Ambato: Voting, Sightseeing and a Lunch to Remember

Sorry I’ve dropped the ball this past week and a bit. Expect a flurry of posts in the next couple of days while I get caught up.

Saturday morning (September 12) we left to go visit the grandparents and my mom’s brother’s family in the city of Ambato. Ambato is the capital of the province of Tungurahua, is referred to as the ‘Cradle of the Three Juans’ since it was the birthplace of three notable Ecuadorians and is overlooked by the active Tungurahua volcano which destroyed a good portion of the valley when it last erupted in the mid-twentieth century. It is also the home of my mom and her family.

After lunch I walked to the nearby school (colegio) with Raul and his grandfather so that his grandfather could vote (for his wife) in a local election. I am not entirely sure what the local election was for. They were explaining to me what is essentially a local credit union, but I could not figure out why there were elections for it. I get the feeling that at least in Ambato the credit union is essentially a government entity. But, the coolest part was seeing the electoral process in action in another country. We always read about ballot stuffing and all of the things that go wrong in the newspapers. But, I feel like we don’t hear enough about the successes of the democratic processes in other countries. In the school there were over 25 voting stations, each one dealing with a different range in the alphabet. At each voting station the voter had to show their ID, which was checked against a list of names, before they were given a paper ballot and the voter could circle their choices (up to 3 for this election). And, even more interesting, voting is required of all Ecuadorian citizens (there are exceptions for age, travelling, disability, etc.). If you do not vote (you can prove that you voted since everyone receives a paper ‘receipt’) you cannot get a passport (which allows you to leave the country), get an identity card (which is necessary to get a job) and get a driver’s license, among other things. Basically, if you don’t vote the vast majority of your civil rights are suspended… But, as a result, the voter turnout is close to 100% (if you subtract those who are not required to vote).

Saturday night we ended up at my mom’s brother’s house for la merienda. For those of you who have never heard of merienda before… A brief explanation.

In Ecuador almuerzo is by far the largest meal of the day. Dinner, which is called merienda (unless you are having a formal dinner in which case it is called cena) is typically much smaller. At its most basic it consists of bread and coffee/tea/hot chocolate, but can vary a lot from family to family. Tonight, for example, I had two small ham and cheese sandwiches and a cup of coffee. And sometimes it can consist of some more carbs (rice, potatoes, etc.) with meat. However, regardless of the meal, Ecuadorians LOVE, LOVE, LOVE carbs. It is not uncommon for every portion on your plate with the exception of one to be carbohydrates. The best example I have so far… One day I was having pasta with chicken for lunch. However, just in case that was not enough, they gave me a side plate of rice. I was shocked, but… I still ate the rice.

Back to the main story… We were at my mom’s brother’s house for merienda and I was talking to them in Spanish trying to explain what my dad does (some of you should know how hard that can be… Even in English). However, I was amazed by how supportive the family (and everyone else I have spoken to) has been while I butcher their language. I can’t figure out why the people here are so supportive. In Spain I have been outright laughed at in the past, but here everyone is extremely nice while I learn Spanish. I think part of it is the fact that very few adults I have met can speak English. However, even the kids who can speak English well (there are a decent number) never say anything negative. For lack of another reason, I’ll just write it off with the general kindness and helpfulness of every Ecuadorian I have met so far.

The following morning we set out on our tour of the surrounding area. We started off driving through an indigenous village and then people in the car started to mention banos. Now, for those of you who know Spanish banos means bathrooms. So, there I was, sitting in the car waiting to stop somewhere so that people could use the bathroom. However, we kept on driving. Obviously I was missing something, but I couldn’t figure out what. So we continued on our tour. We drove to a bridge from where you could look down several hundred feet and see a raging river below (I was later told that it was a favorite spot for suicides... It’s probably better that they tell me all of these things only after we leave) and then to a lookout with a cable car (open air with room for about say 4 people) across the river (we did not take the cable car, but it did look pretty cool). From there we drove through a couple of tunnels and we were suddenly in the Amazon (el oriente). In el oriente we stopped at a water fall before we piled back into the car. I had personally been hoping to walk around some more and see the sights on foot, but the my preferred being a ‘car’ tourist.

And then we had lunch… Some more background.

Some of the real treats about studying abroad in a developing country are the health concerns that there are. During orientation we were essentially told that we should expect to get sick while we are here. And, when I say sick, I mean sick. We were all given rehydration salts (the Spanish saying here goes that you can’t die if you drink lots of water and consume the salts) to use when we get sick (and the ‘good news’ is that there is only one stomach sickness we can get here where you actually dehydrate faster than you can physically rehydrate) and were told of what foods to avoid (fruits and vegetables without thick outer skins, street food and water). These sicknesses normally only last 24 hours (of both vomiting and the runs), but for at least a couple of those hours you feel like you are going to die and if you don’t keep drinking water you run the risk of passing out (sounds fun. doesn’t it?). So, we all have this little piece of not so comforting information while we go about our daily lives here.

So, we stop at a restaurant in the town of Banos for lunch and order our meals. My first warning sign was seeing heads of lettuce being stored on the ground in one of the rooms off to the side. Before the food arrived I was already feeling a little iffy about the food. Then, the soup came out. There I am looking at my soup with little pieces of vegetables floating around (another thing that caught my attention). Looking for an excuse to get out of eating this first course I ask what kind of soup it is… I am told, “oh, it’s chicken soup.” Where’s the chicken, I ask myself. I proceed to push my spoon to the bottom of the soup and drag up a piece of ‘chicken’. Now, I am hardly a chicken expert, but looking at this meat I knew this chicken had NOT lead a good OR healthy life (you probably think I am over reacting, but you should have seen this meat!!!). For the next couple of minutes I play with my soup, just hoping it would go away. Finally, I fill up my spoon, put it to my lips and take a taste. Before anything even registers I am putting the spoon back in the bowl and telling everyone I don’t like the soup. Next, the fish I ordered comes out and I happily note that the fish was well cooked with its skin still on (by this point I am completely paranoid, but when you eat well cooked fish with its skin still on it is relatively safe. Normally skin, fried, cooked until crispy = good). Using my rice as a buffer zone between my fish and the vegetables (including that lettuce I had seen earlier) I ate the fish and the fried potatoes. The fish was surprisingly good and at least the lunch filled me up, but I spent the rest of the afternoon knowing for sure I was about to get deathly ill.

We got home in time for dinner on Sunday night and… MY MOM EVEN ASKED ME HOW MY STOMACH WAS FEELING (I probably would have started feeling ill in the evening)!!! In my mind that just supported everything I ‘knew’ about what I had eaten for lunch. I went to bed expecting to be woken up by my stomach in the middle of the night. However, Monday morning rolled around and I was still feeling fine. I had made it through another weekend and, even better, I had not gotten sick.