Cultural Differences

Recently I posted this on another blog and thought it might be interesting to those who follow my blog. This was in response to a request for experiences that expats have had with the culture of Ecuador.

Parents of children, when driving, seem to have little regard for the safety of their children, by driving in a non-safe fashion. They regularly do not place their children in properly secured car seats. The children are free to move about the car as it is traveling at high speeds and sometimes in close proximity to other cars. 

Although, when they are not driving they are very supportive of family (almost to an excess). It is very common for children to live at home until they are married (which could even involve an age beyond 25). I have seen children still living at home when they are in their 40's and 50's. It is also common for the elderly to live out there lives with their children under the same roof.

It is important, and shows respect, to kiss a woman on the cheek (or at least make the motion) and shake the hand of a man when greeting them. And this occurs when you meet those same people in the future. Family members meeting other family members do this all the time. In fact, they will make a point of wandering around a room making contact with each individual present (at least at a family gathering).

When you are invited for dinner it is expected that you take a bottle of whatever you know that a person drinks even if it costs $80 a bottle. Of course this does not apply to families on a very limited budget. If you do not do this you might never be invited back. This has happened to me. I am curious what others have experienced with regard to this point.

To make noise, is an accepted right. I have experienced a family down the street playing loud music at 3am in the morning in celebration of the day of the mother (I am not sure if this coincides with Mother's Day). These were middle-aged people. This went on for about one hour and then stopped. As we all know, car alarms and barking dogs are very common. Shooting off some sort of fireworks after 12am is not uncommon (at least in Cuenca).

Drivers of cars believe that they have the right-of-way always: Pedestrians beware!

Overcharging seems to be regarded as a norm. This is not strictly where Gringos are involved. I have an Ecuadorian friend who owns several units that he rents in an apartment building. Recently he had to have some work done on his hot water system. The repairman was going to charge him $350 (approx.) for a new water pump. My friend said "No" and then went out and found one for $75. This is not the only incident I have seen of this sort. If they can overcharge and get away with it they will. And they do not seem to think it is rude. Not all, but some Ecuadorians with apartments think nothing of charging exorbitant prices for rent.

Ecuadorians are far more accepting of poor living conditions than North Americans are. They like better living conditions when they experience them, but are still happy without them. We tend to be quite picky, likely because we have become accustomed to a better lifestyle. I have seen people that have dogs where their front patio is littered with dog poop and it sometimes stays that way for several days. One of my Ecuadorian friends has seen this too and was quite surprised why they would put up with such conditions. This Ecuadorian friend has spent a considerable time living in the US. That may have something to do with his perspective on this issue.

Quality customer service is uncommon. Once they have your money in their pocket they don't seem to care much.

Weather in Cuenca

Out of all the months that I have been here so far March is one of the coldest and wettest months of them all. If memory serves January also fell into that category.

When I say coldest I am strictly referring to night time temperatures because the day time temperatures are, most times, quite comfortable (even in March and January). The cold is more noticeable where I live because this is an older house and somewhat well ventilated. As well, there is no heating system (other than for space heaters) as is typical in most houses here in Ecuador.

Almost magically at the end of March the rainy period ceased. So far, April has been very comfortable both at night and in the day. It is overcast today but still very comfortably warm.

I do remember when I first arrived in May that there were some cool nights but not much rain. The days were like Vancouver, BC, Canada summer months: Very warm.

First Medical Experience With the Social Hospital (IESS) In Cuenca

Yesterday (March 30, 2015), Nieve and I visited an Intestinal Specialist to see what could be done for my Ulcerative Colitis (UC) as it has been acting up lately. 

He said that I would need to have a blood test done and then a colonoscopy.

I knew all of this was not going to result in any benefit for me other than to make sure that I had no cancerous growth occurring in my intestines. The only benefit is to the medical system to convince themselves I was correctly diagnosed as having UC.

Today (March 31, 2015), I had to go in for a blood test. No problem.

