A day in the life of an Ecuadorian

One of my favourite things about traveling is learning about how people live in other parts of the world. Some cultures value certain aspects of life more highly than others, and find different ways of accomplishing the same goals. As they say, there is more than one way to skin a cat. Or as Richard sometimes says “The Chinese know 101 ways to wok a dog”.

Yesterday we left Ecuador behind, and right now I am sitting on a bus in the Northern part of Peru driving towards the country’s capital city of Lima. Having just finished spending a month in Peru, I am now reflecting on some of the things I noticed about their culture that intrigued me, or was distinctly different from society in Canada.

Before I start, I want to quickly mention how AMAZING the bus we’re riding on is. First of all, the seats have more leg room and tilt back farther than the typical Greyhound bus – not to mention have individual leg rests. They just served us a hot dinner that was delicious: chicken and rice. They’ve brought drinks around twice and are showing movies for us with the sound on quiet; just in case I’d rather listen to my ipod (which I did). Each person is provided with a pillow and blanket upon entry into the bus, and there is onboard Wi-Fi! I’m actually posting this to the internet from the bus. The bus ride is 15 hours overnight, and it costs 85 Peruvian Nuevo Sols, or around $30 – not bad value.

One other quick update before I begin that unfortunately is not so good news: Jordan had a bunch of his stuff stolen at the Peruvian border including all his entertainment devices (ipods and such) and a fair chunk of cash. It’s definitely left a dark cloud over the group for today, and is causing us to be even more careful with our belongings.

But I digress, back to the main point of the article. From what I’ve seen, people in Ecuador seem to value above all else family and community. These values appear to permeate many areas of their life: work, leisure, and just overall how they spend their time.

Leisure

A great example of how important family is to Ecuadorians is when we were on a bus between Otovalo and Quito, after we’d just finished checking out the Otovalo market and the Cockfight. On the bus James was sitting beside a woman and her daughter, and was trying his best to make pleasant conversation with them in Spanish. These people, like most in mainland Ecuador did not look wealthy – and just taking the time and money to bus from Otovalo to Quito would be quite an investment for them. When James asked them why they were going to Quito, they said they were bussing there to celebrate a fiesta that was being put on for the woman’s uncle’s birthday. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a birthday put on for one of my aunts or uncles, never mind taken a 4 hour bus ride just to attend.

The impression I have received from people in Ecuador is that birthdays and other holidays are times for large family gatherings; and these fiestas form a key part of the people’s social lives and activities. There are at least a couple times when we were walking down streets and would see community halls rented out for some sort of fiesta or family gathering.

Work

One of the most surprising things I’ve found in Ecuador is the very minimal impact big business seems to have had on the country. I could count on one hand the number of fast food chains I’ve seen, and I don’t think I’ve run into even one Starbucks. Business in Ecuador is almost exclusively small businesses: mom and pop shops.

I’ve noticed a few implications of this phenomenon. First, there are some AMAZING salesmen here. I think when there are not many big businesses to work for, people are forced to sell products themselves. And with all the practise they have, some people get really really good. For instance, on one bus we were riding a man came on and started talking really loudly in Spanish. I have no idea what he was saying, but he kept his spiel going for about 20 minutes, and finally at the end started placing useless trinkets and fake jewellery in people’s hands. By the time he got off the bus, he had sold a useless trinket to over half the people on our bus! I was blown away.

But perhaps more interestingly, the lack of big-box companies forces Ecuadorians to be mini-entrepreneurs, and puts them all in an ownership position of their income. One result of this is that we constantly saw people bringing their children to work with them. I saw children “working” at fruit stands, restaurants, markets, travel agencies, hostels, you name it. Not that it is child labour, but rather the whole family tends to live at the place of work. My guess is that most people can’t afford to hire day-care workers to care for their children while they run their business, so instead they just bring their kids with them.

Sugar Cane ready for cutting. Lots of the people in Mindo processed sugar cane and turned it into sweet treats.

Spare Time

Not surprisingly, the activity of choice for Ecuadorians is soccer. All the children seem to play it, and days for kids are spent at the soccer field once school is done. James and Jordan and I joined the kids in a soccer game recently in Galapagos, and found their soccer skills quite impressive.

For adults, however, there is a different game that dominates the culture: soccer volleyball. The first time we encountered this sport was in Ecuador’s capital city of Quito. We were walking through the park, when we saw a huge crowd of probably 100 people all standing around a volleyball court. Naturally, we were curious as to what high calibre volleyball players must have been attracting all the attention. After watching a few rallies it didn’t seem like the players were any better than we probably were. And at that, they kept on cheating by “throwing” the volleyball instead of volleying it properly.

We’ve encountered very similar games going on all over the country, all with equally large groups of on-lookers. Our Sherlock skills have concluded that this is not an anomaly – this is a legitimate game that is not quite volleyball  but similar. Unfortunately the games were a little rich for our blood. If you want to play, you have to put up at least a couple hundred dollars, and the winners for the day go home with most of the bounty. For Ecuadorians its not just a sport, its a form of gambling as well.

Overall Take

I think there are alot of really good things about the culture in Ecuador, and their sense of community and family commitment seems great. However, there is one odd thing about people in Ecuador: they rarely ever smile. 

People seem to avoid eye contact, and for the most part don’t make jokes or show a positive interest in you and your life. I don’t think its something Ecuadorians hold against white people, or Americans, or anything like that. I think its part of their culture. For that reason, I don’t think I’d want to live in Ecuador for significant amounts of time.

Crossing the border to Peru really emphasizes this downside to Ecuador; Peruvians are very friendly, have big smiles, and are very welcoming to strangers.

Tomorrow is Jame’s birthday, so hopefully we’ll be able to find some cake for him!