I can´t wait
-for mom´s cooking
-to not be sick all the time
-to reunite with family and friends
-to get my contacts
-to use soft toilet paper
-to eat what I want, when I want
Typical Ecua
-Picking your nose in public
-Staring shamelessly
-Falling on top of someone on the bus/pushing someone on the bus and not saying excuse me or anything
-Mande, Chuchaqui, Full
Ecua things that I really like
-Breast feeding in public and also artwork of mary breastfeeding baby Jesus
-$ .30 water
I know i´m gonna have culture shock when I get back. When I think about doing things in the states ( shopping, appointments, etc. ) I imagine my conversations in Spanish first and then sort of go ¨oh wait...¨
Home stretch. I gotta get my travel on. I´ve been to a lot of places that I have yet to write about. Stay tuned? or maybe it´ll have to wait until I get back.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Muñecas y Machismo
So it´s been a while since my last post. I´ve been having a blast and I´ve done lots of things worth telling but this post is dedicated to one thing...
YO NO SOY UNA MUÑECA.
No soy tu juguete.
No soy un objeto sexual.
One thing I´m looking forward to about being back in the states is being able to walk down the street without being called to like a dog. pss pss pss. I knew about the machismo ahead of time but seriously...I didn´t think it was this bad. And the things they told us in orientation are not helpful. In terms of safety in general they told us to sit close to the driver on the buses and to be friendly and get to know the guards in the neighborhood cause they´ll look out for you. Except that doesn´t work so well when those are the people making you uncomfortable and making you feel vulnerable/unsafe. Can you imagine a GUARD with gun and nightstick hitting on you on the street. I have no power in that situation, or at least I feel powerless. I have no options of saying or doing anything. I am in HIS space and he has the control and the power to do and say whatever he wants. His space being any public space. They also told us in orientation not to say anything to these machista guys because they will think we want to flirt or something. Which may be true, but it is still not right to tell a group of women to shut up and take it. I feel now that I can say something if I want but still have the fear of the consequences. Although, a friend told me a way to respond that I love ¨¿Se pinchó una goma?¨ so I´m looking forward to using that one day. Also, a girl in my gender and society class complained about a guard talking to her that way and he got fired. That´s power and I am so proud of her. muñeca is definitely the one that bothers me the most. I am a human being! not an inanimate object. I feel the need to avoid eye contact with men on the street, in buses, etc. and uncomfortable if someone even says buenos dias to me. I also feel like after 4 and a half months of this and having to stay silent every time I will be inclined to respond every time it happens in the states.
Identity is so ...here. Identity is important in the states and everywhere but it just feels so much stronger here. What it means to be a white woman here, what it means to be a black woman here, what it means to be a black man here, white man, indigenous, rich, mestizo, homosexual. My experience with sexual harassment, though valid, feels almost insignificant in comparison with the daily lives of women of color.
I am just thankful that I´ve met nice ecuadorian men here so I don´t leave thinking they´re all pigs. I´m also thankful I have extranjero friends who understand. And that I have some great ecua feminists in my gender and society class.
YO NO SOY UNA MUÑECA.
No soy tu juguete.
No soy un objeto sexual.
One thing I´m looking forward to about being back in the states is being able to walk down the street without being called to like a dog. pss pss pss. I knew about the machismo ahead of time but seriously...I didn´t think it was this bad. And the things they told us in orientation are not helpful. In terms of safety in general they told us to sit close to the driver on the buses and to be friendly and get to know the guards in the neighborhood cause they´ll look out for you. Except that doesn´t work so well when those are the people making you uncomfortable and making you feel vulnerable/unsafe. Can you imagine a GUARD with gun and nightstick hitting on you on the street. I have no power in that situation, or at least I feel powerless. I have no options of saying or doing anything. I am in HIS space and he has the control and the power to do and say whatever he wants. His space being any public space. They also told us in orientation not to say anything to these machista guys because they will think we want to flirt or something. Which may be true, but it is still not right to tell a group of women to shut up and take it. I feel now that I can say something if I want but still have the fear of the consequences. Although, a friend told me a way to respond that I love ¨¿Se pinchó una goma?¨ so I´m looking forward to using that one day. Also, a girl in my gender and society class complained about a guard talking to her that way and he got fired. That´s power and I am so proud of her. muñeca is definitely the one that bothers me the most. I am a human being! not an inanimate object. I feel the need to avoid eye contact with men on the street, in buses, etc. and uncomfortable if someone even says buenos dias to me. I also feel like after 4 and a half months of this and having to stay silent every time I will be inclined to respond every time it happens in the states.