There was a very long lineup of people waiting to have their blood tests done. But it was moving quite quickly so no problem. 

A little blurry but you get the idea

Despite this Nieve used her status at the hospital to move me to the head of the line. Nieve had to go off to work so I was left to fend for myself. 

I waited a very short time and had my blood taken. The nurse then said you need to give a urine sample ("orina" in Español). So, she gave me a sample container and I left.

I went outside and looked for a place to sit and wait for the urge; however, I started to feel another urge (i.e., to have a bowl movement). 

With UC, such an event means a bathroom is needed immediately. The closest bathroom was closed because it was being cleaned. Oh, great! 

I looked for another but there were just hallways and no signs regarding a bathroom. I returned to the closed bathroom and asked the attendant where another bathroom was. He said something in Spanish, but it was beyond my level of comprehension. Eventually after me saying "Donde" ("where") several times he pointed in the direction of the lobby. I hustle my tail over to the lobby and madly search for the bathroom. 

I finally found one and fortunately it was not occupied. But unfortunately, before I found the bathroom I messed my pants. It wasn't a big mess but enough to be unpleasant.

I entered the bathroom and there was shit on the toilet seat and guess what, there was no toilet paper. Keep in mind this is a HOSPITAL. Can you believe this?!

So, innovating, I used my hand to clean myself up and wash my hand in the sink. Fine, problem solved. Guess what, no soap or disinfectant. Keep in mind this is a HOSPITAL, I think! 

Now I know what it must have been like in the dark ages before they had toilet paper and soap. I guess we are really spoiled. Too spoiled because this is a killer for me. I will never be using the IESS hospital system other than for emergencies while I live in this country. And I may reconsider even using the IESS hospitals for that.

If they cannot even maintain their bathrooms properly it doesn't give me much faith in the rest of the system.

The good news is the other hospitals in this country are maintained as one would expect in a civilized country. Mount Sinai and Hospital del Rio are examples of private hospitals that I know of and they are both maintained as we would expect. 

However, if I decide to pay as I go and an emergency surfaces, the cost could be significant. So, if I am to stay in this country I guess I will have to use the IESS hospital, but only for emergencies as do other expats. Here's hoping I never have to do that or at least not for a long time so as to give the system a chance to improve.

Getting back to the urine sample, I managed to accomplish this task. So, in my uncomfortable state I returned the sample to the place for analysis. The attendant says "Oh, you need to provide a stool sample" (in Spanish). First time I have heard this. I wish I had known that before as I could have taken care of that at the same time I did the urine sample.

The nurse who took my blood gave me one sample container not two. Great!  Well, I was done for the day. The stool sample was going to wait until later.

ASIDE:   Ecuadorians refer to "poop" as "caca". The official Spanish appears to be "Heces" (as indicated on the medical sample tag).

Now that I am home and showered I feel much better. But, changes are definitely required for me to be happy. 

Back in the hospital, in my frustrated state, I was ready to pull the plug and move back to Canada right then and there. But, now that I have had time to regroup, there are other options to explore here before doing that. Another reason is that I would rather not have to put Tiger through a long return trip to Canada as it was pretty tough on him on the trip down to Ecuador.

UPDATE APRIL 2015:

I had occasion to return to the IESS hospital and this time the main bathroom on the main floor was open and it was very clean and contained all the necessary things we are accustomed to (soap, toilet paper, etc.). So, I guess the poor conditions that happened to me were just an unusual circumstance that I hope I never have to repeat.

Dogs and Car Alarms!!

Dogs are very prevalent in Ecuador or so I have heard. Since Cuenca is the only place I have spent much time as of yet, I can only be certain of the state of dogs and car alarms here.

In Canada, most people keep their dogs inside at night. That is not the case in Cuenca. As a result, you can expect to hear dogs barking at night.

Last night was a case in point. Between car alarms going off and dogs barking I did not have a very good sleep.

I have stayed in other parts of the city and can attest to the fact that there are areas that are more quiet than others. Also, I would think living in an apartment that is 6 or more floors up that the affect of noise would not be as great.

