Closing Time

Well, the time has come for me to return home to the States.  I love Ecuador.  It will always have a special place in my heart.  I love my host family and will miss them dearly, too!

The experience of travel has taught me much about globalization in many forms.

It's time to see my family in the United States now, though, for Christmas! I'll be on a plane heading home in less than 24 hours!

¡Disfruta la Vida! - Enjoy Life!

Matthew

The Ecuadorian Hour

                The "Ecuadorian hour" is quite possibly the most frustrating thing I have experienced while here in Ecuador.  If you don't happen to be familiar with the Ecuadorian hour, allow me to briefly explain.  It's a perception of time in which deadlines and strict time schedules don't matter as much as they do in highly monochronic cultures such as the U.S.  What would be considered very late in American culture (20-30 minutes late) is not considered a big deal in many places in Ecuador.  For example, my host brother played two scrimmage soccer games for the University of Cuenca that I have been to so far.  This is when two universities unofficially play each other.  In the first case, he told me the game was at 3:00 p.m.  What time did we leave? 2:58 p.m. We drove a bit and arrived at the stadium at 3:10.  I was thinking, "Man, I hope Pablo doesn't get in trouble for being late!"  What time did the game start? 3:40 p.m. He was one of the first players there.  I was astounded.  I was under the perception that for events of this nature punctuality is crucial, but they weren't bothered by it at all.  The same "lateness" happened for the other game, too.

                One time I was getting ready to walk up to the school.  It's about a 35 minute walk, so I give myself 40 minutes to get there.  I had an activity at 3:00 p.m. that day, so I would have left at 2:20 p.m.  My host brother Pablo offered to drive me to school, since he was going to class as well around the same time.  I was grateful to get a ride as I was pretty tired that day.  I was ready at 15 minutes before 3:00, just like he said, but he was not ready.  I went to find him and he was... in the shower.  So I wait.  He gets done, it's about 5 'til now, so I'm ready to go.  He goes outside with me to the garage.  Turns out my host sister Verónica and host mother Mery are already in the car waiting.  I get in the backseat of the SUV with Pablo.  We don't go anywhere.  As it turns out, the entire family was coming.  So we wait even longer until my host dad Fernando makes his way out with the grandkids, Thomás and Mateo.  By now, I'm about 15 minutes late, and we haven't even left.  We back up and start driving.  We start getting close to the school, and then change directions!!  I mention I have to get to school, and they say they know.  They're just going to pick up a few things.  So we stop at a roadside store.  Verónica gets out and buys some groceries.  She comes back and we continue driving.  At a red light, Pablo gets out and starts shopping, too, while we're in traffic!  Then apparently, he walks to class, because we drive off without him when it turned green.  Then we finally drive to Fundación Amauta.  I get out of the vehicle, completely confounded.  I could not understand how driving could possibly make me more late than walking to school!  This inversion of what should have happened didn't compute in my head.  How could I have been driven to school and end up an hour late?!?  It makes absolutely no sense to me.  The icing on the cake: in a house that has 3 floors, only 2 clocks I can see work.  The one on the 1st floor is 23 minutes fast, and the other on the 3rd floor (mine in my bedroom), is correct.  This perception of time reflects the polychronic nature of many Ecuadorians.  If we're there on time...  if we're not there on time... *shrugs*  "No me importa" (It's no big deal).  And you know what?   Sometimes this is OK!

Ecuador Nightlife, My Host Brother, and Learning Spanish

The nightlife in Cuenca is spectacular and thrilling.  Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights were prime times for us students to go out and enjoy the evening.  Juan Pablo, my 19-year-old host brother, would come home from his classes at the university, eat a bit of dinner, and then walk up to my room and say, "Ok Mathieu, les go!"  This is always humorous, because my name is Matthew, but the "th" sound is very hard for many Spanish-speakers to pronounce, so my name ends up having the French pronunciation of "Mayh-tyuu".  I give him credit though, as the "th" is almost audible, and he is way closer than anyone else in the family to getting it right.  Anyways, we drive around the city, and it amazes me that he is familiar with so many people and places.  Anytime there is a cool view or a neat building, we go check it out.  We go to the bar, the dance clubs, and even the street stores and sidewalk vendors to buy delicious hot dogs at one in the morning.  We usually run into a few people that Pablo knows, and we always have pretty cool conversations.  I love speaking Spanish with all of them.  That being said, most of the young people that are Pablo's age know a decent amount of English.  This underscores the amount of interaction that Ecuador's residents have or will have with people from English-speaking countries like the U.S.  This demonstrates the USA's economic power because the Ecuadorian government has mandated English be taught because of its value (They need our dollars).

