Well, I've only been in America for about a week and I miss Ecuador to death. Below is a list of things I do and don't miss from the country!
What I don't miss:
Racism: The racism against indigenous people and afroecuatorianos in Ecuador was insane. They are not given opportunities to rise in society and therefore face extreme poverty. I did a research paper about afroecuatorianos and asked my host dads opinion on them and his response consisted of "there is not racism against them. They have the same rights as everyone else in the 2008 Constitution. But they are poor and steal so they live in different neighborhoods than mestizos." This blew my mind. In Ecuador, skin color means everything. Because afros and indigenous have dark skin, they are discriminated against. I hated that although they have their rights protected under the Constitution, none of those laws are enforced therefore it seems impossible to break the negative mindset mestizos have against darker skinned individuals.
Poverty/Child Labor: Since Ecuador is a developing country, I did expect to see poverty. However, I was completely shocked with all the child labor. Usually it was indigenous children selling items in the street with their mother or other siblings nearby. Although, sometimes a child would get on a public bus and sell fruit or something. I hated the child labor, but especially when the child was all alone getting on random buses throughout the city, very very dangerous. (Many people used the bus as a means of selling goods. Sometimes clowns got on the bus and would perform a short show then ask for money lol) Every once in a while I would buy something from a child but then that would cause a swarm of other children to come and it was just too much. As for other poverty, I didn't see extreme poverty unless we were traveling outside the city. Quito is where the "rich people" live. While on buses traveling to different cities, we would pass little villages where chickens would be running around, trash would be on fire and "houses" looked more like huts.
Cat calls/Men in the street: THE MEN WERE DISGUSTING. So gross. Getting whistled at, hissed at or cat called at was a daily occurrence. All the time the men would say things such as "venga mi cama" "princessa" "preciosa" [come to my bed, princess, precious] in the creepiest voice. Sometimes the men would be security guards or people you were supposed to trust. On top of that, Ecuadorian men are straight up unattractive. Anytime I saw an attractive men, he would be a foreigner lol.
Corruption/Inefficiency: I could go on and on about this, especially being a political science major, but I'll try to keep it short. Straight up, although there are laws in Ecuador and they have a constitution, NOTHING is enforced. Seriously, I felt like there were no laws. I also worked for a judge in Ecuador (worst job I have ever had in my life) and corruption in the justice system is huge. One in four people in 2008 had admitted to paying bribes to a judge. Insane. Anyways, I could seriously go on forever about this, especially since I wrote a 10 page research paper over this topic, but the main point is Ecuador is corrupt and inefficient. (Disclaimer- they are a developing democracy and have improved a lot! President Correa has helped the country tremendously)
Bathrooms: In most public restrooms, you had to pay to use the bathroom or to get toilet paper. You also cannot flush toilet paper. This took FOREVER to get used to! Because of the high altitude, the pipping was really small and the pipes could not handle toilet paper. Therefore we had to throw toilet paper away in the trash. How strange, right?! It's nice being able to flush toilet paper in America.
Food/Tap water: Although I really enjoyed the food, my body never got fully adjusted to it. Everyone in my group and I were constantly pooping haha. Some food was dangerous. My friend Kyle had a bowl of ceviche which gave him a parasite/intestinal infection which was so bad that he had to go to the emergency room. This other girl in the group drank a tiny bit of tap water and also got a parasite. There were tons of hole in the wall food places or food cooked/sold on the street which we could not eat or we'd probably get extremely sick.
Public Urination: Guys were always peeing in the street. Didn't matter the time of day or the location...guys had no shame peeing everywhere in public. It was gross.
Danger: It is dangerous to walk around at night, especially if you are a girl and alone. I would always carry something in my hand (such as keys) if I had to do this. You also had to be careful on which taxi you chose. One of my friends got in a cab where two guys got in after him, mugged him, stole all his things and drained his bank accounts. I never ever carried my debit card or credit card unless I was walking to the bank to get out cash and immediately returning home. I only had one bad experience with this. On my SECOND NIGHT in Ecuador, a man tried to grab my purse out of my hands but I kicked him away. Pick pocketing was huge. My friend Mitch had a camera pick pocketed out of his backpack. After buying a new camera, someone pick pocked that new camera! Poor kid. I do want to point out though that rape, murders, kidnaps ect... aren't common in Ecuador. It was dangerous in the sense that people wanted to steal from you. Only if you resisted would there be violence. We were taught that if we were ever approached to be robbed, just comply with what they want and you won't be hurt.
Public Transportation: Manners? What are manners? For the bus system, it was every man for himself. The buses were always packed with people (twice as many people squished and standing than sitting). Pushing, running ect... was all the norm. The buses always had WAY too many people on them. One time when I was riding the bus, there were so many people that the doors were unable to close and I was half inside the bus and half outside, holding on to some bars. At night the buses are too dangerous to take so you have to use taxis. I hated when it was raining and night time because it was nearly impossible to find an empty taxi! Some of the taxi cab drivers were really corrupt as well. The night I was leaving Quito, I had a bad experience. My cab driver stopped in front of a liquor store and tried to get me to come inside and drink with him. After yelling at him, he finally drove more, but drove us into a secluded neighborhood where we asked me to sit on his lap and started rubbing my legs. I immediately got out of the cab and had to walk home the rest of the way (it was 3:30 am so I was unable to find another cab). What an experience lol.
