Automotive

This week I went to the coast with my host mom and her boyfriend, Ricardo, on episode two of Zach as third party to parental dating. This however was a much more extended drive as we descended out of the Andes which calls for a much longer drive that the distance would suggest. But of course the trip was absolutely gorgeous. We stayed at the home of Ricardo's sister. The home is situated in Pasaje, the banana crop country. There were three brothers and it was pretty entertaining to be around kids younger than me, because I have never been an older brother to anyone. I think I will be satisfied with being younger, though. Too much call for your attention when you are the older sibling, but I think I have three new fans of my life here in Ecuador. At any rate, we went to the port of Machala, which is the banana capital of the world. Huge, HUGE barges were in the port that were full of bananas, and apparently they don't even ship like half of their banana crop because of bruises or imperfections of any sort. Only the perfect bananas are exported. But after seeing the extent of the crops in all my driving in the coastal land, I can believe it. They were around every bend. It was like going a constant grove of banana trees, narrowing highways and encroaching on the villages. Machala was pretty clean for the most part, outside of the port water which was littered with everything imaginable. That night I was "hooked up" with a "date" with the next door neighbor, in what seems to be quite common. It was more of a game for the parents to stir up relationships amongst their children. So I got led into it believing that I was going to get some salsa lessons. It is hard to describe with words what it was like being pampered by my parents for a date, but I think their incessant questioning on my interest in my date and a raise of the eyebrows when two children of the opposite sex were in the room gives you some idea of their behavior. But the three of us, Martín, my date, and I, all dressed for a prom, crammed ourselves in a car with the middle brother, Domingo, and Ricardo on a trip to find a discobar in Machala. When we finally decided upon one, after forty minutes of driving in circles around the equivalent to 6th street in Austin (I swear Ecuadorians can take the longest time to make a decision), we filled out into the throng of liquored Machalans out in the streets. We were given a little over an hour for our dates (as Martín paired up with my date's friend) until our safest ride home, a waiting father, would leave. Instead of salsa, we came to a discobar playing reggaeton. After an hour, I needed a drink. The following morning was more or less a slow one. It was falsely assumed that we would have an early morning trip to the beach. At around one, we arrived to more or less the "pristine" beach to the north of Machala. The culture was no less peculiar, but I can't give a current comparison to that of the states as I have avoided an effort to enjoy the ocean in recent years. The water was quite warm and loaded in silt and sediment from the closeby river. It is comparable to the Texas coast, however the water is much warmer still. I strayed away from spending my time neck deep in the ocean as everyone else tended to do. Instead I enjoyed a still different culture around me. There were vendors selling live baby shark, live crab, live shrimp, you get the idea. Everything still alive. I feasted on a banana cuisine, one of many types they had. This one in particular was cooked until charred on the outside, cut open, reveiling a soft inside, and then stuffed with queso. I was a little tenative at the idea of cheese with a banana, but I was pleasantly supprised by the lack of flavor from the banana. And of course it was cheap. The whole experience on the beach cost nothing more than $4, feeding the whole group with the banana con queso, drinks, and parking. It marked the end of my stay in Pasaje and the southern coast of Ecuador. I brought home with me my souvenir, sun burnt feet, what's new? But perhaps the most culturally and interesting part of the trip came in the drives to and from Cuenca. The culture shock was quite intense compared to what I have been prone to seeing here. Near our residence in Pasaje was a canal, entirely polluted with unsupervised children scrounging around for entertainment; in the high Andean valleys, I observed Qichua children, who still speak the Incan language, drinking alongside cows in troughs. Equally powerful were the geological and ecological areas we traversed as we ascended into the Andes. The Andes begin abruptly from the coastal flat land marshes up to four thousand meters. There were three ecological niches before we reached the summit of our drive as well. As we climbed out of the banana plantations, we entered what is called the dry tropical forests, which have naturally growing banana plants and high towering trees. Quite abruptly, as we curved around a significantly tall peak, were the dry mountains. No vegetation grows here, there is only the browns and grays of exposed rock that is steeper than any mountains I have seen. Here the tributaries leading into the brown river far below travel greater distances vertically than they do horizontally. And then at last we reach what is the cloud forest. At this time it was getting dark and the fog was so dense you could not see the pavement that your car drove on. It was unbelievably frightening and like a complete dream, driving as if in the clouds of a dream. Then we broke clear of the clouds, right as we reached the summit of our pass, and there was the full moon in a completely clear night. It was the brightest night I have seen since New Mexico last month, when we drove in the snow without having to use headlights. Coming out of the clouds and into this vast light of the moon was something like coming upon the pearly gates. Around us were yet higher peaks reaching further up into the heavens, blanketed in the fog that we escaped. It was quite an experience all around. I have another nine days in which I plan to make another local trip during the weekend, until I have a week of individual travel during Carnival. I am going to be going across the country to Esmeraldas by bus starting Friday night! I am, to say the least, estatic about the trip!