Gary Simkus

Ecuador is an amazing place with something new to learn about the culture, politics, community or language around every corner. Lets take language for example. Last week, I was talked with my host mother about the children that I have seen at night on every street corner doing jumping jacks and cart-wheels as they ask for money from the cars(the poverty of Ecuador is a story for another blog). When I was referring to the children, I had my palm parallel to the ground. Right away, my mother said, "No,No, No..." She explained to me that I only hold my palm parallel to the ground when I am talking about an animal. She said that I must hold my palm so that it is facing outward (like in karate, when you are getting ready to cut a piece of wood in half with your hand)when I am referring to a human. When I was talking about the children on the corner, I was calling them little animals which is an insult to any human being. I still catch myself using the wrong hand gesture sometimes.

This past weekend, the Politics and Globalization module and I visited the Otavalo market place, which is the most famous market in Ecuador. Unfortunately, we went on Sunday so the textile market was the only one out of five markets that were open. But I think we all spent plenty of money there anyway. After Otavalo, we went to Cayembe to stay at Hacienda Guachala which is the oldest hacienda in Ecuador and built around 1560.There we met with Ing. Diego Bonif‡z the City Mayor of Cayambe, and the owner of the hacienda. Bonif‡z was very interesting and intelligent man the hear speak. He even stayed to talk after the meeting while everyone was enjoying playing cards and swimming in his pool.

Monday, we went to Catacachi for a meeting with Mayor Auki TituaÒa. As we were coming in to town, we saw how the Mayor has had a huge impact on the the people taking pride in their town. It was by far one of the cleanest towns I have seen. The store owners were sweeping the street in front of their businesses before the customers started shopping. TituaÒa was another great speaker who has a chance at representing the indÏgenas people as a candidate for the next presidential elections in Ecuador. Before heading home we hiked up to Lake Cuichocha which was a beautiful lake to see. In spanish we would say the lake was "muy lindo y muy hermoso." After a busy two days, I slept for the 2 hours back to Quito.

ciao