Identity is so ...here. Identity is important in the states and everywhere but it just feels so much stronger here. What it means to be a white woman here, what it means to be a black woman here, what it means to be a black man here, white man, indigenous, rich, mestizo, homosexual. My experience with sexual harassment, though valid, feels almost insignificant in comparison with the daily lives of women of color.
I am just thankful that I´ve met nice ecuadorian men here so I don´t leave thinking they´re all pigs. I´m also thankful I have extranjero friends who understand. And that I have some great ecua feminists in my gender and society class.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
oh, Quito
Today marks 2 months in South America.
Quito is crazy. I think there are about 2 million people that live here which is worth noting. I feel like I have a love/hate relationship with the city. Its really beautiful but also really polluted. I went to the park again today. First time since the mugging. Thought I was good cause this time I went with an Ecuadorian but not exactly. It was so bizarre. We were leaving the park, no scratch that, we left the park, we were walking on the street that borders it and this guy, I dont even know what he said but it was something like, just give me a dollar and nothing will happen. so my friend gave him the dollar and he friggin says Todo bien ñaño. I couldnt believe it. How you gonna rob someone, granted only a dollar, and then call them brother. ñaño is a word only from ecuador that means brother. todo bien = all good. It was strange too cause I knew it was going to happen but I only knew because my friend knew. When he started walking fast I was just like...here we go. man oh man. I dont think Ill be going back to Carolina. Although, I do still want to go to the botanical garden and maybe the science museum..
last weekend was sweet. (ya know, minus the whole earthquake tsunami thing)
Friday I went to a karoke which was alright.
Saturday I went to Otavalo, which is the city that has this huge indigenous market. I bought a bunch of stuff. I want to go back though. I hear there is this amazing pie spot.
Sunday I went to have lunch with Patricia, the friend of a woman who works with my dad. her house was crazy. it was like out of a movie gorgeous. later I went to my first futbol game. bought a shirt that I kindof just bought cause the vender convinced me but i was really glad i got it afterword. its pretty sweet. also my team won which is especially great cause theyve been playing badly. it was great and I cant wait to go to another one.
this weekend Im hoping to go to Baños which is a place not too far that everyone raves about.
vamos a ver
Quito is crazy. I think there are about 2 million people that live here which is worth noting. I feel like I have a love/hate relationship with the city. Its really beautiful but also really polluted. I went to the park again today. First time since the mugging. Thought I was good cause this time I went with an Ecuadorian but not exactly. It was so bizarre. We were leaving the park, no scratch that, we left the park, we were walking on the street that borders it and this guy, I dont even know what he said but it was something like, just give me a dollar and nothing will happen. so my friend gave him the dollar and he friggin says Todo bien ñaño. I couldnt believe it. How you gonna rob someone, granted only a dollar, and then call them brother. ñaño is a word only from ecuador that means brother. todo bien = all good. It was strange too cause I knew it was going to happen but I only knew because my friend knew. When he started walking fast I was just like...here we go. man oh man. I dont think Ill be going back to Carolina. Although, I do still want to go to the botanical garden and maybe the science museum..
last weekend was sweet. (ya know, minus the whole earthquake tsunami thing)
Friday I went to a karoke which was alright.
Saturday I went to Otavalo, which is the city that has this huge indigenous market. I bought a bunch of stuff. I want to go back though. I hear there is this amazing pie spot.
Sunday I went to have lunch with Patricia, the friend of a woman who works with my dad. her house was crazy. it was like out of a movie gorgeous. later I went to my first futbol game. bought a shirt that I kindof just bought cause the vender convinced me but i was really glad i got it afterword. its pretty sweet. also my team won which is especially great cause theyve been playing badly. it was great and I cant wait to go to another one.
this weekend Im hoping to go to Baños which is a place not too far that everyone raves about.
vamos a ver
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
El Oriente y la Costa
(Just for the record, I somehow didn´t see comments from my sicky post on jan 16. so I´ve responded if you want to check it out.)