Showers: My shower was cold. I hated it. I am so happy to have nice hot showers now!
Lack of freedom: Staying with a host family was wonderful and they were AMAZING people but it was hard for me living in a home. I'm used to living in a dorm room where there is freedom and I don't have to ask for permission to do anything. This took some adjusting to, but like I said, I had a wonderful family and I'm so thankful for that!
What I do miss:
ADVENTURES: This played a huge part in my life! It was amazing. My friends and I didn't have class on Fridays so Thursday nights we would hop on a night bus and travel across the country! It was awesome, we would wake up and be at the beach or some cool city. My time in Ecuador I was able to zipline, swim in waterfalls, white river raft, canyon down waterfalls, snorkel with sea turtles and sea lions, played with monkeys, hike volcanoes, surf and much more! I DID THE COOLEST THINGS EVER. My life was constantly exciting as I was always doing new things and traveling, so I really really miss that.
City Life: I really enjoyed the big city life! Although I live in Houston, I never go downtown to the city. The city life was also very exciting as we were constantly exploring and finding new things to do! After I graduate from college I definitely would like to live downtown in some major city, there are tons of opportunities there.
The parks: Quito had amazing parks! The parks were a great location to hang out in on a nice sunny day. There were also tons of things to do at the park like paddle boating, games, hikes ect.. Quito Parks > Grand Central Park. No joke.
The view: I was surrounded by hills and mountains, it was phenomenal. Houston and San Antonio are extremely flat so the view was spectacular. I really miss all the mountains.
Cheap: EVERYTHING WAS SO CHEAP!! I CANNOT STAND AMERICAN PRICES. A typical lunch with would comprise of juice, soup, a main entree and desert and would cost $2.50-$4.00. Staying at a hostel over night cost $8-15. Taxi meters start out at 35 cents, not three dollars. At the market, a handmade hammock cost $10 (I really wanted to buy one but knew I didn't have enough room to bring that back). Traveling on a 14 hour bus ride across the country cost $3. Ziplining through a jungle for 2 hours cost $20. So...you get the point. Basically I was able to afford many things I am not able to afford in the U.S. When I reached the airport in Miami, I bought a sandwich and an orange juice. The price was $13. I nearly cried lol.
Party Scene: I was legal in Ecuador so of course my friends and I went out! We always went to a place called La Plaza Fosh where there were tons of bars and clubs. We would sometimes take advantage of being white and tell the bouncers we wouldn't come to their club unless we got to enter for free and got a free drink. Always worked. The deals there were amazing too! Some clubs we would pay $10 to enter and would get free drinks until 1:00 am. Basically, the party scene was awesome and really cheap.
My places: My friends and I became "regulars" at some places. I really miss a few of the restaurants and bars we would always eat and drink at. I also went to the mall, Quicentro, to hang out with friends every single day. It's strange knowing I will never be able to go back to places I spent so much time in and have so many great memories in.
The food: Although as I mentioned earlier, the food could be dangerous and did cause all of us to poop all the time, I was introduced to some delicious things! Every single morning I ate papaya and loved it! I also found a dish which I love, churrasco. It is rice, fried egg, french fries and A GIANT SLAB OF MEAT! Most meals came with a giant slab of meat, which I sometimes referred to as mystery meat haha. One of the Ecuadorian things to do is to put popcorn in your soup. As strange as that sounds, I really liked it haha. I will admit though, I am sick and tired of rice and beans. Those were the sides to everything. At the KFC in Ecuador, the only sides you could chose from were rice and beans haha. Typical. But yeah, I did try a lot of new delicious things and miss a lot of the food. Especially because my host mom was THE BEST COOK EVER!
Spanish: Although at times I got sick of speaking in Spanish and got annoyed by miss-communications, Ecuador provided such a wonderful opportunity to learn Spanish by forcing me to speak it. I am really concerned I'm going to lose all my Spanish skills here in America.
No laws are enforced: Although this is something I disliked in terms of racism and such, I had a blast living in a country where I basically did whatever I wanted. We partied with our professor a few times and it was totally acceptable. I can't think of many examples at this moment, but I felt like there were tons of things I was able to get away with in Ecuador that I cannot do in America haha.
The experience as a whole: Ecuador was the most amazing and fulfilling experience of my life. It really opened my eyes to the world. Although there were some hiccups (getting the concussion and being in the hospital), I could not be happier with the trip I had. I miss Ecuador every single day and really hope one day I can return to the country! My time in Ecuador truly exceeded all expectations I had and I couldn't be happier with my study abroad experience!
