to leave me in the vicious jaws
of the first critter to approach. I understood…it was a tough drive.
 |
| Caiman Snack Time |
When we got to the lodge, we were greeted with an incredible
lunch and cold beer. We had heard about the lodge through some friends and it
was all inclusive in terms of our excursions, meals, and lodging. After finishing
our lunch we were taken by our guide Cesar on a short hike through the jungle. Cesar
spoke only Spanish so we were able to practice our Spanish while taking the
tour which was nice.
Along our trail, we came across a cinnamon tree and ate the
leaves. We came across a giant garlic tree and ate the leaves. We came across a
variety of flowers and antibiotic trees that were used for pharmacy pills…and
we ate the leaves. Had we not been served lunch I might have been getting
skeptical of this whole “all meals included” thing.
 |
| Leaf Cutter Ants |
The hike was a pretty genuine Amazon experience. Cesar had a
machete that he used to cut a path through the thick foliage in some spots. At
one point he surprised us all by smacking the back of his machete against a
tree. The tree made a loud bang like it was made of steel. “Super Duro!” he laughed at us meaning super strong. He
seemed to have just as much fun as we did.
While we were walking Shannon pointed out that a whole
colony of leaf cutter ants were forming a convoy across our path and sure
enough, thousands of the little red dudes were going from the river across the
path and up a tree. It was almost as if we were in a movie seeing all of the “Amazon
scenes.”
 |
| Almost Ready! |
Towards the end of our walk we found a small caiman, which
is like a fresh water jungle crocodile. Cesar threw him a bit of meat and he lackadaisically
chomped on it while giving us some serious side eye.
 |
| Ready for the Hike |
After we saw the animals, we went to the home of a local
Quechua family chatted with a woman who lived there. She made us a local drink
made of ground up yucca and hot water. She made us some natural chocolate and
fed it to us on a leaf. Her hospitality was incredible and her kindness was
truly moving.
Then we went outside to do what all Quechua people must
learn to do, we fired blow guns! Cesar set up a target for us and we took turns
firing wooden darts down an eight foot barrel at a piece of wood. When I shot
mine it came out of the blow gun with the velocity and ferocity of a jungle
warrior…then took a left turn, missed the target, and nearly killed one of the
woman’s pet chickens. My second attempt was no better. Shannon however, fired a
strike straight into the center of the target. I suppose I should keep her on
my side when we go for hikes.
 |
| Conga Ant aka Bullet Ant |
When we returned to the lodge that night we were met by more
delicious non leaf foods and shared dinner with some of the other travelers who
happened to be staying there as well.
The next morning we woke up early for a canoe ride deeper
into the Amazon and took another canoe ride to a remote island area. As we got
off of our canoe, Cesar decided that he wanted to take a local fruit and paint
our faces like local tribes people. It was a little touristy but hey…that’s what
we were.
 |
| Cesar and Us in the Jungle |
We went on a hike and saw a dangerous Conga Ant crawling
near Cesar’s hand. According to the internet, which is never wrong, the Conga
Ant has dangerous neurotoxin venom in its stinger that causes the most painful
sting of any animal in the world. It is supposedly more painful than any
scorpion, wasp, hornet, or any other stinging animal.
After avoiding that we found ourselves in some quicksand. We
actually got caught in quicksand. Granted, we only sank up to our shins and
were never in any real danger but WE SANK IN QUICKSAND!!!
 |
| Quicksand!! |
After ducking through a few spider webs and seeing some cool
birds and insects, we made it up to the top of a hill where Cesar made Shannon
a fern crown and declared her the Queen of the Amazon. We took a few nice
pictures overlooking a nice part of the jungle and hiked our way back to the
canoe.
On our way, Cesar spotted a somewhat swollen branch and
climbed up the tree, cut the branch, sliced it open and out came a colony of
ants. He suggested we eat them and when we did, they tasted like lemon! Lemon
flavored bugs! I could get used to this.
When we got back to the canoe, we got changed and hopped
into some tubes to go tubing down the Napo River. We all exchanged some side
glances since Cesar himself told us that the river had Caimans and Anacondas
but that they probably wouldn’t bother us. The owner of the lodge also assured
me that the dreaded Candiru fish USUALLY didn't come that far up the river to
where we were going. Some endorsement… That’s the one that…well, click here
if you want to be completely horrified.
 |
| Howler Monkeys |
While we were a tiny bit freaked out, we floated along the
Napo for about twenty minutes, through some fast moving water and slower lazy
river type stuff. We relaxed while staring above us into the tops of the
massive trees wondering what other jungle secrets lied in obscurity.