Finally left Quito!!
Carnaval weekend:
Went to a place called Sucua which is in the province of Morona Santiago. About a 7 or 8 hour bus ride from Quito. Stayed in a hotel for $7 a night. Went with a group of 10 including myself. 9 gringos 1 ecuadorian. Went to two different rivers, hiked a crazy mountain, saw something in the tarantula family that was poisonous and blue, met an amazing ecuadorian family, ate some traditional indigenous food that I can´t remember the name, a club in the neighboring town where my friend was randomly given a free bottle of tequila from the dj or something-maybe he liked her dancing, water fights in the street with little ones, water fights in the river, getting bombarded with water balloons as we drove by sitting in the back of a truck (perfect targets), getting bombarded with smelly spoiled things as we drove by sitting in the back of a truck. Fun fun minus the smelly things. The hiking part was amusing because it was like...this is what people imagined me to be doing...hiking a mountain in the jungle with traditional indigenous paint on my face, and seeing blue spiders. haha. some REALLY incredible views out there.
El Oro:
Last weekend I went to the South of Ecuador to a province called El Oro (Gold). It was my host mom´s birthday and she wanted to go visit family out there. my host sister is on vacation right now so I missed classes Friday and Monday. El Oro is a lot farther. It was like a 12 hour bus ride. Going was fine cause we went at night and I just slept but coming back was terrible. We left at 10:30 am and got back around 11:30 pm. El Oro is coast. So I´m glad that now I´ve experienced the coast and the jungle but I didn´t really have a good time. I didn´t really like my host mom´s family that much. We didn´t do anything that was that fun for me. We went to Peru which was cool. It was just the frontera though so there´s like a big market there. I bought sunglasses and a purse. Other than that, we went to a relative´s birthday party. a 10 year old. that was okay. there I was able to meet some people my age and have some good conversation. but i didn´t really do anything else besides get bitten by mosquitos lol. the bugs actually weren´t that bad. everyone was saying how they must not like my estadounidense blood. So not sure it was worth it but also not sure I had a choice. If I had said that i didn´t want to go or that I couldn´t miss class I think they all would have stayed cause I don´t think they would leave me alone in the house.
anyway, thats all for now. I definitely need to continue travelling and getting to know the country. There are some really beautiful places here. Also, even though Galapagos is expensive I think I need to go. It´s probably my only opportunity and it´s got to be worth it. Daddyyyy...
Finally left Quito!!
Carnaval weekend:
Went to a place called Sucua which is in the province of Morona Santiago. About a 7 or 8 hour bus ride from Quito. Stayed in a hotel for $7 a night. Went with a group of 10 including myself. 9 gringos 1 ecuadorian. Went to two different rivers, hiked a crazy mountain, saw something in the tarantula family that was poisonous and blue, met an amazing ecuadorian family, ate some traditional indigenous food that I can´t remember the name, a club in the neighboring town where my friend was randomly given a free bottle of tequila from the dj or something-maybe he liked her dancing, water fights in the street with little ones, water fights in the river, getting bombarded with water balloons as we drove by sitting in the back of a truck (perfect targets), getting bombarded with smelly spoiled things as we drove by sitting in the back of a truck. Fun fun minus the smelly things. The hiking part was amusing because it was like...this is what people imagined me to be doing...hiking a mountain in the jungle with traditional indigenous paint on my face, and seeing blue spiders. haha. some REALLY incredible views out there.
El Oro:
Last weekend I went to the South of Ecuador to a province called El Oro (Gold). It was my host mom´s birthday and she wanted to go visit family out there. my host sister is on vacation right now so I missed classes Friday and Monday. El Oro is a lot farther. It was like a 12 hour bus ride. Going was fine cause we went at night and I just slept but coming back was terrible. We left at 10:30 am and got back around 11:30 pm. El Oro is coast. So I´m glad that now I´ve experienced the coast and the jungle but I didn´t really have a good time. I didn´t really like my host mom´s family that much. We didn´t do anything that was that fun for me. We went to Peru which was cool. It was just the frontera though so there´s like a big market there. I bought sunglasses and a purse. Other than that, we went to a relative´s birthday party. a 10 year old. that was okay. there I was able to meet some people my age and have some good conversation. but i didn´t really do anything else besides get bitten by mosquitos lol. the bugs actually weren´t that bad. everyone was saying how they must not like my estadounidense blood. So not sure it was worth it but also not sure I had a choice. If I had said that i didn´t want to go or that I couldn´t miss class I think they all would have stayed cause I don´t think they would leave me alone in the house.
anyway, thats all for now. I definitely need to continue travelling and getting to know the country. There are some really beautiful places here. Also, even though Galapagos is expensive I think I need to go. It´s probably my only opportunity and it´s got to be worth it. Daddyyyy...
