Who Are The People In Your Neighborhood?

DAY 31: When Andre moved out of our hotel room with a view of Pelican Bay, I was switched to a single which cost me $15/night. However, this newer, more expensive room wasn't worth its view of a brick wall, so I switched to the hostel Chris had lived in for only $6/night with windows that looked out to some palm trees.

Navid left to go on a three-day tour of Isla Isabela -- I didn't feel like spending the extra money and just wanted to rest -- so I just chilled out in Puerto Ayora for the day to observe island life and run errands. I had lunch at a grilled cheese stand near the grammar school where little kids in uniform came in and out for a quick juice or snack.

"[YOU ARE JAPANESE and you speak Spanish?]" a store owner asked me after I spoke some of his native tongue.

"[I look Japanese?]"

"Sí."

"[Where are you from?]"

"Nueva York."

"[And you speak Spanish?]"

"[A little.]"

"[It's good that you know enough.]"

I've now evolved from Latino to Chinese to Japanese. If only Darwin was around to observe this.

I WAS IN DESPERATE NEED OF A HAIRCUT, so I went to the local barber. It was an old-fashioned barber shop, complete with random old guys who just hang out and sleep in the store. The old sleeping guy at this particular place just sat in a chair with his head leaned back, mouth wide open, but woke up every 45 seconds or so to see what was going on. It was always the same old thing -- someone getting a haircut -- so he'd go take another 45 second nap.

I thought explaining what kind of cut I wanted would be difficult, but it was fairly easy when the barber just asked me what number attachment to use on his electric clippers for the sides and top. Anyone who grew up on Sesame Street could at least do that (and understand the reference in the title of this entry). He gave me a decent haircut, complete with a shave around the edges with an old-fashioned razor for four bucks.

After my haircut, the sleepy old man was sitting on the stoop with his cap on his head and eight teeth in his mouth, just looking out to the street. I stopped for a bit to hear his philosophies on life. I didn't understand all of it, but most of the time he just said the word "tranquilo" (peaceful) over and over, almost as if it was his answer for any question -- similar to the way I just say "sí" all the time. I could have probably asked him for the time and he would have just said, "Tranquilo."

"Adios," I bid him goodbye.

"Tranquilo, tranquilo."

THE STREETS OF TOWN WERE EMPTY and I wondered where everyone had gone. Then a dog with a Ecuador soccer jersey walked by and I realized where everyone was. I went to Limon & Cafe, Gustavo's bar to watch the big soccer game against Peru.

"[Who do you root for, Ecuador or Peru?]" one of the other bartenders asked me.

"Ecuador," I said, like it was even silly to ask such a question in Ecuador. "[And you?]"

"Ecuador!"

He pulled out a flag and set it up near the bar. When the game started, lots of people came into watch on two different televisions. There were two crazy guys in the bar that ran around like madmen -- regardless of Ecuador never scoring -- waving the flag in the streets while blowing a whistle. But in the end, it was a draw 0-0, and I still didn't get to see a big victory street party.

THE REST OF THE DAY I JUST WALKED AROUND. I bought some postcards and seasickness pills and looked for the cheapest price for a disposable underwater camera -- the cheapest being at a store where the storekeeper was playing Grand Theft Auto III on a computer in the back.

Back at my hostel, I met Joanna and Urban from Sweden, and Steve and Gwen from Scotland, who were just sitting around the common area. Both couples were in their later months of year-long travels. They invited me to a barbecue they were going to have downstairs, where I helped them grill the fish they caught in the day. I chipped in for some sugar cane rum.

We were joined by a Dutch couple who sprung for wine and bread and soon enough we were having an impromptu barbecue party under the night sky, only two hours after my introduction. A cat walked in with the smell of fish in the air and we gave him a bowl of scraps. Steve played tunes on a guitar he bought in Bolivia.

"My friends back home who cling onto their lives there always say that they'll have time to travel later in life, when the kids are all grown up," Steve said. "But I say that right here, right now, it is our time."

"I'll toast to that," I said. We all raised our glasses.

THE REST OF THE NIGHT was spent playing a Bolivian drinking game, which involved rules from both rolling dice and playing Jenga, if you can imagine that. Needless to say I got pretty trashed. Steve was drunk enough to catch a gecko on the wall and put it in his mouth for a couple of seconds before it scurried away for its life. For a short while we went to Gustavo's bar where it was just all local guys hitting on all the gringo women. I was pretty out of it and just went back to the hostel.

Hungover, I struggled the next morning writing this blog entry in my room thinking that at least I have a view of palm trees instead of bricks.

