Top Ten, Ecuadorian Style
Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007Quito is a marvelous city: it has great public transportation (a trolley!), walkable streets, a beautifully kept-up colonial district that has managed to remain a center of daily Quiteño life instead of a tourist trap, and hot showers. But, because it’s so great, nothing very bad or very interesting has happened to us here. So, to continue our great blogging tradition in times of lull, here is a random Top Ten list of interesting tidbits that have not made it onto our blog so far:
1) Riding on a bus to La Mitad Del Mundo, we spotted the following block-letter graffiti, in English: “Black People.” Yup, just “Black People,” nothing else. It reminds me of a kid from Wesleyan who wore a shirt with magic marker-writing proclaiming “Eco-Feminism” (yup, just “Eco-Feminism”) just to, as she said, “let people know it’s out there.” Or, perhaps the “Black People” graffiti is in protest to the used-book shop named “Confederate Books” that is a few blocks from our hotel.
2) At La Mitad Del Mundo (the equator), really funny things happen. For one, you can balance a raw egg on the head of a nail. For two, water will drain directly down without swirling to one side or the other. For three, if you do competitions of strength on the equator line and off the equator line, differences in strength will be magnified the farther you are from the precise middle of the world. For four, you weigh less on the equator. How cool is that?
3) On our travels, we have run into approximately ten Spaniards. Based on our rather limited sample, we have made an observation: all Spaniards have mullets, unless they are from Basque Country. If the Spanish people are on the cutting edge of fashion, you can expect to see innumerable fashion mullets in the coming years.
4) We did not get sunburned in Nicaragua, where the sun was scalding and the temperatures averaged 85-90 degrees. We did not get sunburned in Panama, despite similar heat and sun. We did, however, get horribly sunburned at the equator, where it was cloudy and 65 degrees. Megan’s legs still hurt.
5) When Sarah was in Xela, Guatemala (a little late, but bear with me), she ran into a girl she knew in Ithaca but had not seen for 6 years. This girl was dating a Spanish teacher at Sakribal. Small world…
6) The Sarmat Porter that Megan was so excited about had expired on 1/15/2005. It turns out that Ukrainian beer doesn’t have much of a market in Ecuador.
7) The Panama City Airport really sucks. In addition to not having any magazine stores, they took Megan’s swiss army knife, broke our camera, and made us forget that we had brought Snickers with us. It is the worst airport in the world.
8) However, COPA airlines is great! They serve you an actual snack, consisting of a sandwich and chips, and offer you free alcohol.
9) Within the space of two days, both Megan’s and Sarah’s backpack clasp shattered. Megan’s broke on the cab ride with the Peace Corps girl, and Sarah’s broke in the Panama City Airport (worst airport ever). These clasps are the important waist strap clasps that allow you to heft the weight of your bag with your hips instead of your shoulder.
10) We shared a room with a very strange French guy. He arrived at 5 pm, immediately lay down on the top bunk, and did not move. At some point, he smoked a joint, still lying on the top bunk. He said maybe three words then entire night and left the next morning at 10. At least he wasn’t sporting a mullet.
-Megan (with help from Sarah)
admin