Friday, February 12, 2010
Day 41
So today I saw something amazing on the Ecovia. There was a bee buzzing around near the window. This old woman sitting on the bus grabs the bee by the wing and flings it out the window. amazing!
last weekend was my friend gina´s birthday. It was soo much fun. First we went to mateo and anita´s apartment and had a nice party with music and fresh fruit and fresh guac. Then to a gay club in the Mariscal. It was such a great night. despite the fact that i drank too much.
Went to see Sherlock Holmes yesterday but watched it in Spanish so I feel like I missed some stuff. It was good though and had me laughing.
This weekend is Carnaval!! A friend of a friend invited us to his pueblo..Sucua. Its in the oriente aka the jungle. So most people go to the coast to celebrate Carnaval on the beach. But it´s not every day you get the opportunity to go to the jungle and learn about indigenous culture. So instead of partying on the beach I will be enjoying nature and fending off mosquitos. I´m excited. I know it´s going to be beautiful. and i´m finally travelling outside of Quito!
last weekend was my friend gina´s birthday. It was soo much fun. First we went to mateo and anita´s apartment and had a nice party with music and fresh fruit and fresh guac. Then to a gay club in the Mariscal. It was such a great night. despite the fact that i drank too much.
Went to see Sherlock Holmes yesterday but watched it in Spanish so I feel like I missed some stuff. It was good though and had me laughing.
This weekend is Carnaval!! A friend of a friend invited us to his pueblo..Sucua. Its in the oriente aka the jungle. So most people go to the coast to celebrate Carnaval on the beach. But it´s not every day you get the opportunity to go to the jungle and learn about indigenous culture. So instead of partying on the beach I will be enjoying nature and fending off mosquitos. I´m excited. I know it´s going to be beautiful. and i´m finally travelling outside of Quito!
Thursday, February 4, 2010
cotidiana
okay, whats happened in the last week...
pretty sure I saw a humming bird for the first time. it was pretty great.
went to the mariscal on friday. I´m already feeling like its getting old and i´ve only been like 4 times. also i feel like I lost my dance fever lol. but maybe it just has to do with the music.
Saturday went to the center of quito. saw the president´s house. the architecture there is gorgeous. beautiful churches and narrow streets.
sunday went to la mitad del mundo. that was cool. there were indigenous dance performances and stuff. took pictures with the fake equator lol. wish i knew where the real one was.
made my first purchase on a bus. I bought a salsa cd with like over 100 songs for $1. we´ll see if it works.
watched an ecuadorian film called Cronicas. it has jon leggazamo (sp?) and is based on a true story about a guy who kills kids. It was good but I was not in the mood to watch a movie so heavy.
also I had lunch with this woman, Patricia, who is a friend of a woman who works with my dad. haha. she was really nice and she has a son who goes to my university too.
I´ve oficially adopted the ecua word Mande. it means what.
pretty sure I saw a humming bird for the first time. it was pretty great.
went to the mariscal on friday. I´m already feeling like its getting old and i´ve only been like 4 times. also i feel like I lost my dance fever lol. but maybe it just has to do with the music.
Saturday went to the center of quito. saw the president´s house. the architecture there is gorgeous. beautiful churches and narrow streets.
sunday went to la mitad del mundo. that was cool. there were indigenous dance performances and stuff. took pictures with the fake equator lol. wish i knew where the real one was.
made my first purchase on a bus. I bought a salsa cd with like over 100 songs for $1. we´ll see if it works.
watched an ecuadorian film called Cronicas. it has jon leggazamo (sp?) and is based on a true story about a guy who kills kids. It was good but I was not in the mood to watch a movie so heavy.
also I had lunch with this woman, Patricia, who is a friend of a woman who works with my dad. haha. she was really nice and she has a son who goes to my university too.
