Red Tape Knows No Boundaries

Well, do we have a doozie of a post for you this time! As promised last time, we did grocery shop, and Chelsea did get her computer back (pimped out and juiced up by our friendly web pirate Manuel who sounds like he’s from the Midwest when he speaks English), and we had an awesome banana split at Tutto Freddo complete with passion fruit, blackberry, and coffee ice creams. We tried to open a bank account, at 3 different banks, but they all swatted us aside. The 2nd time we went to Banco Pichincha, we arrived just after 4 PM and were informed that they weren’t working anymore that day. So we went back for a 3rd time on Friday, waited in line for 30 minutes, and then the lady told us that the system was down but we could try back later. So we went back for a 4th time that afternoon and just strolled right on into the private banking side (I figured, “Why the h*** not? It could work”). The nice lady at the front desk told us just to walk into the boss man’s office, which would have been great had he not been on vacation. So another nice lady asked if she could help and told us to take a seat. We did as asked, and then 5 minutes later the Executive of Business accounts lady talked to us, asked us how much money we wanted to put into the account, and then told us that the private bankers only deal with $50,000 and up. She kindly referred us to the public banking people, but their line was really long because everybody was just waiting all day long for the system to start working again.

So, having failed miserably with these attempts, we decided to walk ourselves to the Mall and pick out the things we need to buy for our house. After enjoying a bit of shopping without spending money, we saw a mini Banco Pichincha and decided to try them. The lady there was very nice, but she told us that we had to have resident visas and an Ecuadorian ID in order to open an account with them. She did add, however, that the boss man sometimes can make the rules go away, so maybe we should ask him when he gets back from vacation. Visits to Banco de Guayaquil and Banco del Austro resulted in firm but polite no’s.

In any case, you may be wondering about the state of our house. The view is beautiful, but the house leaves something to be desired—mainly, heat. It’s COLD up here! We spent the first night in the attic because we needed to do some serious cleaning of our bedroom. We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the house and there were actual mattresses. We have two pushed together, with some really ugly tiger blankets to keep us warm. The interior decorator in me is going absolutely crazy as I look at these two poor mattresses on a concrete floor. However, function before form. Today we taped a big piece of plastic over the window (Dad, thanks for the duct tape!). Maybe tomorrow we’ll get a space heater hooked up. And some sheets for the bed. And a carpet for the floor. We really don’t ask for much, do we? Eventually we hope to have some shelves for our books and our clothes, and a hot shower. Then I can begin to decorate.

Today, we boiled a huge pot of water and took it into the shower (after we cleaned the bathroom). Brad had the technique down of mixing the hot with a little cold and pouring it over his head. I wasn’t so ready to be completely soaked, and I had a sponge bath. I quickly wrapped myself in my towel, and then began the task of washing my hair. It was a long, cold, tedious process but it feels good to be clean.

Field work also commenced today. We spent a couple of hours walking along the trail here at Mazan, and Brad found one frog. It wasn’t exactly the species we were looking for, but we do know that they are quite elusive. The frog we found is one of the species (Gastrotheca pseustes) I intend to study here, but it isn’t the critically endangered species that I am really interested in (it’s just plain-old endangered, ho-hum).

The great quest for the car continues, but we have a few people working on this for us. Of course, we really need a bank account to buy a car. We’re also not really sure if we’re legally allowed to buy a car and the required medical insurance plan without being residents. Hopefully we’ll be able to trade the hike up the mountain for a bumpy drive by the end of the week! We may just have to tell anyone who asks that we’re borrowing our new ride from our Ecuadorian “brother-in-law.” Meanwhile, we’re really getting our mountain legs in shape!

So to end, some things we are thankful for. Our iPod, the beautiful view, fleece clothing, a working stove, full bellies (and peanut butter), our Kindles, headlamps, good health, each other, and of course all of you!

Addendum: We were finally able to open a bank account with Banco Pichincha this morning!

Frustrations

No pictures today, we were too frustrated to remember to take any. We’ve had our share of difficulties in the past few days, and morale is dwindling. We are spending a second night in a hotel in Cuenca, because we have to receive official permission to go up to the house at Mazan and start living there. We STILL haven’t even visited to know what condition it is in. However, we’re fairly certain that not much has changed. We’ll see. Tomorrow we are going to ask permission, and then we’ll see the house. One thing we know for sure is that there still isn’t hot water. Our requests are few: hot water, a bed, and a little more electricity. Most people here would consider those essential elements for living.

