First we went to school for two weeks. Carol got what she wanted, namely information on Ecuadorian Literature, in particular, and Latin American literature in general. I got what I needed, practice, one on one with a teacher and I felt that I made lots of progress. From all the laughter when I speat, I'n not entirely sure that is correct, but I feel more confident. We spent four hours each morning in class and that left the afternoon for soaking up the life of Quito. School is very cheap here, $2 per hour, so a week's worth of language study cost only $40. Quitohas literally dozens of schools teaching Spanish. Apparently, we are not the only ones who have discovered the beauty of the country and the people.
We have been living with a fantastic family, Marco and Elena Cordova and their three children will be our friends for life. I know that is something I have repeated in other letters, but again, it is true. Elena became interested in having foreigh students live in her house after her daughter, Tatiana, returned from three years in the US, well North Dakota, anyway, as a student. She attended her senior year of high school there, continued with two years of computer education at North Dakots State and returned here to an excellent job. She is 22 now. Vladimer is 28 and has a tile business. His 4 month old daughter is the pride of the family. Marco Antonio is 26 and a mechanical engineer. He has a bedevilling personality which drives his mother upthe wall sometimes, and might remind you of someone whom you know. He love to joke and has a wonderful sense of humor. He and I enjoy going to soccer games together and we have been known to have a beer together as well. Marco is the director of a military club (he spend 18 years in the navy) and Elena is "Mi mamÃ, Ecuatoriana." She spends all her time running errands forus and everybody else that she knows and has little time for herself. With Marco working all the time, raising the family became her task and she did a marvelous job. Everybody is very together as a person and the family as a unit is what we have seen continually here: very close and mutually suportive. It will be sad to leave here, we have become so close to them and really feel like part of the family. We have attended gatherings for Father's Day, been taken places to visit and generally made to feel very comfortable.
Some physical things about Quito. Sitting at 9,000 feet and just 10 miles from the equator, the climate is ideal. The temperature doesn't vary more than 3 degrees as an average for any month, neither maximum nor minimum. The average is 71 degrees max and 56 minimum. It got to 78 the other day and everybody thought they would die. Then about 2 weeks ago it actually got down to 49 and everybody bundled up and thought the end of the world was about to descend upon them. There are absolutely incredible, snow covered Andean volcanos which dominate the skyline on one side and on the other side the hills are green all year round and Quito runs lengthwise in between.
After the distance of the bolivians, we arrived in Quito but nothing but smiling faces and friendly attitudes. The people are definitely a happier lot than many other places. Chile would be the closedt to Ecuador, I think. They don't complain like the Argentines, thy are not just living for the moment like the Brasilians, and they are not technologically primitive like the Paraguayans. Ecuador is quickly becoming a center for tourism and economic growth. It is politically stable, very cheap to live in, the indidenous population have maintained their traditions but are accepted and have accepted, something of an anomaly here in South America. Of course there is a lot of poverty,corruption reighns in all forms of business, and the government is no different from any other. They refuse to made the hard decisions and they govery for the short term, policies which are designed to keep them in office, but not solve the fundamental problems which all nations face, particularly here in South America. More about that in the part of the letter which deals with the rain forest. But that doesn't change the fact that overall, Ecuador has as bright a future as it is possible to have down here.
Two downers here in Quito. They may be the world's worst drivers and if it wern't for the constant and pleasant breaeze, you could choke on the diesel exhaust from the buses.
First of all, there are zero rules for driving here in Ecuador. People make left turns from the right lane and vice versa. They don't stop for red lights if not forced to, pedestrians have no rights,, and we have been almost run down several times whenwe were perfectly in the right, and could not possibly see how a car could get us. We rode with an Otovalan Indian the other day who studied ay BYU (talk about culture shock for him) and he said that when he got to Utah, he was convinced there were entirely toomany rules for driving in the States. Whe he left and returned to Ecuador, he couldn't understand how Ecuadorians could be allowed on the road and that not a single person in the entire country could pass a driver's test in the U.S. The other day we tried to cross the street, we looked both ways, there was nobody coming in either direction and we decided to chance it. From out of nowhere and from around a blnd corner came a car travelling about 50 miles an hour. All they do is to honk their horns which legally must give them the power to do anything they want. We had to jump back or be killed, literally. It is the basic South American macho thing. If you can afford a car, it gives you power, which gives you the right, which people here are not afraid to use.
The smoke from the buses is like something out of a nightmare. Huge, black clouds billow out of up to three exhaust pipes, and many people walk down the streets holding scarves or masks to their faces to protect themselves. Of course, there are thousands of buses and they are all in the same condition.
We spent a weekend at a small town north of here named Otovalo. The people are famous for their artisan skills, and we spent not very much money, but came back with a lot of beautiful items. The men do not cut their hair, and the luxurious black hair is always worn in a single braid which covers the length of their backs. The Saturday market is huge encompassing an area larger than say, Union Square in S.F. The entire area is back to back stalls, literaly thousands of them. People come from all over to attend and to buy. During one of the afternoons we went horseback riding. It was supposed to ba a three hour ride up and down the Andes. We covered the area in 1 1/2 hours. You can imagine what the novice's backsides felt like.
