Reflections at Midnight...

I have nothing but a few randomly scattered thoughts so here we go:

1. The cars are mind boggling.
I have never seen so many Nissan Sentras, Chevy Aveos, Hyundai Accents, and VW Rabbits in the last three days. This is the land of subcompact cars. They're everywhere. A good number of these are taxis but the majority of them aren't. They're not all from the same era either. Quito has a blend of cars from the last 30 years. It's not uncommon to see an original Beetle driving next to a Honda CRV. It's great. I wish I could drive one. A beetle I mean.

And even if I had the chance I wouldn't be able to because every car down here is manual. I don't think I've seen a single automatic. Even our "tour" bus is a manual. Driving in America is easy mode as far as I'm concerned.

And many of the cars are rebadges. Rebadges are cars made by one company with the name of another. The Chevy Aveo is the best example for it's a Daewood. Examples:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevy_luv
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Grand_Vitara
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevy_aveo#Central_and_South_America

Oh yeah, they love Chevy too.

2. Remember Sacagawea dollar coins? No? You probably haven't seen one in the last 10 years, I know I haven't, because they're all here in Ecuador. They love them down here. I keep getting them. I don't know why but I'm not complaining. They're easier to carry than dollar bills but they're also easier to lose too. :(.

3. There must be a ton of Chinese here in Ecuador. I haven't seen them but I know that they're here. There was a giant poster on how to fill out the papers for customs in Spanish, English, and Chinese. There are more than a fair share of Chinese restaurants down here as well.

4. Burger King abroad does not taste any different. It's just smaller. I know, I should've gone elsewhere but I was in a mall and it was the cheapest thing I could find. Malls down here are the same as they are in the states. If the signs weren't in Spanish I would've thought I was still in Ohio.

5. If technology ceased to exist the rural areas would still exist. I was away from a computer for a day and I was fiending for Internet. These rural farmers have almost nothing but their farms and they live just fine. I envy them in many ways. Being unplugged is nice until you check your email. 20 unread emails is not fun.

6. The mountain roads are beautiful but they're absolutely terrifying. The roads have several hundred feet drops at places. My ears were popping on the way to Otavalo, due to the change in altitude. The view was spectacular but around these corners with the large drops people were passing us and we were passing slower trucks. Along the way you see crosses on the edge to mark where cars have fallen off. My gut was in knots as we were passing cars on these corners and this is a normal highway. I can't imagine what it's like to drive along "El Camino de la Muerte" or the Death Road. Google that. Or watch the Top Gear Bolivia episode. Or both.

7. I feel bad for the Indigenous People. On one hand they're still around and thriving unlike the Native Americans in the United States. They still have some of their land and a lot of the Spanish spoken here is blended with Kichwa, a dialect of Quechua. On one hand, we've seen several natives who are also completely self sufficient. They are still using the same techniques to make clothes and cook as they did hundreds of years ago. Then it hit me. After looking at all of the traditional cookware they tried to sell us the ponchos and blankets they just showed us how they made them. Such a beautiful culture that has been ruined by tourism. I went to an entire market that was just the natives selling these ponchos, scarves, and purses. I've been accosted on the street to buy these same things. I suppose this is better than casinos though.

8. No matter where I go all I hear is American music. I don't even know the names or the artists or the songs but they're all there. All the same pop music bullshit.

9. Death Metal is a fantastic complement to viewing all the scenery of the mountains and rural areas. I don't know why. It started off as an experiment, black metal is fun to listen to while it snows and it's stuck. I guess I'll try this out again tomorrow.

10. Quito doesn't feel like it's another country. The realization that I am in another country hit me when I was in Otavalo, another smaller city. This city might as well be Miami or any major city in California. Most of the TV channels are in English with Spanish subtitles. The music on the radio is American. I've seen more ads for places like McDonalds, Burger King, etc than anything else.

11. Coca Cola is huge down here. I've seen Pepsi twice but I've had Coke with just about every meal. It also tastes better down here. There's no high fructose corn syrup. It's like if Coke came out with Coca-Cola Throwback. It's all real sugar. It tastes less heavy and a three liter bottle is $1.70 USD. I was carrying around a bottle I bought yesterday like a baby.

12. The Americans are easy to spot. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's their clothes. Nobody wears shorts down here. Maybe it's because they're speaking English or broken Spanish. Mostly though, they're loud as hell. We were walking past a camera store and these two women came out screaming to their friends across the street, "IT WORKS IT WORKS!" So much for a low profile.

13. I can't upload any photos to facebook right now so you're going to have to wait. The scenery is great. I have about 80 pictures so far and maybe 10 minutes of video. You won't be disappointed, I promise.

14. This place isn't as scary people perceive it to be. Sure I could be robbed here but the same could happen in any other large city like New York or Chicago. Everyone told me to come back alive but again I could've died in a city like New York or Chicago. If you go to the "wrong" part of NYC they don't speak English either. Just be calm, walk with other people, and don't draw attention to yourself and you'll be fine.

I think that's all for now.

Also, cocks.