Ecuadorian Homestay

My Ecuafamilia.

Things have gotten a lot better politically since I wrote last. I don’t know everything that’s happened, but the streets are back to normal and we’ve been able to leave campus. Also last week, president Correa and the Ecuadorian parliament modified the new law so the government could give the police and armed forces a salary increase. I still don't completely understand last week’s situation though.

Anyway, this weekend for a cultural activity we moved in with an Ecuadorian family to observe what a home setting is like. Friday night I met my Ecuadorian parents and carpooled to their house with Amy and Josué (two other NILIs) who were living with families close by. Nine of us shared a small four-door sedan, and while I was lucky enough to sit in the front, my only available space was occupied by a 5-year-old who sat on my lap. After we arrived I found out that I had three siblings: Eduardo, Luis, and Christina who were 26, 22, and 18 years old. It’s interesting in Latin cultural how close families are and it’s the norm for children to continue living with their parents, even after they are finished with school and working. The house was a small concrete structure, but it was comfortably made into a two-story home. I realized that they lived in the same area as Gustavo’s church, which is a rough part of town, and I heard some terrifying stories about this from Miguel, my Ecuadorian dad.

Instead of doors in the house there were hanging rugs, but this didn’t bother me at all. Also, I was warned to watch my head every time I went up the stairs, because there was barely any clearance. Oh yeah, another thing I was warned about was the size of the shower. The ceiling was my height and the spigot was about shoulder level. But that wasn’t the worst part. There are many ways to heat water and one of them happens to be with electricity, complete with wires and electrical circuits in the shower. With my height I could smell the electric current and hear buzzing, and without thinking I touched the spigot and was shocked. This combination made me really nervous, so I squatted the whole time to stay away from the electricity.

Saturday morning we went to a downtown market, which is a weekly family tradition. This was similar to the market we went to for our field trip and there was just about every kind of natural food imaginable. I asked a lot of questions about unfamiliar foods and saw a lot of interesting stuff. The meat section was filled with organs, heads, tongues, and hooves, but it’s cool how every part of the animal gets used up. It was also interesting to see my family purchase chicken. The poultry were all completely intact for the vendor to gut after each purchase, and the head, feet, and organs are all brought home as part of the deal. The head and feet are especially popular in chicken soup here.

For lunch we went over to the seafood section and bought a bunch of cangrejo, a type of small tropical crab. Crabs down here are cooked in a soup with vegetables, peanut butter, and verdes green bananas. (There are at least six different types of banana here). There were no tools to remove the meat so we used our teeth along with a big mallet on the table for the claws. It was weird to see the crabs served floating in a bowl of the brown liquid, but they were really tasty. Similarly my family thought it was weird that we just cook crab in salt water.

On Sunday mornings Miguel and a few others from his church have a really cool routine: they climb the nearby mountain to spend some quiet time and pray. I decided to tag along and it turned out to be a really neat experience. We left the house at four in the morning and after meeting up with others, we hiked for over an hour until we reached the top. We had an amazing view of the city and could see a lot of other mountains as well. From where I sat I was able to watch the sunrise next to Cayambe, Ecuador’s third-highest peak. (I didn’t have my altimeter with me, but I guessed our elevation to be between 10-11,000’.) On the way down, Miguel showed me a bunch of medicinal plants that are used to help the stomach, lungs, kidneys, liver, and a lot of ailments.


Left: Approaching the Summit. Right: View of Quito and Cotopaxi

Overall, I learned a lot about the culture: things such as you don’t take your shoes off or dress casually in an Ecuadorian home. Another thing that stood out: I was really hungry one night and I ate my dinner fast. I then apologized and said that I’m used to eating fast at home, but Miguel’s response was profound: “I used to eat fast too, until I realized how long it took for my wife to make the food.” That comment has stuck with me, and all together this weekend was really nice. I definitely want to see their family again before I leave the country.

Sorry for going so long in between blogs. This week has been somewhat uneventful following the attempted political coup. But things are starting to pick up again, which is nice. I’m excited to get back to more adventures over the weekends. Anyway, hasta luego!