Cars and Horns

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It appears as though the jungle caught up with Susan last night. I felt sorry for her, she made quite a few trips to the toilet. Luckily for me - she purchased some matches last week and she probably burned through a whole box trying not to kill the two of us with her noxious fumes. I am sure she´ll be really happy that I am sharing this info on my blog, but what the heck, this is supposed to document my experiences in Ecuador - and last night was an experience.

Today I visited more schools with Bolivar to provide information and assistance. I was a little disappointed, because I had scheduled meetings with two schools and we didn´t go to either of those schools. I told Bolivar that I needed to go to those schools and I have been very clear as to what my schedule is. I posted a calendar in the office that shows where I will be each day and at what time. It bothers me, because I made a commitment to those schools and it must appear like I blew it off. Sure, I can visit them another day and claim that I misunderstood or something like that, but then that turns me into a liar and a jerk.

Bolivar didn´t seem to think that it was a big deal - I suppose I could follow his lead, however, despite what might be acceptable in this culture, things like that are not acceptable to me.

We did manage to go to 6 schools and I think we have 10 on board, working on projects - I have another 16 that I need to visit and help next week. At two of the schools today I had to give a short introduction to the kids about who I was and why I was there. It was fun and I did a fine job with my Spanish. None of them knew where the U.S. was so as I described Ohio and the Mid-West to them, it could have been 10 km away or 10,000 km away. Granted these students were 11 and 12 years old. Before I left the States, many of my 10th graders couldn´t tell me where Ecuador was. I got answers ranging from close to Mexico, to Africa, to just south of Europe.

I returned to the Office at 12:30 and found Sue waiting for me. She was reading the paper. We went to get our favorite snack/lunch chochos and tostados - heavenly I tell you. After that we walked around for a bit until Susan found an internet cafe. She went in and I went back to the office - it was nice because everyone had gone to lunch and I had the place to myself for an hour or so.

Tomorrow is a national holiday - Battle of Pichincha Day, but of course, my office is going to be working....again. I guess Bolivar doesn´t celebrate to many holidays and he is the boss. No problem. Friday´s are short days anyhow. You know, one thing I do admire about Bolivar is that he is committed to his work. He works in the office 6 days a week and obviously loves what he does. He also seems to know every single person in Puyo. People are coming in the office all the time to say hello to him and he is always waving at people or if he is in the car....honking at them (in a nice way).

Yes, in Ecuador there are three type of honks. The first is short honk or toot that says, ¨hey there - I see you - how´s it going? - I am doing well¨ Quite amazing that a simple honk can convey that much information. The second type of honk - sounds exactly the same, but this type comes from a bus or cab that is driving by. This honk basically says....¨do you need a ride if so turn around a wave your hand.¨ The third type of honk is a little longer in nature and sometimes is repeated. This honk can come from type of vehicle and its meaning is not as pleasant. This honk says....¨get the hell out of the road before I run over you - remember pedestrians have no rights in Ecuador - stupid gringo. Sometimes honks of this type are also reserved for dogs that have not quite mastered the art of moving out of the road. Yeah, a few dogs have limps around here, but for the most part they are road savvy and I´ve even witnessed a few look both ways before crossing - simply amazing. You don´t see many dead dogs on the roads, in fact, I have seen maybe 3 or 4 in total since I got to Ecuador. When you factor in that each day I probably see 100 or so different dogs roaming around the streets freely - the lack of doggy road deaths is astonishing. In fact, I would probably do a better job of crossing streets around here if I took my cue from one of the many canines in front of me.

In the U.S. I really only remember one type of honk....the one that says....¨I can´t believe this crap.... I don´t have time for this.... who taught you how to drive grandpa/ma¨ Of course U.S. honks also carry with them any number of colorful expletives.

One thing is clear though in both countries - we expect our honks to have for more power and convey more information than they actually do. As if somehow a honk will magically alleviate a traffic jam or tell someone that you think they have a nice ass and that despite your honk, you are not a pig just hiding your manhood within the confines of your car.

Without a horn to honk,
Jeremy

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