But one of the two big highlights of our stay here ws our trip to the Galapagos Islands. We spent 8 days there sailing from island to island and we had a wonderful time. there were 9 of us on the boat. A group of 6 young (mid 20's) Frenchmen and women, a German exchange student, Mike, here in Quito, and Carol and myslef. Our boat was old, facilities were minimal, and the cabins were so small that Carol or I had to go outside for the other to pass from the bunk area to what ws euphamistically called the bathroom. But the food was good, the guide was very interesting and informative and the Islands were everything we had wanted them to be. We say every animal which is pictured on the big posters: land and sea turtles, thousands of birds, from red-throated frigates, penguins, and albatrosses to Blue Footed Boobies. Yes, that is what they are called. T shirts emblazoned with "I love boobies," are big sellers, particularly surprisingly enough, with American Women. We swam in crystal clear waters and whenever you enter the water dozens of sea lions cavort all around you. They play all day long it seems, and when somebody is in the water, it is an open invitation for them to join in the fun. Rule #1 is that you never touch any of the animals on the island, but somebody forgot to tell the sea lions that they weren't supposed to touch the tourists, and they will "Playfully" nip you, enough to leave a mark occasionall. They are very strict rules that you can only walk on designated walkways, but because the animals don't have natural enemies, they don't move for you and you have to step over them while they screech at you for invating their nesting area. They just set up shop where they want. After all, they are their islands. We were there for the mating season for the giant land turtles, an interesting experience, and alsofor the mad life of death dash to the sea made by the newly-born sea turtles. They are so helpless and the frigate birds swoop overhead in the hundreds. It is difficult to watch and know that 90% of them are doomed before they ever reach the water. The week was one of those experiences which will stay with us all our lives.
We returned to Quito and planned to head for Peru but the jungle called. We went to the Amazon forest for a weed, and again had a memorable experience. It is truly one of the most remarkable areas of the world. We had a naturalist guide, so called, because he is a native of the area as are his ancestors. His father was a shaman, or witch doctor. While the local guides wear t-shirts and hand-me-down Reebok shoes, make no mistake about it, they are not from this world. They know the forest, not from textbooks, but from living in it for their whole lives, and have the knowledge passed down through the centuries.
For instance, I asked our local guide if he had ever been lost in the jungle. He just looked at me in a very strange way like it was the dumbest question he had ever been asked. He replied with all the elequence needed, "No." Our naturilist thought it was a preggy good question since he gets lost all the time. "Never?" he asked, "No," replied Silverio. To paraphrase, how could you become lost? There are only certain plants which grow in certain parts of the jungle, and if this plant grows here, then obviously you are in a certain place. Also, there are all kinds of signs, all you have to do is to look for them. We didn't know what they were, but he obbviously did.
They are building butterfly habitats at the lodge, and since the butterflies only lay their eggs on one kind of plant, they have to find those certain plants to make the program a success. We talked to the owner and he said that when he needs that plant, he tells Silverio and within a day or two, he will return with the needed plants, ready for transplanting. How he finds them is a mystery, but basically he uses jungle logic. He knows that when he finds a certain plant, that a certain other plant will be nearby, and that another will be near that, and by watching the building blocks, it is easy to find the needed plant.
The howler monkeys were really interesting. They make a sound like the wind to define their territory. They warn off rival groups of monkeys, but never do battle. They can make the strange sound because they have an extra bone in their throat which allows them to make the unintelligible sound, very strange and very loud. Marco tells me that all politicians are descended from the howler monkeys, and that they too have the extra bone in their throats which allows them also to make unintelligible sounds. We canoed through small streams, but the immense size and the variety of life, both plant and animal is astounding. It all seems too huge to be destroyed, but the fact is that there aren't many people down here who have anything to do with the jungle who are very optimistic about its future. At best, some give it 50 years before it is gone, but 20 is a more general notion. It is all very discouraging and nobody sees much hope that those with the powere will make the hard decisions necessarey to change it. All thegovernments in the countries in which the Amazon basin lies have committed themselves to opening it up. Right now theyhave discovered oil in the Amazon area of Ecuador and they plan to build a road through it, which will effectively destroy 500 million acres. Staggering numbers to be sure, but the whole thing is so fragile. There is only two inches of soil in the Amazon, below that is clay. The whole area could become a vast desert. The rate of deforestation throughout the rain forest is so rapid, and all the schemes, like the cancelling of foreign debt for land protected, seems to be a big scam. apparently all the people who administer the programs were poor bureaucrats when they bagan the programs, and now they all drive big cars and live in fancy houses. Like I say, people are very discouraged about the future.
I must close, I'm running out of time since they want to close and go home, but we,too, will be home soon. You have one last chANce to write tous. Time is running out. Use the address for Cuzco, Peru. We will arrive there on the 29th of July and stay until the 4th of Auguat. We return on the 10th. Take care, we think of all of you often and always with much fondness.
Jim and Carol
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