Two days more, two days more

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Two days until I’m home.

I never thought I’d say this when I was travelling, but I can’t wait to get back. I feel exhausted and I’m sick of dealing with the utter dysfunctionality and daily abrasiveness of this country.

If you’re a woman who likes independant travel, go somewhere other than Ecuador. Or just accept that you’re going to have to go with a tour or, at least, with another person or two–preferably with a male person or two. When my classes here ended, and I started going places on my own, I was thrilled. Now, I can’t wait until I can take a bus ride by myself, go into a restaurant by myself, check into a hotel room by myself, or even just walk down the street by myself without someone assuming I’m a sin verguenza (a woman without shame) because I’m travelling alone. Men can be either very sleazy or very patronizing when you tell them you’re on your own, and, in lots of places, women won’t talk with you. It gets pretty isolating pretty fast sometimes.

I’ve met some really neat people here and done some really interesting things. I’ve had a lot of great experiences that I’ll remember fondly forever. But I’ve also gotten pretty sick a few times, been robbed (pickpocketed, actually) twice, got stuck in a small military town during an armed conflict and a fuel shortage (fun, fun), and put up with a guy who nearly assaulted me because I agreed to travel with him for the day. (He made the assumption that, since I was willing to spend the day with him and his friends that I was willing to sleep with him. Wrong! And he was in the same hostel as me, which only added to my travelling pleasure.) I once had a guy come up and badger me because I had made eye contact with him for too long. Yeah, no joke.

Not to mention that, whenever something bad happens to me, somehow, it’s my fault. For example–The first time I got robbed (someone used nimble fingers to get my wallet out of my purse), I was stupid enough to tell the hotel staff and people at banks about it (I was desperately trying to find a way to get access to cash when both my credit and debit cards were gone.) The reaction was almost always to blame me for having had my wallet extracted. “Well, what were you doing carrying your credit card around? Why weren’t you more careful? Why didn’t you keep a closer watch on your purse? What stupid thing did you do that someone could take your wallet?” I felt like shouting, look, people, I got robbed. I was walking down the street, minding my own business, when some asshole decided to help himself to my stuff. It’s not me who did anything wrong.

The time I got food poisoning, I was asked what I’d eaten that had made me sick, and didn’t I know better? That conversation made me feel a whole lot better.

I’m not saying that I regret having come here. There are some wonderful and beautiful things in Ecuador. And I’ve certainly learned a lot. But to get to all that cool stuff, you have to put up with the rest of Ecuador. And that can be really, really draining. I suppose I should be travelling to cloud forest, or trying to climb mountains or something at the moment. But right now, I just don’t have the energy to bother. I’m really looking forward to being home.

2

Now that I’ve re-read my post, I realized that it probably should have been in the BBQ Pit.

And, before anyone gets the wrong idea–yeah, I know Ecuador is a developing country. This isn’t the first time I’ve travelled, either. I wasn’t expecting luxury suites and kid-glove treatment on my student-ey budget, anyway. And I realize that some of the things that happened to me could have happened to me anywhere–I don’t think any less of Ecuador for having been robbed or for having been sick. I don’t think there’s a country on Earth where there’s no crime or sickness.

I’m just venting at the moment, really. And I suppose I should go get a move on, get some energy together, and go check out some cool wildlife.

One day and a half left, now. I should really make the most of it.

And there are things I’ll miss when I go back. Strange yummy fruits, unique sorbets, live Andean music in the highlands, a bizillion species of gorgeous butterflies in rainforest. Not to mention the friends I’ve made here, some of whom I’m really going to miss when I’m back on US soil.

3

Well, I’m now in the small, pretty town of Cotacachi.

It’s a cool, clear night, with a half moon and a sky full of bright stars. The dust here has mica in it, so it glitters under the streetlights and by the light of the moon. In the plazas there are lovely, strange mountain asters and trees with pink blooms and beautiful spiraling epiphytes. I just spent an hour strolling around cobblestone streets, passing lovely houses that seem part Spanish, part Kichwa, all white and cool and graceful looking.

Now I feel like I don’t want to go home.

Look, forget my first post. Yes, Ecuador has had its frustrations, and I don’t think I’d travel through it again the way I did it this time. But I want to come back and see all the things I didn’t get to see on this visit–the sierra in the far north, the sierra in the south, the northwestern cloudforests, the mangroves. I want to spend more time in Jatun Sacha, in the upper western rainforest. I want to dance to live Andean music again–San Juanitos and sayas and huaynos and sing along with the folk songs–escogio mi corazon este amor apasionado…ya me voy, ya me voy, no hay donde trabajar…

Strange how quickly your feelings can change.

4

That’s the upper eastern rainforest region.

My bad.

5

That’s what I miss about traveling – the way the low points change to earth-shattering highs in a matter of hours. I always think there must be some sort of special deity looking after us and making sure there’s a payoff.

Good luck with what remains of your trip, and my sympathies about the bad bits so far.