My host here in Alangasí told me this story today: God created the perfect place in the middle of the world. He sat it right on the Equator, filled it with the most biodiversity: countless birds, animals, and a multitude of plants. He gave it various climate zones: the coastal area with the roaring ocean, the majestic Andes standing tall and proud, the Amazon forest and its healing plants as well as the Galapagos islands with their wide variety of exotic animals. Once God was done with his creation, in all his fairness, he decided that the place was so perfect: a small country with such unique and varied features, that it needed something to counterbalance that. So God gave the country its people: a bunch of ignorant idiots!
I laughed when I heard the story. Coming from an Ecuadorian, speaking about his own people!!! Wow! But that says it all. I do find Ecuadorians to be particularly uninterested. Unlike other cultures that I have had the pleasure to explore, for instance the Thai, Ecuadorians have no interest in finding out about my adventures and explorations, they don’t seem to like to talk about anything but sports and the new stuff that they are going to buy. They also, don’t have a lot to offer in terms of savoir faire; no particular talents or skills that they can expound upon. I am very curious by nature and love to learn new crafts and was expecting to quench my knowledge thirst here in Ecuador but unfortunately haven’t been able to. The average person, NOT the indigenous people, seem uninterested and uninteresting.
I feel extremely sorry for the indigenous population here who have been robbed of their land and who have to sell knick knacks by the side of the road for a penance. Under the disapproving and condemning stare of the Hispanic Ecuadorians, they work from early morning until late at night trying to make ends meet. They have been reduced to homelessness, their country side ravaged and built upon, their ancestral ways gone with the imposition of new obligations, a new language, no place left for them. Despite of these dire conditions, the Indians are more joyful, much less stressed looking, and overall much more friendly than other Ecuadorians. It is very frustrating because even my hosts here, who I consider forward thinking and pretty modern in their views, look down upon the indigenous people and blame them for every ill of Ecuadorian society. I can’t handle that type of talk and very fervently defend the Indians. The indigenous majority of the Bolivian population is one of the main reasons why I am going there.
When I went to the Bolivian Embassy the other day, I was agreeably surprised by the welcome that I was offered. I was immediately introduced to the ambassador himself who was very happy to expound upon his Bolivian homeland. He was extremely unofficial, which was a very nice change from the hierarchical and bureaucratic ways of the Ecuadorian offices that I have been dealing with so far. In the ambassador’s office there was a pro coca poster. The coca plant in Bolivia is used for medicinal purposes, mainly to alleviate the effects of altitude sickness. Unfortunately, the US has tried to force the country to eradicate the plant that they consider a drug. Of course, the plant is harmless, only when chemically altered is it a drug, but the US has conducted many raids on poor coca farmers and have sprayed the coca fields with various chemicals that not only poison the air and the water but also cause health issues to the people. It makes me so angry. If drugs were legalized, the casualties of the drug world mainly the innocent bystanders would cease to suffer and the drug lords would stop making fortunes. Why is it so hard to understand? Anyways, the ambassador’s poster made me smile. The whole embassy was filled with colorful artwork which stood in stark contrast with my previous visit to the Peruvian Embassy which was cold and menacing.
I went to the veterinarian with the dogs, the woman was super nice, she faked all the dogs documents for me. The puppy that I found in Ecuador is too young to get a rabies shot so the veterinarian lied about her age and put in a sticker as if my dog did get a rabies shot. It turns out that not all Ecuadorians are unhelpful. This woman was extremely nice and friendly. And the visit for my 3 dogs and the official document which allows them to travel cost me only 35$. The veterinarian has a true love for animals, it came to me as a bit of a surprise because I got used to most people here being cruel to their dogs, beating them, starving them. Most people think that I am crazy to cuddle with my dogs and play with them, for people here, a dog is like a rat, just a scavenger deserving no respect. It is uncanny how many dead dogs I have seen here, laying by the side of the road, dead from being hit by a car, their last days spent homeless and hungry. I am so unbearably sad when I see that, each time I make a point to look at their poor mingled bodies and to send these dear dogs a loving thought.