Some apartments have double-paned windows which help to reduce noise as well.

On another note regarding pet care, people do not treat their dogs the same way we do in Canada. They often do not get proper veterinary care.

There is a dog that lives across the street from us that has severe hip dysplasia. He looks like he is in pain most of the time, but the owners do nothing.

Coco, my girlfriend's dog, was in a fight with another dog and suffered some nasty abrasions to his nose. The wounds were left to heal on their own.

Most dogs are infested with flees and left that way. And they rarely ever get a bath so they smell.

Dogs are, typically, kept in a confined area at night, but are allowed to roam the streets during the day. 

Since about two weeks ago, dogs roaming the streets seems to be on the decline. This could be as a result of the city implementing a much needed law that would result in a stiff fine ($300 - $1000) if an owner's dog is caught wandering the streets. Whether this law will be enforced or not remains to be seen.

Hopefully we will see less poop in the streets as well. I am not trying to indicate that there is a lot of dog poop in the streets, but you do have to watch your step.

My girlfriend has two dogs she rescued from the street. She feeds them table scraps (if there happens to be any) and dry dog food. They each get a cup full of dry food twice a day. And most of the time they are hungry. I guess it is better than them trying to fend for themselves. They seem to be happy and do not look malnourished.

I have been trying to teach them not to bark at passing cars, dogs and people and have had some success. Since I am not allowed to use a shock collar I have been throwing water on them whenever I catch them barking. It stops their barking immediately. The problem is it is difficult to catch them in the act all the time.

Since I have been living with her, and knowing that I dislike her dogs barking, my girlfriend makes a concerted effort to chastise them.

I have heard of a collar that vibrates instead of applying a shock. I may give that a try if I can find one that is not too expensive.

The other problem is finding some way to stop other people's dogs from barking. The owners don't seem to care if their dogs bother anyone. 

Some nights I feel like poisoning a piece of meat and throwing it in the yard where the dog lives. I don't think I will ever go that far. But, I may invest in a gun that can spray a strong stream of water. That might help.

As to car alarms there is not much to say other than I don't think Cuencanos should have ever been given car alarms. They seem to have no clue how they work.

I was walking in the street yesterday and this guy was wandering around his car opening and closing the doors in an attempt to get the alarm to cease. I don't suppose it occurred to him that he had to depress the button on his keychain to deactivate the alarm after making sure the doors were closed.

There is an older person living across the street from us. Almost every time he uses his car he opens the door before disabling the alarm and of course the alarm goes off. And, it seems to take him a few minutes to figure out that he should push the deactivate button. Very irritating especially when he does this at night.

I hear car alarms going off all over the city every day and sometimes during the night. Fortunately, most of them, except for the guy across the street, are in the distance.

One other source of noise that is not great is motorcycles that have no muffler. Young people love that wild and nasty sound.

If anyone is really sensitive to noise you might want to consider another locale than Cuenca. I think this is one reason why some expats live in small towns like Cotacachi. However, the disadvantage in living in a small town is there is not much to do.

Don't get me wrong:  Most of the hours in a day are quiet. But when the noise happens it is not pleasant.

Tasty And Inexpensive Food

There is a nice little restaurant close to where I shop for groceries at the Supermaxi. I go there frequently for lunch (in Spanish:  el almuerzo) as it is very tasty and filling. The cost is $2.75 for all that you see in this photo:

And another place I really like is Monte Bianco. They have absolutely wonderful birthday cakes and a very good thing I treat myself to once in a while. It contains wonderful fruit and two different flavours of ice cream. Yummmy!!!

$3.00

Shopping at the Mercado

This past Sunday we visited the Feria Libre mercado here in Cuenca.

We had been there a couple times before but did not do as much shopping as we did this time. We came away with approximately $50 worth of groceries enough to last for a few weeks in terms of vegetables and fruit. In terms of meat, about 6 or 7 days. And in terms of rice, about 5 months.