Earlier this week, I had some other troubles. On my way to PUCE, my Teva sandal fell apart. I was just walking along at my normal pace, taking a short cut through the park, when the strap came loose. The stitching had fallen out. Has anyone else ever worn out a pair of Tevas? They’re good shoes, and I never expected this (although she has beaten the crap out of them). However, Giovanni came to the rescue and took me and my shoe to the “shoe doctor.” He sat at his large, man-powered Singer, and in a few minutes and a dollar removed from my pocket my shoe was healed.

Later that same day, my computer died. Died. Never to come back again. It got the “blue screen of death” and said that a very important file was corrupt. We’re talking about my itty-bitty netbook without a CD drive, and it says I need to use the Windows CD to reinstall. I don’t have the CD. I also don’t have all the files that were saved. Luckily, I backed everything up before leaving Ohio, but those backups are safely tucked away thousands of miles away. Again, we lucked out. Our friends here in Cuenca recommended a “computer doctor” who might speak even better English than Brad (he’s too frustrated to look at the computer, so I can get away with saying this). Manuel, the computer expert who went to Purdue, said that he could fix it. First, he tried to recover all of my files. No luck. Then he said I’ll need to buy a new hard drive because mine is physically damaged, bummer. That’s going to be a $100 part and we’ve only just arrived here! Money goes fast.

Today, we spent the day running errands and preparing to go to our new house. We got lost searching for the Ecuadorian version of Sears, but a nice lady showed us a shortcut and got us back on track. We bought two hideous looking blankets, covered in tiger- patterned print and actual tigers on the bottom. These are the most popular kind, and although they are UGLY they’re supposed to be the warmest. We also got a surge protector, a water dispenser, and a new door knob complete with locking mechanism for our room. While we were at the mall, I decided to add more money to my cell phone. You can add either $1, $3, $6, or $10 typically. I chose $6 because they advertised a 3x1 deal. They put the money on my phone, and then I realized they hadn’t given me the deal. They said that you can only get the deal if you buy a minimum $8 of credit. The sign didn’t say this, and I will admit that I am not proud of the glare that I gave the girl (I’m proud of the one I gave her, though. - Brad). Why couldn’t she explain this BEFORE the transaction?

We also went to the bank in order to open an account, but they swiftly and easily rebuffed our efforts. We have black and white copies of our visa documents, but NO! they need color copies. We also need color copies of our passports, a utility bill, a letter of support from an Ecuadorian affirming that we are not, in fact, drug traffickers, and three benjamins in hand. I thought we were giving them the opportunity to hold OUR MONEY, but apparently that’s not how they see it. We now have most of these items and will try again tomorrow.

The pick-me ups today were few and far between, but there were some. We returned to our favorite Columbian restaurant for the $2.50 lunch which was delicious. We also stopped in a furniture store that was full of beautiful things. We may need to check into shipping items home, because we found the perfect set of table and chairs for an incredibly reasonable price - all hand made. We also get to stay in a hotel with sweet hand-made keys. The old kind like Mr. Jing-a-ling used to carry at Christmas time.

Tomorrow we will endure. We’ve circled ads for 16 different vehicles, and we will meet with the park people to gain permission and to express our concern about the current living quarters. We will grocery shop. I will pick up my computer and start from scratch. We will open a bank account. Or at least a few of these things will happen . . .

Pescadores

On Saturday, we visited El Museo del Banco Central, the country’s most famous museum with elements of both the culture and the history of Ecuador. We enjoyed looking at the artifacts from different native civilizations that inhabited Ecuador at one time or another. My personal favorite was a round vessel with two arms rested upon its chest and a triangular head with a simple, smiling face. Next, we went to the second floor and viewed some of the colonial artwork. It was mostly religious, and we were surprised to see Mary portrayed in so many different ways: as a child, as a pastor of sheep, pregnant, part of the holy family, mother and child, and also breast feeding (indiscreetly).

After the museum, we had lunch at a Mediterranean restaurant, walked past a “Trout Pro Shop”(shout out to Uncle Kendall), saw a shop selling large slabs of marble (Dad, if you break any more windowsills, I can help you out), saw a pair of soccer boots selling for $530, and bought a Micro SD card reader at the Radio Shack for the outrageous price of $30. At least now you can enjoy a few of our photos. Later, we returned to Giovanni’s for dinner and a lesson on preparing green papaya. If you wish to try it:

Green Papaya
Recipe by Giovanni Onore, adapted from the nuns in the Congo


1 green papaya
1 C red wine (optional)
2 lemons
½ C sugar (or honey)
Water for cooking
Grand Marnier cognac (optional)

Add one cup of red wine and a few cloves to the pot to begin boiling. Remove the skin and seeds from the green papaya, cut into small pieces, and add to the pot. Take the juice of two lemons and the zest of one lemon and add to the pot. Add a splash of water to keep moist. Cook for 30 minutes until it is ready, then add ½ C sugar and cook for a few more minutes. If you wish, add a splash of Grand Marnier. Let cool overnight, and enjoy like applesauce in the morning.