If you enjoy this daily travel blog, please post a comment! Give me suggestions, send me on missions, let me know how things are going back home in the USA. Knowing that I have an audience will only force me to make this blog more entertaining as the days go by. Don´t forget to bookmark it and let a friend know!

Posted by Erik on November 20, 2003 11:22 AM
TrackBack | Category: Ecuador

Thanks guys! Glad you enjoy my writing...some days I'm not in the mood to write at all, but I force myself to do it anyway -- don't want to lose steam. (However, I really welcome next week, when I'll be on a boat in a No Internet Zone [N.I.Z.] for six days, so I can get a break for a bit...trying to come up with stuff to write can sometimes be tiring on the brain -- especially when you're hungover!)

Anyway, I raise my glass to you... SALUD and TRANQUILO!

ELAINE: No, it doesn't feel like forever yet... It's funny, "whereever I go, there I am" so I don't really feel out of place or away from home... I think part of it is maintaining the blog to prevent homesickness.

As of now, I should rename the subtitle of this blog from "Sixteen Months Around the World" to "Sixteen Months Around the World (or Until the Money Runs Out, whichever comes first.)" Everyone in the budgeting guides neglects to factor in that you actually want to DO stuff on the road, not just have money for food and housing. However, as "cheap" as it sounds where I am with the prices I mention, I hear that Ecuador is relatively expensive compared to the countries south of here, so perhaps my budget will get back on track once I leave Ecuador. And perhaps I'll get to see another country win a soccer game!

DUNLAVEY: Hope you enjoyed the additional "local" flavor...

Posted by: Erik on November 21, 2003 12:12 AM

I was a slacker and missed out on almost a week and half. I'm caught up now, and I'm very jealous of the beautiful water. You've gotten me all excited about my trip to Nicaragua over Christmas. Thanks a bunch! I want to see pictures of a party in the street - with the Ecuadorian football team ever pull a win off!
Congrats on a month of awesome writing!

Posted by: Noelle on November 20, 2003 04:39 PM

you seem to get to know the people in your neighborhood pretty good!

1 month down, 15 to go! that went quick. you'll be back before we know it.

wow:) does it feel like you've been gone forever??? what do you miss?? how much $$ have you spent so far??? is the budget more or less than you expected ?? 20 questions for the 1 month mark...

(i'm jealous)

Posted by: elaine on November 20, 2003 10:38 PM

Salud y tranquilo!

Drunk or not, you have a daily captive audience who simply can't wait for the next entry. Reading your blog has (and I'm sure I'm not speaking only of myself) become part of my daily to-do list and will continue so as long as you're abroad. Definitely hope to catch up with you sometime in the future and actually become part of the blog.

Posted by: oogy on November 21, 2003 01:39 AM

Oh heavens! I'm already jones-ing! 6 days without the BLOG?!?! Whatever will I do? You realize of course that when it does go back online we will all expect 6-days-worth of entries... and I also expect I'll get nothing accomplished at work that day.

A month on the road... I can't imagine that. I've never been gone longer than 16 days! Then again I never ate deep-fried guinea pig or photographed by poo.

So hats off to you Erik! Good Blogging and great pics have earned you a devoted audience... keep up the good work, and keep writer's block at bay!

Posted by: Christy on November 21, 2003 01:33 PM

Homesick already? You write so much about how hung over you are it's like you never left…
Thanks for the "local report" - "Tranquilo" sounds like most of the dudes in my own predominantly puerto rican neighborhood.
Hey - finally saw the Triumph DVD and…WE'RE BOTH ON IT - just for a few seconds near the end when he goes into the crowd. yes, I will get a screen capture somehow.
The Royal Flush party is in a few hours, I'm off to rawk out at CBGB's…

Posted by: dunlavey on November 21, 2003 05:18 PM

Erik,

In the category "cheap countries down south" you can count out Peru. It's not much - if at all - cheaper than Ecuador. Buses cost about the same, so do hotels. Museums are way more expensive, especialy in Lima. By the way, I stayed in downtown Lima and just like you said I didn't have any problems. Not even when I went to the airport, to pick up my friend, in a couple of colectivo vans (to save a few soles) via some of the more financialy challenged suburbs of Lima, while it was getting dark. I would recommend that though (and wouldn't like to repeat the experience myself either).
We're in Nazca now and tomorrow we'll take a flight over the Nazca lines in the desert. After that, hanging out by the pool until the time the nightbus leaves for Arequipa.
Take care,
Pepe

Posted by: Pepe on November 21, 2003 08:39 PM