A good portion of liver (for 3 people) cost $2. Three pork steaks cost $2.20. About 6 yellow platanos cost $1 and 6 green platanos cost $1.  One large papaya - $1. One large pineapple - $1. Three avocados - $1. One large melon - $1. Ten or twelve onions - $1. One kg of cheese - $2. A huge bag of rice - $14. Potatoes - $2. And a number of other things.

Aside:  For some reason I always want to pronounce "platanos" as "plantanos" (for which I am consistently corrected).

Aside:  Yellow platanos are sweet and green platanos are not. Green platanos are sometimes used as a replacement for potatoes. Yellow platanos can appear with almost any meal, are usually fried and are very tasty. 

Aside:  Green platanos are used to make something called "Balon". You cook the platano and then mix it with cheese ("queso" in Spanish) and sometimes add some cilantro and then roll that into a ball and toast it. Very good. Some Ecuadorians use this as their breakfast.

Papaya, potatoes & Rice

Pineapple, Bananas & Platanos

As a contrast 1kg of cheese in the mercado is $2; whereas, a similar cheese in Supermaxi (grocery store) is $6.76.

But there are still reasonable prices to be had in Supermaxi especially when considering how much some things cost back in Canada.

What I have stated above is the PRO part. And now for the CON part.

Unless you are prepared to make many trips to the mercado you will end up trying to cart a lot of heavy bags around while you buy what you need. There are no handy carts like you have at a grocery store (like Supermaxi here in Cuenca). There are no carts to carry your goods out to your car or taxi. And this particular mercado is not anywhere close to as clean as the grocery stores are. In fact, I haven't seen any mercados that are that clean, although there is mention of one that is supposed to be quite clean.

I guess I like my creature comforts. Although it is quite interesting seeing all the goods for sale in one of these mercados.

UPDATE as of February 18, 2015:   Today at a deli I purchased 0.28kg of pork in a thin, wide strip for $2.39 and 0.73kg of smoked pork loin for $11.54.

A few days ago I purchased one large yellow pepper for $1 at a mercado in El Centro. I was subsequently told that should have been $0.25. The lady at the mercado gave me a smug look when I asked for a bag to put the pepper in. Talk about "gringo-gouging"!

I also purchased 1 kg of beef in a thin wide strip and paid $2.25. I was told this should have been $1.

It's taking time but I am getting used to what things are suppose to cost. It is much easier when shopping at a grocery store.

Technology Group Meeting

These days I am needing something more to occupy my time rather than just sitting at my computer all day.

So, I decided to see if there was any interest in forming a technology discussion group.

There is a website (one of many) that expats use to keep tabs on what is going on, what services are recommended, and what things various expats have for sale (including apartment & house rentals). This website is Gringopost. It is a very good resource which I monitor almost on a daily basis.

I posted a meeting date at a popular restaurant (Fabiano's) in El Centro last Thursday evening. Early Friday morning the responses started coming in. Fabiano's has a limit of 15 people per event. I have already exceeded that and have to suggest to additional responders that I will include them in the next get-together.

Out of the respondents there appear to be 3 Ecuadorians that will be attending. That is very good.

As a result of my posting, I have touched bases with a person whom is very interested in 3D printing. This is a technology that is very new to Ecuador if it even exists here yet. It is possible this meeting may prove very lucrative. Time will tell.

If this meeting proves to be beneficial I am going to see if there is interest in forming a group to discuss science issues and associated philosophies.

UPDATE - January 26, 2015:  The Technology group meetings have been very enjoyable and typically attended by at least 6 people.Sometimes there are questions on how to do some particular function or get around some problem and other times they can involve a discussion. I plan on continuing them as long as people are interested.

UPDATE - March 31, 2015:   The Technology group meetings have ceased due to lack of significant interest. However, I managed to make one contact who has turned out to be a very good friend and that has resulted in many interesting conversations. We have also been working on a new website design for a real estate friend of his. We are hoping to make this website the best that exists in the city.