By traveling about the cities, I have had the pleasure of being able to hear so many peoples' accents in not only Spanish, but also in English.  I always go out and try to talk to as many people as I can, in as many places as I can, such as in the Galápagos, Intag, Baños, Guayaquil, Otavalo, and of course Cuenca.  Hearing all these different peoples' take on the Spanish and English languages will only further my knowledge of what it means to truly understand a language in all its aspects.  It all gets added to the collection for my future job as translator/interpreter (written & spoken word).  Of course, one of the greatest learning tools I have is Juan Pablo, my bi-lingual host brother who I constantly talk with about everything, including Spanish and English, IN Spanish and English!

Juan Pablo (right) and I (left).

Driving in Ecuador

The way people drive in Ecuador is very different from what I am accustomed to in the States.  When I am driving to and from Baldwin-Wallace College, I use the freeway for most of the trip.  I start in Eastlake, go through Cleveland, and end up in Berea.  Sure, there are plenty of drivers out there who go too fast, switch lanes frequently, and cut me off, but this is nothing compared to the way traffic flows in Ecuador.  I thought I had seen crazy driving in Washington, D.C.  I was sorely mistaken.  In Ecuador, it's much more crazy.  There are regularly 5 cars taking up the space of 3 lanes (and there were lines painted on the road, at least in this case).  They squeeze quite close to one another to make it work, and sometimes their mirrors are almost touching.  Motorcycles fly down the middle of double yellow lines between heavy traffic flow, and occasionally even use the sidewalk to circumvent stopped or slow traffic.  People cut each other off all the time, and most are insanely close calls.  I am amazed at the low number of accidents I have seen with all the insanity I witness on a daily basis.  On the faster roads, it's not uncommon for people to drive in the middle of 2 lanes until someone flies up behind them, honks his horn (or flashes his brights if it's night), and makes them move over so they can pass the slower car.  If the speed limit is 70 KM/h, one should expect to see everything from 40KM/h to 100KM/h.  The signs for speed limits appear to act only as suggestions.  Speaking of suggestions, so are all stop signs.  I don't think I have once seen or been in a vehicle that completely stopped at a stop sign, unless a car was directly in the way.  Most of the time if it seems clear, they just go ahead and take it and never touch the brake at all.  This goes for lights too.  Left on red?  No problem!  There are traffic cams?  No problem!  Yes, I am serious.  This experience of traveling via automobile in Ecuador has drastically changed my view on driving.  When I return to the States, I will probably undergo a culture shock.  Organized lanes, no passing on double yellow lines, motorcycles actually driving in a lane, traffic cams stopping people from running red lights, police that pull you over for dangerous maneuvers, etc.  I feel like it will be so orderly that it will seem unreal to me.  We'll see!

Movies / Películas

Over the course of my stay here at my host family's house in Cuenca, Ecuador, I have watched a decent amount of movies.  We usually watch them upstairs in the living room on their flat-screen TV, although I have also been to the cinema here.  My host brother, Juan Pablo, likes to watch them with English audio and Spanish subtitles (captions).  This coincidental choice ended up being one of the single greatest ways that I could learn Spanish.  Subtitles in movies* are shorter than the actual spoken dialogues for reasons of on-screen space and the average reading speed of the audience (content being more important than form).  This also has other advantages, though.  I was able to watch movies, understand the ideas perfectly in English, and then subsequently understand how to convey those same ideas in Spanish in a clear and concise way.  This is a very exciting way to learn a language!

