My First Week-and-a-Half in Ecuador
My first ten days in Ecuador have been wonderful.
What I’ve Been Up To:
I flew into Guayaquil, the country’s biggest city, on Christmas night. Guayaquil’s a large, humid, unattractive metropolis. I met up with my fellow TEFL students at the airport, and, the next day, we walked around the city’s riverfront. That afternoon, we took a bus five hours into the Andes mountains for a few days of orientation in Gualaceo, a small, quaint town. We ate and drank and had some initial discussions of our impending coursework with our very knowledgeable teachers.
Last Sunday, we drove the hour or so from Gualaceo to Cuenca, where our classes are held (and from where I’m pecking out this missive on a keyboard with just enough strange characters on it to make typing difficult). I really love Cuenca–with 280,000 residents, it’s Ecuador’s third-largest city (after Guayaquil and Quito, the capital), and it’s a beautiful place, full of narrow cobblestone streets and red tile roofs and old churches.
The city’s known for its rich culture–and indeed, it’s been both culturally and physically removed from Ecuador for some time: until the 1960’s, the roads connecting it to the rest of the country weren’t even paved. The people here are friendly and open, and since very few of them speak English, my Spanish has been improving daily. I’m staying at the excellent Hostal Macondo; my simple room has neither a phone nor a TV, which I appreciate, as it forces me to read or write. (As it happens, I’m not there much–except for a few hours in the afternoon, we’ve got classes and student teaching from about 8:30 a.m. until 8 p.m. during the week.)
Ecuadorians celebrate the new year in exicting fashion: at midnight, families and friends gather together to burn life-sized dolls, dressed in clothes and often made up to resemble a family member or political figure, that represent the past year. People take turns jumping over the flames as the new year arrives–it’s out with the old, in with the new. Accordinly, a big group of us set fire to our very own doll on new year’s eve. It took a while to really start burning, so one of the guys in our group hastened the process with the best accelerant he could find: floor wax. (Yes, floor wax.) We also detonated a bunch of Ecuadorian fireworks that night. Some of them, we learned, can be unpredictable.
Other happenings: yesterday, our TEFL class took a day trip to Ingapirca, the site of Ecuador’s most important Incan ruins. It was pretty interesting, and the drive, about two hours to the east, was beautiful. On the horizon is a trip to Cajas national park next weekend; the weekend after that, we’re off to Quito and Otavalo.
Speaking Spanish:
As I mentioned, I’m speaking Spanish (or trying, at least) every day. While my skills are good enough for basic conversation, there have, I’ll admit, been a few screw-ups. There was the time earlier this week when I asked the guy at the front desk of the Macondo to please wash the clothes in my notebook. The word for notebook is “cuaderno.” I was aiming for “cuarto,” or room. And then there was the slightly more embarassing mishap in which I asked the woman in a fancy pharmacy if they sold soup. Her puzzled look told me immediately that I’d not used the word for soap, “jamon,” but, rather, “sopa.”
Other Observations:
–While I haven’t been in Ecuador nearly long enough to supply any cogent cultural commentary, I can say that I feel comfortable and welcome. As far as my program goes, the instructors are incredibly good, and although I have some English teaching experience, I’ve learned a great deal in only the first week. And my fellow students represent an interesting variety of backgrounds–there’s a builder/sailor, a cabinetmaker, and a wilderness guide, among others.
–The altitude: Cuenca sits in a valley at about 8,000 feet. And let me tell you this: every day, when I climb the four flights of stairs to our classroom, my heart and lungs and quads cry out for the days in which they enjoyed the oxygen levels provided by DC’s sea level air.
–The weather: it’s great. It’s usally sunny, and I wear a tee shirt and light pants in the morning and afternoon, and then it gets chilly enough to need a sweater or light jacket at night.
–Daily costs: by American standards, they’re very low. While imported luxury goods like electronics are expensive, food and other essentials are quite inexpensive. A sampling of items and their accompanying costs: an average set lunch (juice, soup, dish with meat and rice or vegetables, and dessert): $2.00. A 22-ounce local brew (a good beer called Pilsener): $1.00. A bottle of water: $.50. My room at the Hostal Macondo (shared bathroom; includes continental breakfast): $11.00/night. A pack of Lark cigarettes: $1.00. (I don’t smoke, but at that price, it seems like I should start–imagine how much money I’d save!) Two cheese croissants, one chocolate croissant, and one dinner roll (my dinner last night, in fact, freshly baked and purchased from a bakery): $.49. One adult ticket to El Senor de Los Anillos (“The Lord of the Rings”–in English with Spanish subtitles): $3.90.
–The food: not only is it inexpensive, but it’s quite tasty. My favorite dish so far is one called pepito de pollo. It’s a chicken sandwich with scrambled eggs, french fries (in the sandwich), mayo, hot sauce, and vegetables. I also like the hamburgesa campesino: a burger with scrambled eggs, mushrooms, mayo, and ketchup. (Eggs play an important roll here.) There’s also an impressive variety of fruits–and, hence, smoothies–and breads and vegetables and other delights.
The only American-style fast food joint in town is a KFC near the new mall (the mall, by the way, opened recently and was soon swamped with curious Cuencanos–it contained the city’s very first escalator). I’m neither ashamed nor proud to report that I sampled the fare at this KFC for the first time yesterday. I recommend the number one combo–drum stick, fries, drink, and cookie–which costs $1.90.