(i may be spelling dilemma wrong...but i dont care...the only spell check on this computer is spanish)
Traveller´s dilemma # 1:
a) you want to be nice to other traveller´s because you have a common bond in being a gringo
b) you stop trusting other gringos because they steal your ipod charger after you let them borrow it
story:
I let some dude borrow my ipod charger (well...it is technically my mom´s, so he stole my mom´s ipof charger). He took forever using it so i told him to leave it at the front desk at the hostel for when i return. No charger. ¡Qué puta es!
Traveller´s dilemma #2:
a) you want to hear about other people´s travels and the places they have been because you can instantly find a common bond
b) some people love hearing themselves talk and after a while, you never want to talk about Ecuadorean travel destinations!
story:
1. i walked into my dorm room to go to bed and this one guy was just about to go to bed. he saw that i was awake (clearly because i was walking) and decided to talk and talk and talk about his travells, his adventures hitch-hiking, how great and down-to-earth he is, and blah blah blah. i must be quite a conversationalist if i kept him talking with successive uh-huhs. Finally he shut up when a spanish girl came in and said "buenas noches" with a shut-the-eff up tone.
2. i spent about three hours in one room listening to more "i am so down-to-earth and experienced"-travel stories. The british girl got about an hour and the american guy about two. I am really glad i had a book. To be honest, i wasn´t listening so much as i was in the room looking up from my book between chapters and acting like a bobble head.
i have been in ecuador a week, and i have already found a third of the traveller´s cocky and obnoxious, a third kind of weird and awkward, and i am pretty indifferent towards the rest. There have been about 5 who were really cool. my ratios are not so good.
Traveller´s dilemma #3:
a) being a traveller
b) everyone hate´s travellers
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
from A to B
Directions are difficult to follow. They are even more difficult to follow when you do not follow them. We decided to go to this hiking town with this American guy (actually we told this guy we would go with him to the hiking town even though he did not invite us), so our next step was to get there.
We took a cab to the train station in the south of Quito (which reminded me sooo much of La Paz). Apparently the south part of Quito is the poor part of Quito and gringos should not go there. I probably should not have been in La Paz at all then. hmm
So we arrive at the train station and the American, lets call him Ken, says we are supposed to get a bus going South (according to the instructions he was given).
"Which town are we going to?" I asked.
"Uh...michincha i think" So I went around to all the buses that would be heading south of Quito (buses to Riobamba, Baños, etc.) and asked them if they stopped in Michincha. None of them had heard of this place. Finally, I asked to see the instructions that Ken was given. We were not going to Michincha... we were going to Machachi.
So we began looking for a bus to Machachi. Sonja and I basically dragged this American guy (who did not speak Spanish) all over the Quito without telling him what we were doing. We were following the directions that people gave us...but he did not understand a word. We ended up taking a bus to another bus station (which took about 20 minutes because it drove through every street in southern Quito) and then a bus to Machachi which also went through ever street in southern Quito...AGAIN!
I learned pretty quickly that it is very difficult to ask Ecuadoreans for directions...to a bus. Busses do not alwasy stop at bus stops or bus stations. They will often stop in the middle of a street or a middle of a roundabout. ANYWHERE. Because of this, everyone would point in a general direction and say "over there." We would walk about 10 steps in the "there" direction and ask someone else who would proceed to point us in another direction.
On the bus to Machachi we realised that we should have just gone back to all the buses heading south and asked them if they stopped in Machachi...the town that actually existed. They would have then gone south and dropped us off at Machachi. We could have taken only one bus which would have gone directly to Machachi. That option, on the other hand, would not have given us a tour of south Quito.
We took a cab to the train station in the south of Quito (which reminded me sooo much of La Paz). Apparently the south part of Quito is the poor part of Quito and gringos should not go there. I probably should not have been in La Paz at all then. hmm
So we arrive at the train station and the American, lets call him Ken, says we are supposed to get a bus going South (according to the instructions he was given).
"Which town are we going to?" I asked.
"Uh...michincha i think" So I went around to all the buses that would be heading south of Quito (buses to Riobamba, Baños, etc.) and asked them if they stopped in Michincha. None of them had heard of this place. Finally, I asked to see the instructions that Ken was given. We were not going to Michincha... we were going to Machachi.
So we began looking for a bus to Machachi. Sonja and I basically dragged this American guy (who did not speak Spanish) all over the Quito without telling him what we were doing. We were following the directions that people gave us...but he did not understand a word. We ended up taking a bus to another bus station (which took about 20 minutes because it drove through every street in southern Quito) and then a bus to Machachi which also went through ever street in southern Quito...AGAIN!
