Ecuadorian Life - A Country Of Culture, Peculiarities & Cultural Peculiarities

Henry & Maisa Getting Their Groove On

I know I have blogged about this before but it really is an extraordinary thing to observe. Most of us all learn to walk at a young age and usually the average person manages it quite comfortably for the rest of their lives. Ecuadorians however, are different. Firstly, they walk so unbelievably slowly it actually defies normal belief. I am sure on one occassion I walked past someone who was making their way to the same bank as myself. A week later when collecting money out again I walked past that same person still wearing the same clothes as the week before and still heading to the bank. For this poor Ecuadorian, they hadn't yet made the first round - I had essentially lapped them. Secondly, they find it immensely difficult to walk down the road in a straight line. With not a sole around them they feel it is necessary to swerve across the pavement in some sort of snake like motion. This generally leads to me getting very frustrated that I can't get around them, or me bumping into them at some point during the overtaking procedure. I have since started a "carry a compass while walking" scheme, where I hand out free compasses to those who cannot move forward in a straight line!!! Consequently, over the past 6 months, profits from compass sales within Ecuador have risen by 200%. Now, I know I have explained Ecuadorian walking habits before, but, here's the thing - I have now figured out why this slow walking culture has evolved. Just last Thursday it was, as I took my daily route to work - there, all of a sudden, like a bolt of lightning out of the sky - it hit me. It was a revelation, my scientific brain had finally realised why and how Ecuadorians walk so slowly. So world - here it is.................................

Ecuadorians actually don't move at all. They are 100% stationary at all times. Their feet hover just slightly above the ground. The distance is so small that to the ordinary observer it looks like they are resting on the surface of the Earth just like everyone else. But, their not. As they hover in the exact same position above our planet, they then wait for the Earth's rotation beneath their feet to eventually bring places (say the park, the bank, their house), to them. The movement of their legs in a back and forth like motion is purely for visual effect. In this theory, the slow rotation of the Earth is the key to getting an Ecuadorian where they want to go (or should I say - bringing the location they want to go to, to them) and thus tragically - they actually have no control over their speed. The science behind it is flawless and anyone who says otherwise should first read the Penguin book of basic physics. As well, because this now takes the blame away from the poor locals here in this country, I don't actually mind so much anymore. I thought they were walking like that just to wind me up - but its really not their fault. Now I stroll down the streets of Quito with a spring in my step and a frustration-free life. Unfortunately, it now saddens me everytime I see an Ecuadorian taking 7 days to get to the local bank!!!

On an equally important observational topic, quite some time ago I went to a concert. It was held in the Plaza del Toros and involved traditional South American music, with bands from both Ecuador and Colombia. Even the rain couldn't stop the party from exploding, with the whole stadium dancing to famous songs for the entire night. Since living in Ecuador for nearly two years now, I knew many of the tunes emminating from the giant speakers. Its funny how you come to a country and after a while, its sort of natural to listen and dance to a type of music that is never even heard of back home. That really is one amazing thing about Ecuador - people here love music and love to dance to that music. For me - a lot of it is so new. Salsa, Merengue, Reggaeton - these are types of music I really didn't know existed before coming here, and now, I even know some basic steps!!! In some ways its a shame that music of this nature, like other traditional music from around the world isn't more integrated into our lives at home - instead of being completely inundated with pop and R'n'B!!! The concert was a great experience and despite its length (over 5 hours), was thoroughly enjoyable.

There are many other cultural peculiarities that you find living in another country like Ecuador. Everyday something pops up that you are completely baffled by. Here are a few others I have noticed:

Bus behaviour: buses don't stop very often, in fact - they rarely stop at all. They usually just slow down enough so that you are able to jump (literally) on and off them. If you mess this up you can be in real trouble. I recently saw a man lose his grip whilst hanging off a moving bus that was turning a corner and he ended up falling out and rolling into the middle of the road. About 50 people watched the now bleeding man as he shouted at the bus, which just carried on its way, almost as though it was saying 'well you know the rules - we don't stop for anyone'. It must have really hurt!!! When you are on the bus though, behaviour is equally baffling. People don't stay in the same seat. Its like the chair they were given is never quite good enough. As soon as someone gets up, there is always somebody up and out, to grab the new spot, even though they already had a perfectly good seat to begin with. Then someone else will get up and go for their old seat. Its like musical chairs!!! The moving into and out of the seats is completely random as far as I can tell - or at least, I haven't yet worked out why some plastic sitting moulds are move appealing than others. It's bizarre.

Street urinating: it doesn't matter if its day or night, no matter how many people are around, or if they are drunk or not - there is always someone weeing somewhere on a nearby street at all times. The street I live on is particularly prone to street urinating practices. I suppose that its a urinating hotspot - so that people come from all over town, to gather, like some sort of social event............and then wee all over the place!!! Im going to ask the Ecuadorian gavernment if they can stop the production of beaurocratic forms and instead build more toilets. Often on the street I live, are also random locals who end up sleeping on the pavement, with their face straight down into the cold concrete. Nobody ever asks if these people are okay, and it ends up that you just step over random Ecuadorians from time to time as though they were old dirty laundry that you had forgotten to clear from your bedroom floor.

Personal space issues: in England, people, no matter how crowded the place is will always try and give you some personal space - like there is some form of invisible force field around you that people cannot enter. In Ecuador, people go the complete opposite way. Its like when they walk past you they want to knock into you, touch you, fall over your feet or cough in your face. On some occassions I have even thought about filing for harassment but then I thought how many documents I would have to fill in to do this and thus quickly brushed the idea away.

The elevator: I don't think people have worked out the elevator here (or 'lift' as we say in England), quite yet. I say this because 99% of the time that I try to exit one, 99% of people will be barging their way into it before anyone has got out. Its almost as though they feel that they must get into it NOW, or it may not appear for a decade or so. It doesn't matter how many people are already in the lift, trying to get out of it, as soon as those doors open - an army full of people are marching to get their spot.

So, as you can see - I could probably write a 100 page thesis on such cultural differences. Sixty pages would probably be on queing habits (or lack of queing habits here) and Im not just saying that because Im English (and thus a master of standing in line).................in this part of the world, the man with the biggest gob usually comes out on top. Of course I am sure such oddities would present themselves to an Ecuadorian in England too. Many will come to our country and be like "god, why are these people so fussy about standing in a line" or "why does everyone walk so fast here - these people need to chill out!!!"That sort of thing you know. And so, I think I will end my tales of cultural & peculiar differences for now, not least because I need at least a couple more pages to get through them all, but also I am writing this siting next to a window and outside a man is in full view - weeing up a lamp-post!!!