On the topic of translating ideas, this really comes into play if we take a look at movie titles.  Because movies permeate countries all over the globe, and because the main idea of the movie is paramount, a literal translation of the title is insufficient at times to convey the same intended meaning in another language.  For this reason, titles can be quite different from one another in different languages.  To give some good examples of this, Inception in Spanish is El Origen (The Origin), Source Code is 8 Minutos Antes de Morir (8 Minutes Before Dying), and Charlie St. Cloud is Siempre a Mi Lado (Always By My Side).  The movie Taken actually has two names in Spanish: Venganza (Revenge) in Spain and Búsqueda Implacable (Relentless Pursuit) in Latin America.  This is understandable.  After all, just because they share a language doesn't mean it's the same culture, right?  Words have different meanings depending on where you are country-wise, dialect-wise, and even situation-wise.  It is for this reason that content translation is more important than literal word translation.
 

This is a screenshot from the official Spanish trailer.

 

The spoken dialogue is a bit longer:

- ¡Oye! ¿Qué estás haciendo? (Hey! What are you doing?)

-  Sólo estaba ... [m]irando tu bote. Perdón por asustarte.  (I was just ... [l]ooking at your boat.  I'm sorry if I scared you.)

Sometimes movies are literal or very direct translations, like Limitless (Sin Límites), Not Since You (No Desde Ti), and P.S. I Love You (Posdata Te Amo).  There's even the case of Kung Fu Panda, whose title is made entirely of import words, so it remains the same in multiple languages.  Usually translators are not so lucky, though!

Why does all this matter to me?  ¡Porque un día quiero ser traductor e intérprete de inglés y español! (Because one day I want to be a translator and interpreter of English and Spanish!)

*This is not to be confused with Television subtitling (a.k.a. closed captioning), where the Teletext subtitles follow the original audio verbatim.

Graffiti in Ecuador

As with any big city, there is graffiti.  It seems to be present in many, if not all, of the big cities in the world.  My stay in Cuenca has piqued my interest in its interesting collection of "art", so I decided to take some photos.

Some are very basic, utilizing just a single-color spray paint can:

Some send a powerful message:

"Study, Organize, and Fight/Rebel."  You may notice the "JCE" stencil on the right.  JCE stands for "Juventud Comunista Ecuatoriano" (Communist Youth of Ecuador).

And of course, some graffiti is very complex and hard to read/understand:

This wall has "Ganja Crew" tagged on it.  Ganja means marijuana.  Upon closer inspection, the eyes of the person in purple have cannabis leaves in them:

Others are even more open for interpretation:

This one says "Tína".  This could be talking about a girl...or meth.  Who knows?

"Smash."  I'm not even going to pretend like I know what this means.  I'm stumped.

 

Maybe the "MSA Crew" felt like making some pretty "Cuenca Arte".  This is refreshingly pretty graffiti.

There are others that I remember, but I was not able to find their location again for a photo.  The most memorable was a classic depiction of a black sphere cartoon bomb, but with an interesting twist.  There was a big red letter A (the anarchy symbol) on the bomb, and the fuse was lit, sending the clear message that at least someone or some group is letting the government know the people will only take so much, and the clock is ticking, because that fuse is burning!  This gives us insight into the volatile political environment in Ecuador.  I took the liberty of creating a rendition in MS Paint:

As a side note, Quito also had powerful graffiti.  There are two that I will always remember:

1.  An anthropomorphic television with arms, legs, and a crown, whose screen read "Yo soy tu Dios" (I am your God), representing the influence of media and its power over the people.

2.  A fierce condor (representing Ecuador) ripping out the eyes of a lion (representing Spain).  This symbolizes the sovereignty of Ecuador:  independence from Spain.  Long live patriotism!

So to sum it up, graffiti is an interesting and questionable (because it can be considered vandalism) way to express and convey an idea publicly, in any part of the world.  I think it might be a way to express an idea anonymously, or to make a point of view known in a powerful way.  Graffiti expresses all types of ideas in a very visual way.  I didn't expect to see graffiti here in Ecuador.  I'm not sure why, but it always just seemed like a US thing to me.  Now the experience of travel has taught me otherwise!

 Disclaimer: The Matthew in no way advocates or condones the proliferation of graffiti, and is only commenting on the graffiti that already exists.