I learned pretty quickly that it is very difficult to ask Ecuadoreans for directions...to a bus. Busses do not alwasy stop at bus stops or bus stations. They will often stop in the middle of a street or a middle of a roundabout. ANYWHERE. Because of this, everyone would point in a general direction and say "over there." We would walk about 10 steps in the "there" direction and ask someone else who would proceed to point us in another direction.
On the bus to Machachi we realised that we should have just gone back to all the buses heading south and asked them if they stopped in Machachi...the town that actually existed. They would have then gone south and dropped us off at Machachi. We could have taken only one bus which would have gone directly to Machachi. That option, on the other hand, would not have given us a tour of south Quito.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
at the equator!! well..no...but really really close..promise!
so i am in quito! not far from the equator ..i think it is about a half an hour drive. but that really isn´t important. anyways, i am going to talk about some things that are very different in equator.
1. there are never any hooks for your backpack in any of the bathroom stalls. never! people probably always put their stuff on the ground. its not like people pee on the ground, but still--bathroom floors are not typically sanitary surfaces.
2. people hiss at you less here than they do in bolivia. they still stare (this girl punched her boyfriend because he was checking me out..that was pretty funny), but they do not hiss.
And those are all the differences. well not really, but those are the fun ones to mention. :)
People here are pretty nice...except for the lady who sold me my phone card. Sh sold me a phone card (which i paid for) and then sold me a new sim-card (or chip as they call it here) and as i was paying for my chip, she claimed that i had not paid her for the phone card. ¡PUTA! it was actually pretty upsetting because i didnt really have any money for the rest of the day, and i was pretty hung over and i wanted a churro.
and why did i not have money? because that "universal" PLUS symbol on my debit cards (denoting which bank machines you can get money from without being charged) is not so universal. apparently only one bank in quito accepts my card. And that bank had problems with their bank machine today. awesome!!
but i dont want this post to get too long, so i will stop it now. stop!
1. there are never any hooks for your backpack in any of the bathroom stalls. never! people probably always put their stuff on the ground. its not like people pee on the ground, but still--bathroom floors are not typically sanitary surfaces.
2. people hiss at you less here than they do in bolivia. they still stare (this girl punched her boyfriend because he was checking me out..that was pretty funny), but they do not hiss.
And those are all the differences. well not really, but those are the fun ones to mention. :)
People here are pretty nice...except for the lady who sold me my phone card. Sh sold me a phone card (which i paid for) and then sold me a new sim-card (or chip as they call it here) and as i was paying for my chip, she claimed that i had not paid her for the phone card. ¡PUTA! it was actually pretty upsetting because i didnt really have any money for the rest of the day, and i was pretty hung over and i wanted a churro.
and why did i not have money? because that "universal" PLUS symbol on my debit cards (denoting which bank machines you can get money from without being charged) is not so universal. apparently only one bank in quito accepts my card. And that bank had problems with their bank machine today. awesome!!
but i dont want this post to get too long, so i will stop it now. stop!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
how being polite could turn into a date
jess had her boy toy over last night. i figured it would be polite for me to get to know this guy, learn about him, and have a conversation about him. naturally we got to a point in the conversation about his brother. i asked what his brother's name was and if he was older and younger to which trever responded, "it sounds like you are pretty interested." of course i am interested, i like knowing about people's family.
"would you take him to a movie?"
"okay" Okay? Who answers "okay" to a question like that. i must also add that i am really awkward when responding. awkward awkward awkward awkward. did i mention that i was awkward?
"he would really like you"
"okay" Again...who says "okay"?
in my head i am asking myself if i would like him?
this conversation was followed by us trying to convince trevor to drive us somewhere exciting in Nova Scotia. Jess and I love adventure. This dude does not like camping and apparently he showers about four times a day. I LOVE camping and i am lucky if i shower 4 times a WEEK. He chuckled when i said this but i was definatley NOT joking. so...if his brother is anything like him, i could go on a date with someone who hates being outside. which is perfect for me because i probably won't have to end up spend too much time with him because he hates being outside and i hate being inside.
all our dates will be in a doorway/front step...the most tense part of any date
"would you take him to a movie?"
"okay" Okay? Who answers "okay" to a question like that. i must also add that i am really awkward when responding. awkward awkward awkward awkward. did i mention that i was awkward?
