oh hiiii.
life goes on here in Salinas. what does that mean? it means swimming in the ocean, locking every lock i own over and over again whether it be front doors or bike locks. it means eating rice, beans, chicken, and fried platano all the time, spending exorbitant amounts of time with my wonderful fiancé and still wanting more, AND lots of reading (for fun and for GRE prep). another past time enjoyed in our little gringo house is watching episodes of psych or grey's anatomy. good stuff.
What is Ecuador like? well according to what i've seen, which is the largest city, Guayaquil, and some of the coast of the province called Santa Elena, I can tell you my opinion, which isn't fully formed by any means:
No surprises here, people are mostly dirt poor and live in shacks, broken down concrete houses, or dirty old concrete apartments in the cities. the older culture can show through among the poor indigenous folks selling stuff on the street. I bought a $10 converse sweatshirt from 4 Quichua brothers running a clothing shop in Buena Aventura, a shopping area in the next town over. Lindsey and I figured out that their incomprehensible Spanish wasn't Spanish at all, but Quichua. They taught us a couple greetings that i promptly forgot (Quichua doesn't just click, ya know??). Also, the hats that look like miniature top hats worn by women are common among the indigenous girls and older women. Just like in lots of middle eastern places that i experienced recently, the very old is mixed with the awkwardly new. Computers with internet for paying customers are stuffed into hole-in-the-wall "cybers" in buildings that also house dirt-floor homes, bike repair shops, and tiny lil' chicken or banana-chip stalls. there are the incredibly old junker cars and buses mixed with the occasional modern bus or upper-class suburbans.
I gotta get out of here but before i go, here is the "ps" in an email that i sent to my parents today. I thought it might be interesting for ya'll. This is coming from a girl who doesn’t get online or watch TV anymore while living in a deserted beach town in Ecuador. so, now that you know i´m isolated, go ahead and read! -
Is Hugo Chavez doing combined Russian and Venezuelan naval training so that they, along with other countries, can sink us economically and declare war? Ecuador is siding with Venezuela by the way. Chavez and the Ecuadorian president, Correa, are friends, and Correa just won a new motion for a new constitution that is pretty socialist. the votes were counted on monday, i watched the whole thing on TV. the propaganda here covers all walls, buses, and until the vote, was yelled out from loudspeakers in slow-moving campaign vehicles all over the place. Correa's constitution, which seems a bit socialist, sounds great for all the lower class Ecuadorians of course, especially when they don’t really understand what they're supporting. ¡Sí al futuro! ¡Sí a la educación! ¡Sí a la patria! It all sounds so inspiring if you don't delve deeper. Presidente Correa came and spoke at a huge rally on our street a couple weeks ago. We didn't go. Correa practically censors all news or propaganda contra suyo (against his). Lindsey just heard today that his campaign may have been partly funded (or supported somehow) by a well-known Latin drug trafficking group, even though he denies it. I forget the group's name. does anyone know about this? Every time I see Correa speaking on TV, i just get more convinced of my initial impression of him: A young hot-shot president that i don’t feel inclined to trust. I think my impression is correct.
anyway, i was wondering if everyone back home is in a panic or not about the economy or the possibility of war. what's going on?
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