Ecuador Tidbits

In the six months that we’ve spent in Ecuador so far, every day we’ve noticed differences between the US and Ecuador. Since we don’t have time to write articles on every little difference, and since you probably won’t find these in a history book, we decided to write an article listing some of the tidbit facts about Ecuador.

We live about 5 miles south of the Equator, just into the Southern Hemisphere. On the Equator you can actually balance an egg. A few feet to the north of the Equator water flushes one way (clockwise). A few feet to the south of the Equator water from the same toilet flushes the other way (counterclockwise). Exactly on the Equator the water goes straight down. Seriously.

Because the altitude of Quito, the capital city where we live, is about 9,300 feet, there are not many insects here. I think they have trouble surviving in the thin air. Instead, as something needs to pollinate all the flowers, there are tons of hummingbirds and butterflies. The hummingbirds here are about 2 times larger than the ones in The States. One type of hummingbird that we see in our backyard has a tail that is about 8 inches long (4 times the size of its body).

Ecuador is a pretty small country in size (about the size of Ohio), but it varies as greatly as any country in its terrain. You can start on the Pacific coast of Ecuador, drive three hours inland (east) and be at a mountain that reaches 20,000 feet. Traveling another three hours east gets you to the Amazon jungle.

In Ecuador, Caucasians (gringos), not Hispanics or Blacks, are considered colored (colorado), because of the way our cheeks get colored red in the sun.

Forty-seven percent of the work force in Ecuador is “subempleado” - I think we call it “underemployment” in English. This means that almost half of the work force is in “under-the-table jobs,” such as selling ice-cream on the street, working unofficial labor jobs in maintenance and other fields, selling crafts or pirated DVDs on buses, etc... Whenever we take a bus ride, we have the option to buy something from a vendor who boards the bus, gives a quick sales pitch, checks to see if anyone wants to buy something, and then moves on to another bus. We’ve been offered roasted peanuts, cough drops, ice-cream, yogurt, pirated DVDs and CDs, gum, soda, Spider-Man masks, newspapers, toothbrushes, shoe insoles, candy and even soup. Since minimum wage is only about $250 per month, a lot of Ecuadorians are likely to make more money working unofficial jobs. The negative is that many workers and their families end up without the benefits that come with salary jobs, such as healthcare. Another result of the “underemployment” is a 12 percent sales tax.

Ecuador uses the US dollar. They gave up their “sucre” in 2000 to take up the US dollar to help with their economy and inflation. Politicians in the country are divided between those who are ready to bring back the “sucre” and show that their economy can run without the help of other countries, and those who want the stability and reliability of the US dollar.

It’s pretty common here to see way more people in a car than seatbelts. We’ve seen up to 13 people in the bed of a pickup truck. I think Britney Spears recently got in trouble in the US for driving with her kid on her lap. In the US, Britney could lose her children over something like that. Sadly, in Ecuador, it’s normal for a child to sit (sometimes stand) in the front seat on the lap of the driver or passenger. We’ve even seen babies on motorcycles.

Parking in Ecuador has its differences. Sidewalks make good parking spots. It’s not permitted by law, but you can park on most sidewalks that seem fitting to you. In the center of town, where parking laws are more enforced, they don’t use parking meters, but they do have some system: If you don’t already have a parking card in your car, you have to find a guy, who will be walking around on the sidewalk, somewhere, and buy a parking card from him. You put the parking card in your window and write in the time that you were there. Being a country that suffers greatly from corruption, you can imagine how honest people are when filling out their own parking cards. Tesha recently got back from Portland, Oregon for a friend’s wedding. In Portland, you use your credit card for the parking meters. I think Ecuador has awhile before they’ll be using those meters.

Ecuadorians greet with a kiss on the cheek. Sometimes they greet with a kiss the very first time they meet; other times they shake hands to meet and then kiss to greet once they know each other. It took a little while to get used to this, and to figure out when to shake hands and when to kiss. Still, early one morning, while I (Pete) was half asleep, I walked outside and ran into a female volunteer I know. At first I was really thrown off when she kept bringing her face closer and closer, but then I remembered that I was in Ecuador.
Another thing about greeting in Ecuador is that they individually greet every person in the room. In the US, when we show up at work, we give one general “Good morning” that goes out to everyone. Here a person will go around the room and greet up to 20 people individually. Even when we meet with Tesha’s running group on Saturday mornings, when people show up, they will go around to each of the 10 or so people who are stretching to give a kiss or shake hands and say “Buenos dias” to each person.”

It is common to see llamas in Ecuador, especially in the countryside. We have a llama on the orphanage property. It takes care of the lawn mowing. One of the children named it Luisa Daniela, a rather elegant name for a llama.
-Pete