We woke up early Sunday morning to join Giovanni on his trip to the fish market. Fishermen from the coast drive their catches to Quito in order to sell them at the market starting at 5 AM every Thursday and Sunday. They sell tuna, swordfish, hammerhead shark, and many other kinds of fish with Spanish names that we didn’t recognize. After returning home, we enjoyed a huge breakfast that was crowned with a bit of swordfish prepared cerviche style (“cooked” in the acid of lemon). It was, actually, quite tasty.

After our feast, we set out to attend Sunday mass. At Giovanni’s suggestion, we first went to El Girón near PUCE’s campus. We understood a little bit of the readings and prayers, but we got about as much out of the homily as we would have in a Quantum Physics lecture at MIT. Having enjoyed our first liturgical experience of the day, we set out to find the beautiful Guapulo church. We reached a view point, and saw the church sitting in a valley on the eastern slopes of Quito, some 500 feet below us. A man sitting nearby got up to tell us that it was the church we were looking for, and that we could take the steps down, and did we want to buy a bracelet from him? We made it there just in time for mass to start, so we figured we’d give ourselves another chance to understand the day’s church service. This time the homily continued for 25 minutes, and I found myself contemplating how I would go about conducting a taxi chase if someone were to steal Chelsea’s backpack and hop in a getaway car. In between the words and phrases that Chelsea understood, she was contemplating the best places and modes of transportation for family and friends to visit here. Maybe next time we’ll do the readings in English before going to mass.

We continued on our way in search of the Museum of Guyasamin, an artist famous for his abstract works on some of the recent challenging times the Ecaudorian people have endured (many of which you can buy inexpensive, handpainted replicas). We endured our own challenge both navigating and hiking up, up, up only to find out it is closed on the weekend. Oh well, I suppose it was good training for the mountains. Afterward we stopped by El Maple for another delicious lunch and returned to Giovanni’s for a nap before dinner.

Our next update should be from Cuenca! We wish you all the best, and would love to hear your comments on our blog and what everyone is up to back home. Ciao!

Welcome to the Jungle

We have returned safely from a rather calm outing to the jungle. Giovanni sent us to Otongachi, a field station that is set up near the small village of La Union de Toachi. It is a smaller, more accessible version of Otonga, Giovanni's main bioreserve. We walked through Quito to the Trole (20 min), took that to the bus station (one hour), and then took the bus to Toachi (2.5 hrs). Once we arrived, we were directed by Giovanni to "ask someone for directions." The first person we asked did not know Otongachi, and the second person sent us to the office. When we got to the office, no one was there, so we ate ice cream sandwiches while contemplating what to do next. Lucky for us, Patricio, an employee of Otonga, found us and showed us the way to the house. It probably would've taken us an hour to find it on our own.

When we arrived, we were amazed by the huge building surrounded by jungle, and by the huge river called "Toachi." The house has three floors: the kitchen, a big room with many sleeping mats and the lab are on the first floor; a big open room with an entire wall of windows is on the second floor; and private rooms with bathrooms are on the third floor. We saw many different flowers, butterflies, humingbirds, and frogs (Pristimantis achatinus) when we walked around the house. On our evening walk, we heard the calls of several frog species.

Today, our friend Elicio gave us a tour of the garden of useful plants. At each plant, he stopped and explained what it was and then offered us a bit to try. We ate coffee, ginger, papaya, chewing gum and pepper. We smelled lemongrass and cinnamon. We saw achote (used for red dye), curry, heart of plam, tagua, black tea, the palm from which panama hats are made, cacao (chocolate), rubber, mango, coca (don't tell the CIA), and the tree of the "miracle fruit" which makes things that are very sour taste sweet.

After our garden tour, Elicio drove us back to Quito. We stopped at a restaurant along the way for a lunch of fresh trout, and then continued on our way to deliver two very important speciments of Atelopus elegans (Elicio spent Thursday doing fieldwork near the coast) to PUCE.