"he would really like you"
"okay" Again...who says "okay"?
in my head i am asking myself if i would like him?
this conversation was followed by us trying to convince trevor to drive us somewhere exciting in Nova Scotia. Jess and I love adventure. This dude does not like camping and apparently he showers about four times a day. I LOVE camping and i am lucky if i shower 4 times a WEEK. He chuckled when i said this but i was definatley NOT joking. so...if his brother is anything like him, i could go on a date with someone who hates being outside. which is perfect for me because i probably won't have to end up spend too much time with him because he hates being outside and i hate being inside.
all our dates will be in a doorway/front step...the most tense part of any date
tomatoes....gotta get your lycopene
So, i have some beef with the tomato industry (mind the pun...i love puns). I was especially troubled when i lived in southern ontario for the past 5 years. for the majority of the year, tomatoes come from mexico...but when it is tomato season in ontario, you are blessed with the glorious ability to buy local tomatoes :). Unfortunately, what most ontarians do not know is that most tomatoes in ontario are grown in giant farms, with lots of pesticides, and by MEXICAN farmers. SOO if your tomato is not from mexico, there is a good chance that the farmer is. These Mexican farmers (or migrant workers as they are more accurately called because they are often not given the honour of being treated like a farmer...you know...with rights!) are living in very poor conditions, in small houses, are not allowed to unionize, and are not given proper health care but are sent into fields with no protection against harmful pesticides, etc. :(
on my flight back to halifax, i saw an unusually large group of Mexican men who were clearly not taking part in a scenic sight-seeing tour of Canada. it didnt take me long to realize that they were probably a group of migrant workers. yikes! Very weird to experience. At the Halifax Airport they were met by some old guy. I know i am assumption-city right now...but i am assuming that they are all mexican migrant workers who are going to work very hard in Nova Scotian farms for minimum wage. Oh the shame to labour rights!!
To top of this tomato dilemma that i have, the other day I went to the beach with some of Hanka friends. For the most part they all seemed pretty nice...you know, the typical Haligonian Hippy :). I'm hoping that I can find something in common with these folks. Then near the end of our beach-filled afternoon, one of the guys began talking about his friend who moved to Ontario and was growing tomatoes and making millions.
"In Leamington?"
"Yeah. How'd you know?"
"It's the tomato capital of Ontario"
"Yeah, he is making tomatoes for Heinz"
"REALLY! Is he working with Mexican farmers?" (i knew that at this point i might get all human rights on his ass...)
"Yeah, he is learning spanish to speak with his farmers"
"You know they mostly live in poor conditions"
"Well he gives them a house..." This conversation was going nowhere. Actually, it was getting closer to that place in my head where i scream "YOUR FRIEND IS MAKING MILLIONS BECAUSE HE IS EXPLOITING FOREIGN LABOUR"
anyways....he was making millions and that was what matters. not all farm owners treat their farmers poorly, but come on.....a Heinz tomato farmer.
ugh...i had to rant
on my flight back to halifax, i saw an unusually large group of Mexican men who were clearly not taking part in a scenic sight-seeing tour of Canada. it didnt take me long to realize that they were probably a group of migrant workers. yikes! Very weird to experience. At the Halifax Airport they were met by some old guy. I know i am assumption-city right now...but i am assuming that they are all mexican migrant workers who are going to work very hard in Nova Scotian farms for minimum wage. Oh the shame to labour rights!!
To top of this tomato dilemma that i have, the other day I went to the beach with some of Hanka friends. For the most part they all seemed pretty nice...you know, the typical Haligonian Hippy :). I'm hoping that I can find something in common with these folks. Then near the end of our beach-filled afternoon, one of the guys began talking about his friend who moved to Ontario and was growing tomatoes and making millions.
"In Leamington?"
"Yeah. How'd you know?"
"It's the tomato capital of Ontario"
"Yeah, he is making tomatoes for Heinz"
"REALLY! Is he working with Mexican farmers?" (i knew that at this point i might get all human rights on his ass...)
"Yeah, he is learning spanish to speak with his farmers"
"You know they mostly live in poor conditions"
"Well he gives them a house..." This conversation was going nowhere. Actually, it was getting closer to that place in my head where i scream "YOUR FRIEND IS MAKING MILLIONS BECAUSE HE IS EXPLOITING FOREIGN LABOUR"
anyways....he was making millions and that was what matters. not all farm owners treat their farmers poorly, but come on.....a Heinz tomato farmer.
ugh...i had to rant
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