Guayaquil

                Guayaquil is my new favorite city in Ecuador.  This city really resonates with me for a few reasons.  I think it is incredibly beautiful.  The second time I was there, as part of my return from the Galápagos Islands, we had a tour of the city with a great guide.  He filled our sponge-like brains with great information.  For example, because of the climate, certain buildings were made out of wood (instead of cement) and elevated to help create a cooling convection current.  Taking advantage of the water table that is only 5 feet deep in many areas, pillars separated by water "cushions" underground help buildings stand impervious to earthquakes of even a 7.0 magnitude.  With all the precipitation in the rainy season, and up to 15 feet of water in 4 months during the El Niño phenomenon, the economy would have drastically slowed down, if not for the overhanging design of many buildings, sheltering the passers-by and keeping the economy flowing.  There are many cool things that I love about this city, and my favorite is the massive boardwalk along the waterfront.  The government has (and is still currently) investing millions of dollars in this area of the city.  What all does it have, you ask?  First of all, it's like a gigantic botanical garden.  Trees, flowers, it has them all.  The lighting is great from the sun because of its location, and at night, it is well-lit and has an elegant look to it.  The boardwalk had great architecture that mimics a large ship, and there are numerous playgrounds for children.  With security guards abound, this area was designed for families to spend time together in a safe public space.  To me this is a huge success.  Plus, it has some really good restaurants, and everyone loves food.  These are perfect reasons for me to retire in Guayaquil!  I can envision myself there right now with my grandkids.  What a pleasant snapshot of the future.

Las Islas Galápagos

            If you are ever able to make it out to the Galápagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador, there is one thing you absolutely must do: SNORKEL.  I say this because it is absolutely amazing.  The entire experience is exhilarating.  First, you put all your gear on, like a wetsuit, flippers, goggles and snorkel mask.  Then, you enter the water from the side of the boat (bonus points if you're the first one in your group to get in the water).  Then, you freeze for a few seconds as surprisingly cold water rushes over your body and envelops you in the ocean.  You may have been under the impression that since the Galápagos are located on the equator, the water would be warm like in the Caribbean.  That would be incorrect.  The water is so cold because of the way currents work.  After the temperature adjustment, the view is unbelievable.  During an excursion off the coast of Isla Santa Cruz, I saw hundreds of fish, ranging in size, color, and shape.  I also swam with my classmates toward the shore where we swam with multiple fun sea lions (lobos marinos in Spanish, literally translating to "marine wolves").  If you blow bubbles underwater, they come and play with you.  After a while, we had attracted so many sea lions that the dominant male (the alpha), decided he needed to come break it up and reclaim his territory.  The alpha was about 2-3 times larger than the average sea lion, and had a fun time getting between Lucas and the other sea lions to show that he was still in charge.  At a different location, I witnessed a massive sea turtle feeding underwater on some plants growing on rocks.  I was able to touch its shell.  Yes, it was awesome.  I also saw skates, sting rays, manta rays, penguins, and even numerous white tip reef sharks, which may or may not have been extremely close to me...  OK They were extremely close to me!  =)

-Matthew the snorkeler

El Cementerio

Hello all,

            Yesterday I went with some of my class to visit Cuenca's cemetery.  This was a great cultural experience for me.  We visited this place for Day of the Dead / All Saints' Day (Spanish: Día de los Muertos y Día de los Difuntos).  This place was beautiful.  Families brought bright bouquets of flowers and other adornments to illuminate the already grand headstones.  I was really moved with the amount of respect people have for their loved ones who have passed on.  The perfectly cut marble, the intricately embossed letters of gold, and other religious artifacts like the powerful crucifix were magnificent.  No matter what religious or other beliefs you may hold, death is a part of life, like two sides of a coin, and everyone can relate as human beings and find some common ground on this topic.