 |
| The Queen and I |
After the lazy river float, we climbed back into the canoe
and went a little bit further into the jungle. All of the sudden our guide cut
the engine and Cesar started making a whooping sound. None of us knew what he
was doing or what was going on until we spotted them. A family of howler
monkeys inched towards us on the branches and ended up about 20 feet from our
boat looking at us with confused expressions. I guess they weren't very used to
humans. One of them stared at us with a seriously grumpy face and without
moving another muscle, started flexing his brow. It was the strangest thing. I
don’t know if it was a friendly gesture or an aggressive one but after a few
pictures and looking at them for a while we left.
 |
| The Good Life |
When we got back to the lodge we spent a nice late afternoon
napping and reading on the hammock before dinner, which again was incredible. We ended up packing up early on Sunday and enjoying the lazy but beautiful ride
back, which we made in less than four hours. We hiked through the jungle, saw some dangerous insects, fed a caiman, got mean mugged by some howler monkeys, ate jungle food, shot blow guns, got our faces painted with natural fruit dye, and one of us was crowned royalty. It was a “Super Duro” way to spend
our three day weekend.
Inaquito
I don’t remember if I’ve addressed this in a previous post
or not, but either way here goes.
If you want an imported good such as a box of Frosted Flakes
or some other US good, it is extraordinarily expensive. That’s just part of the
price of living in a country that has somewhat limited trade flexibility with
the United States. However, if you want produce it is cheap. Like super crazy
cheap. Like stupid cheap.
Every Saturday, Shannon and I take a short trip to the
Inaquito Market. Surrounding the market is a series of little tiendas that vary
in their specialty. I would say that about a third of them are florists where
you can buy two dozen gorgeous roses for $4 or so. Another third of them is
assorted plastic goods such as Tupperware and pitchers and the like. The last
third is liquor stores.
 |
| I won't show you what it looks like before it gets to the plate. |
When you walk into the market which is essentially a large
warehouse, you see a food court to the side where you can buy hornado. Hornado
is pretty much the only thing you can buy. Hornado is an typical Ecuadorian
plate that consists of fried bite sized pieces of pork. You also get a sliced
avocado and choclos large kernel corn, all for about $3. The whole raw dead pig
is usually hanging on a hook or on the counter. They will carve it for you
depending on what you want and then fry it up. It sounds gross. It looks gross.
It kind of is gross. But, the food is delicious.
When you walk past the cafeteria area, you find a variety of
stands that serve as makeshift butchers. None of the meat is wrapped or
refrigerated so we haven’t really taken them up on their fantastic prices but
we hear the quality is good.
Then, past all of that is the goldmine. You arrive at a flea
market style setup with rows and rows of fresh fruit, vegetable, and spice
stands. In the spice stands you can buy all of the spices you need from curry
to chili pepper, to cayenne pepper, to ginger, to well..you get the idea. They
usually sell a bag that is a quarter of a pound for a dollar or so.
 |
| Rows and rows and rows of delicious options |
The fruit and vegetable stands are equally as appealing. The
owners try to give you a gringo price and expect you to haggle but sometimes we
find that it’s hard to argue over .10 worth of a price when you are getting such
a great deal. For example, we usually get 6 or 8 oranges for a dollar. We buy a
pound of strawberries for a dollar or less. We get 6 apples for a dollar. We
buy a bushel of peppers for a dollar. Fresh heads of lettuce, cabbage, parsley,
celery all cost about .40 apiece.
All in all we bring a backpack and two reusable grocery bags
and buy about 15 pounds of produce to use for the week for cooking and snacks
and we spend less than $20. It’s another unexpected advantage of living here. I’ll
take the $7 Frosted Flakes for this deal any day.
International Festival
The biggest difference among our student body here
vs what we experienced in the states is that in the US, everyone from another
background was trying to fit in. There was a mainstream culture and expectation
and here it seems that everyone has a huge sense of nationalism and pride in
their differences. It’s pretty refreshing.
The embodiment of thi
s sentiment took place about two weeks ago when the school held its 48th (or something) annual international festival. The festival was a series of carnival games ran by students, cultural dances, and of course food tents.
s sentiment took place about two weeks ago when the school held its 48th (or something) annual international festival. The festival was a series of carnival games ran by students, cultural dances, and of course food tents.
I was elected among the high school students to a
position manning the dunk tank. Having previously been the object of scorn and
tongue biting focus while sitting on a dunk tank platform before, I knew the
one key to being the bag of tea to a dunk tank is to go early. There is a trade-off of course. If you go in too early, you get a bit of biting cold hose water to
cushion your fall. If you go later, the water is warmer (who knows why…) and
there is often hair and other undesirable stuff floating next to you.
 |
| Some friends of ours taking aim after I was off of the tank |
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| Food, glorious food! |
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| So many options! |
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| Young flamenco dancers |
All in all, I caught a cold, Shannon dunked me, kids
played games, and we stuffed ourselves with food from all around the globe. It
was truly a unique and great experience. I eagerly await next year’s 49th
(or whatever) edition.
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