I´ve oficially adopted the ecua word Mande. it means what.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Carolina y la mariscal
So now that I´ve assured my parents that I´m fine and everything is fine, I can write about what happened to me on Saturday.
I went to a park near my house-La Carolina-to do an anthro assignment where I had to observe people. I spent 45 minutes observing and then went to look for a new spot to watch from. I was about to sit myself in front of a tree with my little notebook and fresh mandarin juice, and two guys mugged me. It was 11 am! on a saturday when the park was full! crazy stuff. But I was so innocent there all by myself with my cellphone visible in my pocket. (something they told us not to do) All he did was threaten me, take the phone, and leave. Completely not violent and surprisingly not scary. Obviously I´m upset that that was money down the drain but honestly...I went home decided i was going to include the experience in my anthro paper, and my hostmom said we could go that same day to get a new phone. The fact that I went home and started writing about my mugging from an anthropological point of view and that I had the option of getting mugged in the morning and having a new phone that afternoon was more overwhelming than the actual mugging. Seriously? That´s my life? That´s how much privilege I have? that I can get mugged and easily buy again what I lost and use the experience for academics meanwhile these guys are mugging gringas at 11am...so much to deal with.
So now I have to figure out where to put my phone when I go out. I may need to buy a wristlet or something.
So far that and getting sick have been the worst. But last week was so fun. Wednesday I went to my friend´s apartment. They´re from the U.S. but they´ve been here since August so they´ve already done the host family thing and now they have this amazing apartment. Makes me a little jealous but I also like being taken care of like this. So that was cool, then thursday was avatar, and then Friday I went to la mariscal where all the bars and clubs are and where all the gringos go. Friday was soooo great for a few reasons. I was with a big group of friends which is always more fun, before going out I was at a friend´s house and her ecuadorian friends came over and that was fun and it was nice to hang out with ecuatorianos, then even at the mariscal we met a bunch more ecuadorians. So I met a lot of nice people and got to speak more spanish. I didn´t drink too much, didn´t eat the food, and had a blast.
This weekend I hope to be travelling to the coast to this place called Atacames. Stay in a hostel with my peeps, beach, baila, etc.
later days...
I went to a park near my house-La Carolina-to do an anthro assignment where I had to observe people. I spent 45 minutes observing and then went to look for a new spot to watch from. I was about to sit myself in front of a tree with my little notebook and fresh mandarin juice, and two guys mugged me. It was 11 am! on a saturday when the park was full! crazy stuff. But I was so innocent there all by myself with my cellphone visible in my pocket. (something they told us not to do) All he did was threaten me, take the phone, and leave. Completely not violent and surprisingly not scary. Obviously I´m upset that that was money down the drain but honestly...I went home decided i was going to include the experience in my anthro paper, and my hostmom said we could go that same day to get a new phone. The fact that I went home and started writing about my mugging from an anthropological point of view and that I had the option of getting mugged in the morning and having a new phone that afternoon was more overwhelming than the actual mugging. Seriously? That´s my life? That´s how much privilege I have? that I can get mugged and easily buy again what I lost and use the experience for academics meanwhile these guys are mugging gringas at 11am...so much to deal with.
So now I have to figure out where to put my phone when I go out. I may need to buy a wristlet or something.
So far that and getting sick have been the worst. But last week was so fun. Wednesday I went to my friend´s apartment. They´re from the U.S. but they´ve been here since August so they´ve already done the host family thing and now they have this amazing apartment. Makes me a little jealous but I also like being taken care of like this. So that was cool, then thursday was avatar, and then Friday I went to la mariscal where all the bars and clubs are and where all the gringos go. Friday was soooo great for a few reasons. I was with a big group of friends which is always more fun, before going out I was at a friend´s house and her ecuadorian friends came over and that was fun and it was nice to hang out with ecuatorianos, then even at the mariscal we met a bunch more ecuadorians. So I met a lot of nice people and got to speak more spanish. I didn´t drink too much, didn´t eat the food, and had a blast.
This weekend I hope to be travelling to the coast to this place called Atacames. Stay in a hostel with my peeps, beach, baila, etc.
later days...
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