Ecuador´s Next Top Model

Part 1: The day I left for the beach: Both my uncles dress like cowboys. I saw them both 15 minutes apart from eachother. One dressed in all black, with cowboy boots (Bad guy?) and the other like a sheriff, with horses running across the under shirt, faux leather vest with sewn on badge and boots. I know Ecuadorian fashions are stuck in other decades, but is it really necesssary to go back that far in time. And the fact that they were good guy/bad guy on the same day makes me wonder if it was planned. I wish I had a picture.

Part 2: So I´ve talked about random events that have happened here in Ecuador, but I haven´t talked much about the country itself or its people. Well, it´s been a bit of a time warp; pelvic thrusts and all. Going down the streets of Cuenca, the buildings are rather ancient churches, or the shops and homes resemble row-houses. They are all connected to each other and are built one on-top of the other. Everything is so clustered that a certain shop can be hard to find.

When we were in Otavalo, it was funny to see all these stores selling American style clothes. There were name brands (most of them were fake though) clothes from Ambacrombie, Hollister, American Eagle and etc. That´s what the Ecuatoriano youth try and shop for. What did we buy? We bought the hand-made clothes that the indigenous people made. It´s funny how we try to look like each other.

Second is the time warp that some of the people are in. Some of them are stuck in the 80´s. Being in Cuenca, I´ve seen mullets, fanny packs, neon-colored sweat suits, and gaudy, Mimi style make-up that goes all around their face. Then there are the indigenous people still dress the same way they have for hundreds of years. The women wear their tradition skirts, hats, and ponchos while the men wear traditional pants, shirts, hats and ponchos all of which are different according to indigenous group.

Another different thing is Jheri curl, and how it is still "in" here. Every man here has the slicked-back, over greased (not gelled, but greased) hair. The men apparently will go in big groups to the bathroom (like girls in the U.S.) to reapply more....Whatever it is, to their hair to make sure that it´s sleak and shiny.

Then there are the cars. They are brand new or from the 60´s. I saw a ´67 Chevy Impala parked on my way home. (And yes Supernatural fans, it was black, just not as shiny.) Not only that but the brands that we are use to in the U.S., here, most of those same brands have a fuel efficiency logo on them. They also have their own brands here, so it´s pretty cool to see their versions of cars versus our cars back home.

As of now, Ecuador is still a developing country, and Guayaquil has been the only city we have been to that felt modern. It´s acceptable to watch TV and text while at dinner, and frankly, it´s acceptable to take a shit on the side of the road as well. But, in ten years más o menos, maybe the times will catch up. In a way though, I don´t want them to because these are some of the things that have made Ecuador so interesting (Except the fecal matter and other wastes on the sidewalks and roads. That just gross.).