Ecuador, police and driving

Ecuadorians have a number of common traits, even if they live on the coast, in the Sierras or in the Oriente (Amazon Jungle): They are exceptionally proud of their country; they are proud of the people who live in Ecuador; they almost all have relatives living in other countries and; they are all disgusted, but resigned, to the vast corruption of their government. In Guayaquil, Quito, everywhere else, the police, the politicians and the bureaucrats in Ecuador are apologetically, but staunchly corrupt.

Did I say we had rented a car?

Yes we did. We rented a car and spent a lovely, long weekend exploring the Ecuadorian lengths of sandy beaches… and potholed roads. Me driving, yes me, because in Ecuador almost all of the cars are manual transmission, not automatic, which is opposite to the state of affairs in the Estados Unidos (United States). So Lisa, despite having driven a manual Suzuki back in 1994 here in Guayaquil, had spent the intervening years in Ohio, Arizona and California proudly driving all automatic transmission cars and did not feel up to faring the traffic and potholes of La Costa.

Until our last day in Salinas. Lisa decided the traffic was light enough to test her driving skills. Off we went.

A suitable interlude for you, the reader, to imagine a host of jumps, jerks, stalls and squeals as the love of my life attempts to destroy the manual transmission in particular and the car as a whole.

Lisa (After jerking the car from a dead stop for the third consecutive time): What happened?

Richard (remarkably calm): That’s what happens when you try to start the car in gear without depressing the clutch, dear.

Lisa: Oh.

Richard: Either take it out of gear or depress the clutch.

Lisa: I’m not stupid.

Richard: Sorry.

Eventually we get going, dodging pedestrians as we go. Or are the pedestrians dodging us? I digress. Then about the time I notice that there is no one on the street, but that there are cars parked on both sides. Both sides pointing the same way. Both sides pointing OUR WAY!

And I look up to see a Traffic Police man ahead, riding his motorcycle directly at us (death defying soul) waving one arm and shouting “Una Via! Una Via”. This loosely translates as “One way, oh silly gringo”.

Of course this guardian of the public good passes us, then turns his motorcycle around in a graceful arc as Lisa hits the brakes. We heaved to a stop, engine dying in a neck cracking lurch since she again forgot to depress the clutch.

Now one thing about motorcycle cops in Ecuador, they never get off their motorcycles. They pull up to your window, talk to you through the window, then speed off again. They sleep in their motorcycles, and, for all I know, take their yearly baths still affixed to their motorcycles. This, of course, makes their love life interesting, but again, I digress.

So, Servant of the Public Good parks next to Lisa’s window, calmly notices two gringos in the front seat. Do I see a hint of a smile from his face? No, can’t be, this is serious. He calmly and pleasantly asks for Lisa’s driver’s license and identity papers.

SHE DOESN’T HAVE THEM. THEY WERE LEFT BACK IN GUAYAQUIL.

Let’s see, foreign woman, driving without a license in Ecuador, wrong way on a one-way street, no identification.

(Gulp)

There are hints of “jail” and dangerous problems for my wife. After some confusion, partly delayed by the vague transition from English and Spanish, I gather that the Servant of the Public Good wants to talk to me outside the car.

I get out, and he backs his motorcycle up enough so that we can talk… privately. He talks softly, him sitting on his motorcycle, me leaning in a bit to hear his soft words. Big problem, he says, dangerous driving, one way street, very bad. No papers.

He looks curiously at me. What is my name?

Richard I answer, Richard Evans.

Ah. Richard, Good name. The name here is dollars.

Dollars. Now, to the uninitiated, dollars in Spanish is dolaras. Now doloras, is pain.

I felt pain coming on.

“Cinco?” (five?) I said helpfully

He shook his head. He lifted his head up and pursed his lips thoughtfully.

“Tres……tres……tres….(three…three…three)” as if he’s trying it out and I was momentarily puzzled… offering to take less?

Then he nodded and said “Trenta” (thirty).

Trenta, I repeated, and he nodded somberly. I nodded gravely, thinking. He asked me to get back into the car. I did, driver’s seat this time. I quietly handed him a twenty and a ten in a friendly handshake.

He gave us a police escort to the outskirts of Salinas. We headed off to Guayaquil.

I drove, Lisa, relieved to not be seeing the inside of an Ecuadorian prison, in the passenger seat.

Only the second time I’ve ever had a police escort out of town. But that would be a different story.

Tragedy in the Amazon

Ecuador, especially the rain forest, enjoys lots of tourism. Thousands of people from all over the world come to see the stunning sites that can be found in Ecuador.

But Ecuador is a Third World Nation, and lots of its areas are popular because of their remoteness.

This week a British teenager, Aaron Goss was on a school trip to the Shangri-La Resort along the Rio Anzu. More details are on the BBC website at

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/31/uecuador.xml

Our prayers go to the family.

From Quito to Guayaquil Ecuador

So much has happened, sorry it has been some time since my last blog.


Lisa and I are now in Guayaquil, Ecuador. In June, after months of fits and starts, we left Quito for Guayaquil. We stayed at a temporary place in the Kennedy Vieja barrio of Guayaquil (Old Kennedy) for two weeks before moving into our semi-permanent digs in Urdessa a few blocks away, but across the bridge and the Solario Estuary.

Classes for the Air Traffic Controllers started on July 3rd and away we went.

So our days have been spent teaching English to the Guayaquil Air Traffic Controllers at the Departmento de Aviation Civil. This is an intense course, with two sessions in the morning and afternoon so each of the Air Traffic Controllers can get into one of the classes each day.

At night, Monday through Thursday, I write. I'm currently working on a series of travel guides for a publisher in Miami. The miracle of the Internet! Work in Guayaquil, Ecuador, teach English to Ecuadorian Air Traffic Controllers, and write for a company in Miami! So far I've done one each for Los Angeles and San Diego, rewrote one for Boston, and now working on a travel guide for New York City. All the research is over the Internet.

Last weekend we rented a car and headed up the ¨Ruta del Sol¨ (Sun Road) up the coast. I wanted to change the name to Ruta del Pothole, driving was wild! But the weather was great and it is off season so there were few crowds to worry about. We spent one night in Montanita, Ecuador, about half-way up the coast towards Manta. This is a serious surfer town, with bars called Wipe Out and the like.

Then we headed south to Salinas, which is where everybody who has money goes in Ecuador. Lots of condominium projects and resorts. Lots of nice beaches too, but crowded, even in the off season. Here in Ecuador, they have a lot of coops that practice their trade the old way, carpenters, weavers and the like. In Salinas they had artesenal fishermen. These guys worked in wooden boats, paddling out to maybe fifty yards off the beach, then laying a catch net in a half- circle. Then they haul lines to the beach, and a bunch of them start hauling the nets and any fish they catch up onto the beach. The same way they've been doing it for hundreds of years. Amazing.

Then it was back to Guayaquil and another week of teaching. Justin, our jefe in Quito, is busy teaching a Tesol course, plus overseeing the English classes for the Quito institute, plus overseeing the English classes for the Quito Air Traffic Controllers, plus overseeing us in Guayaquil by long distance. They need to pay him more.

Hope you are well. Here in Guayaquil, Ecuador the weather is great, the water fine, and the teaching and writing just great!