            This cemetery was packed with people.  Entire families dressed up and came to pay their respects to, and reminisce about, their family members, friends, and other loved ones.  Mass was held in one of the openings near the center of the cemetery.  There was a priest, some helpers, and musicians.  They were encircled by the crowd that attended the mass.  Many people wore black, as appears to be the tradition in the United States, as well.  Some of the older women also seemed to pair nice white shirts with long purple or blue skirts, while the younger generation wears clothes of a more casual variety (this is not to say they have any less respect for the deceased), such as blue jeans and a T-shirt.  I enjoyed going to the cemetery that morning.  Seeing people cleaning the glass and walls of their loved ones' mausoleums made me appreciate the human race more that day.  I'm glad people remember their loved ones and pay respect to them. I think it's the right thing to do.  Even though I don't know them personally, it makes me proud. I didn't take any photos out of respect for the deceased and their families.  I didn't want to make the cemetery a novelty for this blog, only to speak of it with the utmost respect.

No trip is complete without photos!!

Me 65 meters (~210 feet) up in the canopy overlooking the rainforest.

Chilling with Rocco by a sweet blue-tinted river.

The literal equator.

Traffic is much scarier in real life, and even better when crossing on foot.

The gang jumping for joy.

Soccer in Junín with some kids.

Swinging from a vine on a mountain in the rainforest/jungle: priceless.

No expedition is complete without the famous Ramiro as your guide!

Life Pt. II

            Hello again.  Welcome to my second talk about life in Ecuador and how it differs from the United States.  I would like to discuss two more interesting differences I noticed.  In Ecuadorian restaurants and with my host family, people are served their meals as they become ready, as opposed to the typical way in the U.S., where the plates are kept warm until they are all ready and brought out or served at the same time.  Here in Ecuador, at a restaurant or in a house, it is usual and certainly not offensive if you are the first or last in your group to receive your entrée.  In this way, in Ecuador, all people at the table seem to be equal regardless of serve time, whereas in the US the equal timing represents such equality.

            The second difference I will mention today is the number of outlets in rooms.  In two high-end hotels I stayed at while in Quito, outlets were scarce.  There was only 1 outlet in my first stay (which had two beds, so 1 plug per person), and only 2 outlets in my room in the second hotel (4 plugs).  In my room with my host family, I can only count 2 outlets on the entire 3rd floor, and only 1 of them is able to be used (and luckily I also have the necessary 3-prong to 2-prong adaptors).  I am used to my room at home with 6 plugs, or even my dorm room where there is the ridiculous 10 outlets, or 20 plugs.  Yes, I'm serious.  My 7' x 13' dorm room has 20 plugs.  I like newer buildings for this reason.  They keep up to date with the latest demands of our technological needs, and I love all my electronics.  I have lamps, clocks, a TV, a sound system, cell phone chargers, computer plugs, and an electric keyboard.

            Well, over and out, folks!  See you next time.

~The Matthew

Life Pt. I

            Welcome to my first blog about Ecuador.  I am going to describe two differences I noticed between Ecuador (specifically the cities of Quito and Cuenca, where I have been so far) and the United States.  One of the major surprises was seeing so many types of vehicles.  By this I mean that there are many automobile makers that I have never seen before I arrived in Quito.  I thought I was well-versed in "car knowledge", but not only are there companies I had never heard of, like Chery and Great Wall, but there are models of cars from American automotive companies that are not sold in the United States.  An example of this is the Chevy Spark, which is similar to the Aveo.  In Ecuador, compact cars like the Chevy Spark and Aveo, Fiat 500, and others are very common.  Whenever I would take a taxi it was either a Chevy Aveo or an old Nissan Sentra.  Both are quaint small cars, as my friend in the US owns an Aveo and my family used to have a 1990 Sentra.

            The most interesting surprise for me in Ecuador was with the water treatment system.  Their facilities are not made for handling ... toilet paper.  For this reason, there is a small wastebasket next to every toilet.  The septic system is not equipped to handle the structure of toilet paper, and so there are usually signs in tourist-area restrooms that tell the patron not to flush the paper, and instead to properly dispose of it in the basket next to him or her.  This idea was very different to me, as I was definitely not used to wiping my behind and then letting it fester in a pile on top of other soiled toilet paper from the people before me.  I would imagine that it is for this reason it is hard to keep the smell down in bathrooms (baños in Spanish).  I will not miss this when I return to the US.  I'm glad the US is equipped to handle toilet paper.  I will gaze happily down at the toilet as my toilet paper is sucked away... and the smell along with it!



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Great Wall Motors logo, a Chinese company


And Chery Automobile logo, also a Chinese company 


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