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Published: October 17th 2006
Sunday morning
I’m still a little obsessed with the mountains...Sunday was the presidential election here. Actually, it turned out to be the first round - since no one got 50 percent of the vote, there will be a run-off in late November. In spite of all the hubbub leading up to today, the weekend was quiet, probably owing to a ban on liquor after noon on Friday. All the bars closed and anyone caught drinking was fined and jailed for a few days. All to ensure that no one shows up at the polls ¨borracho¨... Anyway, voting is mandatory here and if you don’t vote, you get fined and are unable to leave the country or buy a house and some other things (which I guess means double trouble for the people who get caught drinking the day or two before the election). I asked my landlady, Cecilia, if mandatory voting means that people who know nothing about the candidates just pick one because they have to, and she said people can write “null” or something else so that their vote isn’t counted.
I tagged along with Cecilia to her voting station. It was pretty quiet, as it was early, but there were soldiers with guns standing by the
doors. It was hard to imagine anyone doing anything that would warrant getting shot, but I guess you never know. (Maybe they were on guard against angry drunks?) There were food vendors outside of the station, selling coffee, empanadas, fruit juices, and fried pig skin. Apparently it is a popular dish, ¨cuero¨ and potatoes. Cecilia bought some, saying it reminded her of her childhood. I tried a piece but couldn’t get passed the first chew. Maybe it was the pigs’ heads the next vendor over (see photo).
The run-off will be between Raphael Correa, the Hugo Chavez ally who called Bush dimwitted, and Alvaro Noboa, a billionaire banana magnate who has been handing out money to the poor and promising free computers and European salaries (Europe clearly is held in higher esteem than the US here). Of the few people here I talked to about the election, no one seemed excited about either of those candidates. But it should be interesting in that it seems the two would have different ideas for the country.
Enough politics…
On Saturday I went to Otavalo, two hours north of Quito, which has one of the largest outdoor markets in the country.
The market was terrific and the town was really cute, I would move there after my month in Quito is up if it weren’t so far from the other places I’d like to see in Ecuador. Anyway, it’s an indigenous town famous for its woolens. The sweaters, scarves, hats and bags are beautiful and for the most part quite cheap. There is also a livestock market, a leather market, and very nice jewelry and little sculptures and paintings from the rest of Ecuador as well as Peru and Bolivia. I’ll be going back, so let me know if you have specific requests. (Or, even better, you could come visit. 😊
I also saw my first Ecuadoran movie this weekend. (Not counting “End of the Spear,” about a missionary who gets killed by a tribe in the Ecuadoran Amazon. But I think that was just set in Ecuador…) It was called “Que Tan Lejos” (which I think translates to “how very far”?) and was good and really funny, even though I only got about half of it. If it comes out there or comes to DVD there, I’d recommend it… Finally, I bought a cell phone. It felt like kind
Que onda, cuero
pig skin and potatoes (the yellowish things that look like onion slices are pig’s skin) of a grown-up thing to do for some reason. Anyway, it was practical, as the alternative is going into little “cabinas” on the street every time I need to make a call. Fortunately there are no one- or two-year plans to be locked into, you just put money on the phone (at a phone shop) as you need. And it’s kind of fun having an Ecuadoran number…
More soon. I miss yous.
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Tracy Branco Medeiros
non-member comment
Interesting Election!
Hey Ami! I love reading these blogs of yours because your voice and your dry humor come through so vividly! And I am enjoying the pix also. I know it's a very different country, but your pictures remind me a lot of my time in Ayacucho, Peru. Anyway...What an interesting election-- a Bush basher vs. a billionaire banana magnate who hands out cash. That's a tough one, but I think I"d have to go with the Bush basher..those people are close to my heart. ;) And I kind of like the mandatory election-- and the no drinking on election day just kills me! Anyway, girl..thanks for sharing. I look forward to your next entry. And email me at my account and let me know your Ecuadorian phone number, and I can call you for a few minutes. I know how nice it can be to talk to a friend when you're so far from home for so long. Love you!