Tonight we will enjoy dinner at Giovanni's, and tomorrow we hope to buy our plane tickets to Cuenca and to visit a large museum of Ecuador's rich cultural history (El Museo del Banco Central). We've also just realized that we don't have the right cord to upload pictures and videos from our small camera, so visual accompaniment will have to wait until next time.

Goooooooooooal!

At the invitation of our friend and fellow Buckeye, David, we went to see tonight's futbol match at El Estadio Olimpico Atahualpa. We found out that this one is a pretty big deal, a heated rivalry between two teams from Quito. David supports Deportivo Quito, and he and his girlfriend, Paola, explained the nuances of their team's relationship with the far more popular Liga de Quito. In sterling English, they told us how they have many special songs regarding the persuasion of the Liga fans (Ligistas) and that they would be singing them many times this evening.

After some thrilling sing-offs at the start of the match, Liga scored an early goal which quieted our portion of the crowd. Deportivo got back into the match after this setback, and they eventually tied the game with about 15 minutes to go. In between the two goals, we learned that although futbol here is not played with the American-style pig skin, it is a popular snack among spectators. When Deportivo Quito put the ball in the net, these people did their best to re-enact the 4th of July. They shot red and blue smoke into the air, and they sent up enough fireworks that I thought I was in Westerville for a moment or two.

Don't be disappointed, because they end of the game hardly brought an end to the evening's adventure. We had to wait in the stadium for the Liga fans to leave first (with some gentle encouragement from the riot police), so we were treated to more entertaining tunes about the Ligistas' lack of women and other related topics. Once we were allowed to leave, we received a lesson in Ecuadorian efficiency. For the 12,000 or so people seated on the east side of the field, there were an impressive two doors trough which we could exit. And to add further lubrication to their smooth-running operation, these crazy people parked cars bumper-to-bumper from the street all the way to within five feet of one of these doors!!!! So, needless to say, we were afforded a great opportunity to get up close and personal with many new friends.

All in all, it was a productive day. Chelsea met with two professors at Pontifica Universidad Catolica del Ecuador about her amphibian research, I got to enjoy a live game of my favorite sport, and we shared lunch at our favorite vegetarian restaurant in town, El Maple (yes, they display the Canadian flag in the window). We have some potential leads for obtaining a vehicle, but nothing concrete yet. Tomorrow, we depart for a couple of days with our friend Elicio at Otongochi, a place that is part of our host, Giovanni's, conservation work.

Arriving Safely

We enjoyed excellent service at the airports (even though our bags were overweight) and on the airplanes (where we accidentally left our folder of important papers in the seat back pocket which was rescued by the observant flight attendant). Even when we arrived in Quito at 11pm a nice man helped us move our 280 lbs of luggage into a reasonably priced taxi (granted, our tip bought him lunch for the next day). Our taxi driver dropped us off at Giovanni's house, and we let ourselves in with our key and then found our way through the dark to a familiar bedroom. The bedroom has a bathroom attached, complete with hot water and hole in the floor that leads a double life as both shower drain and flushable toilet. Thank goodness there is a normal toilet just down the hall.

Today we were welcomed by Giovanni, Mayra, and Silvia (the two girls who live here and attend highschool in the city) and another, younger Giovanni who is visiting from Italy. We were served a top-notch Italian lunch: spaghetti with bolognese sauce, salad, and red wine. Apparently I didn't make my way through the spaghetti fast enough, because Giovanni took my plate and decided it was time I moved on to the salad. Maybe he was afraid my slow eating meant I didn't like it, but I assure you the spaghetti was delicious! Of course, the meal wasn't complete without Giovanni demonstrating his immense talent for ingesting crazy foods, on this occasion a chili pepper. Such demonstrations also precede our great joy (or obligation, more accurately) of having the opportunity to sample the interesting cuisine for ourselves.

Brad and I spent the afternoon walking around Quito, and visiting some "old favorites." We walked though Parque El Eljido, near PUCE, to "Gringolandia," and enjoyed blackberry juice while watching Manchester United defeat Newcastle 3-0 (you're damn right we did). We also visited the South American Explorer's Club and inquired about transportation and banking.

It looks like acquiring a vehicle for a reasonable price is going to be more difficult than we anticipated, but banking should be fairly easy. We're planning to meet with some friends here in Quito this week, and will continue to inquire about the best option to suit our needs. If you know someone looking to offload a 4x4 vehicle in Ecuador, give us a shout.

After a fine dinner of potato and rabbit stew (complete with a rabbit eye staring up at Chelsea from the pot), we're quite ready for bed. What an interesting place! We hope all is well at home, and miss you all dearly. Buenas noches!