Smile, Ecuador! ...And Give Me Your Money

First, please note that I FINALLY posted all the pictures from the last post. I feel like it’s somewhat impressive that I got it done in the time I did, because the computer at home still doesn’t work and the internet at school has been terrible. So yeah. If you haven’t seen those yet, check them out….. now. There are monkey pictures.

So the plans for this past weekend changed a bit from what I had been expecting, but it was still a good weekend. Going into this past weekend, there were two free weekends remaining on the schedule, and Abuela had said that with one of them, we’ll go trout fishing, and with the other, we’ll all go to a local private pool and swim. Trout fishing had been on the schedule, but she woke me up on Saturday and said that the day was perfect for swimming, and we would do that instead. Swimming with Omar, Mateo, Mila and Abuela was a blast, but maybe even better was the conversations we had driving around Quito. We touched on everything from the difference between “asteroids” and “steroids” and whether Abuela is on the juice to whether “Deliciously Trustworthy” is really a good slogan for a roast pig restaurant. The funniest part came after I saw a truck painted with a big cheesy smiley face and the Spanish words “Smile, Ecuador! We’re Friendly People,” and asked about it. Apparently it’s a campaign by the Vice President to try to get Ecuadorians to change their attitudes and in turn make life in the country better. Omar had some choice words to describe how he felt about that (in English, of course, so Abuela wouldn’t get upset), and then he said in Spanish, “Yeah, smile, Ecuador. And give me your money while you do it,” as he flashed a huge fake grin. We were laughing about this for a while, with Abuela scolding us the whole time, until out of nowhere she said “I’M GOING TO KILL YOU, HEEHEE!” as she flashed a huge psychotic grin. We died laughing. I only wish I knew for sure whether she was just playing along or if that was really her thought regarding some passengers in the car at the moment…

Saturday afternoon, I went to the futbol match between Sociedad Deportivo Quito and Liga Deportivo Universitaria, or SD Quito and Liga. As I said before, Liga is based in Quito and is the favorite team of the city, and they were second in the world last year. SD Quito, well, wasn’t. Liga dominated the game, and SD Quito was completely outclassed, giving up 3 goals and an own-goal for a final score of 4-0 Liga. So it was a fun game, but the best part was seeing the fans. The entire stadium is standing, screaming, and singing the whole game, and when Liga scores a goal, look out. Beer and baby powder go flying, flares are lit, children charge and climb the 20-foot high chain link fence keeping fans off the field (then proceed to rock it back and forth), and the diehard hooligan section repeatedly runs up and down the stairs. I managed to learn one of the songs, and this one is the one that is sang after every goal and at the end of the game, so it’s the good one to know. *A-hem*:

Yo te daré (I will give you) / Te daré Liga hermosa (I’ll give you beautiful Liga) / Te daré una cosa (I’ll give you something) / Una cosa que empieza con L! con I! con G! con A! (Something that starts with L! with I! with G! with A!) / LIGA CAMPEÓN! (LIGA CHAMPEONS!) (repeat)

On a related note, I have learned that the Ecuadorian national soccer team will not play their first match in Ecuador until three days after I return to the United States. As if this weren’t bad enough, one of the team’s lesser-used nicknames is La Banana Mecánica, which is just downright awesome. I think that’s supposed to translate to “The Mechanical Banana,” with banana being a reference to the bright yellow jerseys the team wears (as in, the team is a machine). Even if it translates to something else, or you personally want to believe it means Banana Mechanic, there’s no way to take it to mean anything but something really cool. For this, I am even sadder that I will not get to see the team play during my time in Ecuador.

I also got a small baseball fix this weekend. It was great—I’ve been daydreaming about playing ball at Keyser, and then this Sunday afternoon, Abuela took Mateo and me to a small park so that Mateo and I could play “baseball” with his two-foot long wooden bat and his tennis ball. We picked what we thought was a good part of the park where we couldn’t lose the tennis ball, but the second pitch I got from him… man, two months of dreaming about baseball got let loose on that tennis ball. I crushed that thing. Even from the middle of the park, I hit what was literally an “out of the park” home run, and it felt great to take that swing, but unfortunately, it landed in the walled-in yard of a neighboring house. We lost the tennis ball, but it was worth it.

Stuff going on this week: The US Embassy came to school today to tell us everything we already know about being safe in Ecuador, and I’m going to go ahead and blame Lisa for making this necessary. Our first group salsa lesson is today at 4. The Revere boys basketball team plays their first playoff game in a long, long time tonight at Stow High School against Cleveland JFK (GO MINUTEMEN!), and the World Baseball Classic starts Thursday. Friday we leave for a small, two-day excursion to Bella Vista, which is allegedly a “cloud forest,” whatever that means. I’ll be sure to let you know when I find out.

Cultural note of the day: There are some great signs here in the city of Quito. Political correctness doesn’t exist here, stuff doesn’t have to make sense, and sex is used to sell stuff that has never been connected to sex before. Check these out.


Kelly's Fine Hats: Apparently Kelly is an American woman who likes to pose shirtless with a pirate eye patch and a cool hat.


Menestros del Negro: Local restaurant with an old black caricature, complete with the bone fork in the hair, as the logo. Note that the phrase "Como preparado en casa" does not mean "Come prepared in case," but rather, "How it's prepared at home."


TinGo: Swimsuit models on a tropical beach, being used to sell.... Persian rugs?

SHOUT-OUTS GO TO: The yodeling monkey family of northeast Ohio, whom I happened to find here in Ecuador, and Horse.

From Ecuador,
Andy