Halfway Home Highlights

I have been in Ecuador for almost six weeks now; I have five remaining. Here are some photographic highlights and notes from the first half of my trip. On another note, I have been posting long narratives once a week, but I am going to try and offer some quick hit ditties more often, so stay posted.



1. Streetfood- I spent the first several weeks in lustful fear of streetfood. I had heard many secondhand stories of people coming back from Ecuador with worms, parasites, or whatever things inhabit your innards, after experimenting with food on the street. So I didn´t eat it. Instead I would hang out in the parks, standing in the plumes of smoke from the grills where various meats on sticks called to me. After awhile, I wondered if it wasn´t worth the risk. My firt venture was a fried platano (and still my favorite to eat, like a fried banana, split and stuffed with cheese, pictured above), and then I started to eat the fried fish, the pork, the... well, whatever looked like it was delicious and freshly hot (I have a set of intuitive rules about what to eat so as to avoid trouble, the number one rule, don´t eat food that is sitting in a bowl on top of raw meat). Both my wallet and stomach are rejoicing at my new commitment.



2. Monkeys. When I arrived in Misahuali, a small jungle town east of Tena, there were monkeys running around the town, on the beach, in the plaza, on the rooftops. They aren´t natural, but someone brought them here some time ago, maybe thinking it would be a good idea to attract tourists. My first impulse was to say, "Hey, look at the monkeys. They are so goddamned cute." But since I was just by myself, sipping beer on a sidewalk like usual, I just said, Whoa. Monkeys always seem so cool. But they are not. By the second day, the monkeys were not cool or cute, but simply little obnoxious thieves (ladroncitas). I was sitting in the shade of the plaza reading my book when a monkey stole my water bottle. I admit, I didn´t stop him, I wanted to see what would happen and if it could even open the bottle. A moment later four of them stood in a circle pouring the water on their heads and then smashing the bottle, frustrated it wouldn´t naturally refill. Then they all turned to me, searching my pockets and bookbags and lifting up my shirt. I had to beat them away with my bookbag. It was no longer, "Hey, look at the cool monkeys!" Instead, it was "Get your grubby little primative fingers out of my underwear!"

Tena sunset

3. The Jungle. Maybe a third of Ecuador is jungle, but I have to be honest, you have to possess an endurably cheeful disposition to enjoy such a place. It is hot, humid, and filled with people trying to court your wallet and take you on canoes to strange places for prices that are extravagant for a country where lunch costs a dollar fifty. I spent most of my time in Tena sitting in my underwear in the my air-conditioned hostal. In Misahuali, I was at first charmed, being able to walk barefoot, swim in the rivers, and play with the monkeys, but as the beach flies began to bite, the monkeys began to steal, and the locals were only friendly when advertising, I decided I had enough. I felt somewhat cowardly, fleeing the jungle, and taking the first bus of out of Tena, not caring where I went. By a stroke of good chance, the bus passed through Baños, where I decided to get off and revisit. I spent my first night soaking in murky hot spring pools under the gleam of a waterfall above. Sometimes you follow your heart, sometimes you follow your wallet, and sometimes you just flee. I´m in Baños by some combination of all of the above.



4. Family. The best choice I have made was to live with a family in Quito. They are warm, humorous, and always looking out for me. Most importantly, I have a home to retreat to when needed.

Plaza de San Francisco, Quito

5. Spanish. My Spanish is still terrible, and I only understand a fraction of what anyone says, but it seems to be enough to get by and get going (As dominican-american writer, Junot Diaz, once said, "a portion of what anyone says is unintelligible, anyways). Jokes are easy ways to communicate, since Ecuatorians are ready to laugh at anything, and even a failed attempt at humor is usually enough for a belly laugh. But the best ways to practice Spanish are flirting and drinking. After several beers, it is easy to think that spanish is easy, and you talk without thinking, without regards for vanity or bad grammar. Flirting, well, it inspires creativity. I don´t flirt because I want to, I flirt to practice the language. It´s practical, really.



6. Back in Baños. For now, I have returned to the resort town of Baños, where gringos drive go-carts wildly in the one-way streets, the locals lounge in the hot springs, and the volcano Tungurahua looms over everyone´s fun, ready to ruin it in a hot flash. I don´t know where I´m going next. Impulsively taking buses to new places seems to be my favorite activity now (On the bus, el controlodar, the man who collects the money always asks, where are you going, and I love nothing more than saying, No sé todovía, I don´t know yet), so as always, I´ll keep you posted. Paz, abrazos, Sam.