Pam's Blog

I’m a word person and it’s been fun and interesting to figure out Spanish words and meanings and see how they relate (or don’t) to English words. I love the sound of some Spanish words and just the look of others. After a couple of weeks of Spanish class, here are some of my favorites.

Ballena – I first ran across this word in Puerto Lopez. Ballerina came to mind and then I figured out it translates as “whale”. I think it’s great that such a delicate word is attached to such giant beings.

Increible – I think it’s the just the sound of this word, the emphasis on the “i” that sounds like an “e” and pronouncing the “e” at the end (as an “a” sound).

Peligroso – I first saw this on yellow caution tape my first week here and like the sound of it. It translates as dangerous.

Interesante and posible – Again, the “e” at the end is pronounced instead of being silent, like in English. All the vowels are pronounced in Spanish so sometimes the words have a lot of syllables. The accent on these two words make them roll right off your tongue.

Palabra – The word for “word”.

Bombero – The first time I saw a fire fighter he was dress in redish fatiques. Just like “fighter” is a strong sounding word I think “bombero” is also a strong sounding word.

Mascot – This is the word for “pet”. I’ve seen signs at businesses that say “No Mascots”. Yesterday I walked by a place that caters to pet owners and in the front window, the worker was blow drying the hair of a very white dog. It was the first blow dryer I’ve seen in Ecuador.

Diversion – This translation is the most curious to me. It’s “fun”.

What’s your favorite word (either English or Spanish)?

Dogs run wild here in Ecuador, although there are some on leashes, most seem to belong to no one and everyone at the same time. Today I saw a dog resting in the middle of the street. While in Parque La Carolina I saw a dog chasing, snapping, and barking after a four wheeler on which two police officers were riding. In Puerto Lopez dogs would chase people riding motorcycles.

In my time here as an observer and a pedestrian, I’ve not seen a dog get hit, although I can’t believe it never happens. There’s no road kill in Quito, or none that I’ve seen. Maybe it’s because there aren’t any animals, other than dogs. I’ve not seen one squirrel or rabbit. The birds I’ve seen are pigeons and sparrow. There’s not a lot of green space in the city. Maybe all the animals are up the mountains that surround Quito.

Speaking of animals, the day I took the Hop on-Hop off Bus Tour we passed a woman tending a flock of sheep on the hills leading to El Panecillo. When I told Hipatia that, she said that was “not normal”.

Nearly everyone at the school is cold. “Mucho Frio!” they exclaim. It seems really nice here to me. The weather never stays the same – except it’s always about 60 degrees. From dawn to dusk there’s sunshine, clouds (sometimes low enough to envelope the building) and rain.

For the third day in a row an afternoon thunderstorm rolled in. The lightening is stunning the thunder seems louder here. I got caught in this afternoon’s storm, which included hail (as did the last three days’ storms)! I stood under a small overhang for ten or 15 minutes while it poured until my pants from the knees down were soaked. I grabbed the next taxi that rolled by and for $1.50 I was back at my host family’s home in no time.

It seems like the bathrooms here are all a result of the lack of resources. Water, electricity and ability/system to process.

Water: In Puerto Lopez water is trucked in from an hour away … and that’s the water for showers, toilets, sinks. Bottled water is cheap. One of the places in Puerto Lopez I bought water charged a quarter for a bottle, the same bottle I paid $2 for in the Atlanta airport. The water pressure is nearly non-existent (because water is a limited resource … or is it a mechanical issue) and the temperature of the hot water is luke warm at best.

Electricity: Maybe the water temp has something to do with the electricity. It must be expensive. There are signs at the school to remember to turn out the lights and at Hipatia’s the family is very good about remembering to turn things off. The hallways in the apartment building (and at the hotel in Puerto Lopez) aren’t well lit or lit at all. On a regular basis I see the transport of blue gas tanks. They are about two or three times the size you might have to run your outdoor gas grill. I’ve seen people carrying them on their backs, in individual push carts, and a truck load full of them. My teacher at the Spanish school said they are for the cucina (kitchen).

Toilets: Throughout the country in every bathroom there are garbage cans to put the used toilet paper. When flushed the toilet paper doesn’t go down and I’ve fished my fair share out of the bowl and put it in the garbage can. Must be a water pressure thing as well as a water treatment issue. I always wondered “whose job is it to empty the trash in the bathroom”. Twice Hipatia has asked me to gather up the garbage from the bathrooms in my host family home.

My trip TO the basilica yesterday went off without a hitch. RETURNING I got mixed up and got off the trolly one stop too soon, got on the bus going the wrong way and then got on the bus going the right way but the wrong bus. It’s all part of the experience and I got where I was going, sense of humor intact, albeit a little slower than I expected.

It seems like I’ve become more acustom to the sort of loosey goosey way things work. I feel like I’m getting even more “go with the flow”. And maybe that’s because I can’t ask (or now I’d be able to ask but don’t necessarily understand the answer). Or because I have limited responsibilities. I get most of my information by observing, seeing how the person in front of me paid for the bus fare or bought a ticket to the museo.

In my travels yesterday I spotted a McDonald’s and a KFC right across the street from each other. In another part of town I saw a Subway. On the side of a bus there was an advertisement for Domino’s Pizza. It’s hard to believe American fast food restaurants could make a dent in a culture like South America’s. The mom and pop food stands and tiny, tiny restaurants are so pervasive here. Every street has them, either ON the street or tucked in the bottom of a building, often no bigger than a garage. I walked by one yesterday that had three tables.

Today, Adreana, la professor de espanol, took me to the market. There’s a section of the market that is all fruit, a section of vegetables, a meat market, and a “food court”. There must have been 20 or 30 food counters where you could get lunch or just juice. Ecuadorians are crazy about their juice. And I can see why. There are so many more fruits than I’ve ever seen. They whir them up in a blender and, viola, juice. It’s yummy.