In Ecuador, when you sneeze, there is a three tiered progression of what you say equivalent to "bless you" - but there are three words for consecutive occasions: Salud, Deniro, Amor.
Salud - health
At the weekend we visited Baños, a small town nestled under an active volcano, named after its thermal baths. With 12 students from the school going, the group was almost unmanageably big and there was a lot of waiting around for people. Contrary to foreign office advice, we didn't check the volcanic activity before we left.
The baths themselves came in different temperatures from scalding to pleasantly warm to freezing. Despite being packed, moving between the pools was a calming experience. In Baños there are wheelchair ramps on and off every pavement in the town - this was the first time I had seen this in Ecuador. From this, I deduced that there must be a belief in the healing properties of the baths, which calls to mind the gospel story of Jesus healing the crippled man at the baths (ref, anyone?). Whether my deduction is correct or not, the baths were certainly very good for the muscles after a day on mountain bikes.
Unlike some of the other students, I have have yet to fall foul of any nasty bugs in food.
Dinero - Money
In tourist towns such as Baños, all you need is a very little money and everything is easy. Our mountain bike tour took us east and downhill through breathtaking scenery, where the startling Andean valleys run into to the dense Amazonian jungle. Standing close to the bottom of the Cascada del Diablo (waterfall of the devil), you get soaked - but it is well worth it - being so close to the awesome power of the water is an almost spiritual experience. There are then vans on standby to drive you back up the hill - hence why everything is easy! The next day we all went rafting in the rapids lower down the river, where the massive waterfalls give way to the flatness of Amazon basin.
But cash can be a problem here. Cash machines dish out $20 notes, but in many contexts people won't accept anything bigger than a $5 - and small change is much more convenient. Consequently, one has to make a conscious effort to hoard change and break a note whenever the opportunity arises.
Amor - Love
Or Not? There a slightly unsettling phenomenon in Quito of "Gringohunters" - Locals who try to start a romantic relationship with tourists with the hope of being taken to a western country. (I suppose this could have fitted under Dinero, but I needed something for the Armor space!) But I think I am safe, as I don't think I am the type to fall for this - I intend to have more contact with locals in the coming weeks - It is the best way to practice my Spanish.
Enjoyable as all this tourism is, I am now starting to look forward to getting a little off the beaten track - both in the hopefully more challenging volunteering role I will be doing in Lima, and later, atop mountains in the Cordillera Blanca. Feeling settled here with the other students in the school, I am also starting to look forward to the next challenge of travelling solo to Lima - something I had earlier been apprehensive about.
Deseo te tener mucho Salud, Deniro y Amor,
FC
Salud - health
At the weekend we visited Baños, a small town nestled under an active volcano, named after its thermal baths. With 12 students from the school going, the group was almost unmanageably big and there was a lot of waiting around for people. Contrary to foreign office advice, we didn't check the volcanic activity before we left.
The baths themselves came in different temperatures from scalding to pleasantly warm to freezing. Despite being packed, moving between the pools was a calming experience. In Baños there are wheelchair ramps on and off every pavement in the town - this was the first time I had seen this in Ecuador. From this, I deduced that there must be a belief in the healing properties of the baths, which calls to mind the gospel story of Jesus healing the crippled man at the baths (ref, anyone?). Whether my deduction is correct or not, the baths were certainly very good for the muscles after a day on mountain bikes.
Unlike some of the other students, I have have yet to fall foul of any nasty bugs in food.
Dinero - Money
In tourist towns such as Baños, all you need is a very little money and everything is easy. Our mountain bike tour took us east and downhill through breathtaking scenery, where the startling Andean valleys run into to the dense Amazonian jungle. Standing close to the bottom of the Cascada del Diablo (waterfall of the devil), you get soaked - but it is well worth it - being so close to the awesome power of the water is an almost spiritual experience. There are then vans on standby to drive you back up the hill - hence why everything is easy! The next day we all went rafting in the rapids lower down the river, where the massive waterfalls give way to the flatness of Amazon basin.
But cash can be a problem here. Cash machines dish out $20 notes, but in many contexts people won't accept anything bigger than a $5 - and small change is much more convenient. Consequently, one has to make a conscious effort to hoard change and break a note whenever the opportunity arises.
Amor - Love
Or Not? There a slightly unsettling phenomenon in Quito of "Gringohunters" - Locals who try to start a romantic relationship with tourists with the hope of being taken to a western country. (I suppose this could have fitted under Dinero, but I needed something for the Armor space!) But I think I am safe, as I don't think I am the type to fall for this - I intend to have more contact with locals in the coming weeks - It is the best way to practice my Spanish.
Enjoyable as all this tourism is, I am now starting to look forward to getting a little off the beaten track - both in the hopefully more challenging volunteering role I will be doing in Lima, and later, atop mountains in the Cordillera Blanca. Feeling settled here with the other students in the school, I am also starting to look forward to the next challenge of travelling solo to Lima - something I had earlier been apprehensive about.
Deseo te tener mucho Salud, Deniro y Amor,
FC
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5 comments:
Hi Franco,
Bless you.
Glad to hear you are being very active. I am amazed you have had no tummy bugs/sickness, good work: you should be in fighting form for some big hills in July.
Hope the espanyol is going well, i'm very impressed.
Just a quick question on the phone situation in South America, does your mobile work/ are there phone boxes about which can be used?
Hope you are well
Damian
My mobile doesn't work but that's probably cause its old and not tri-band.
In some ways its nice surviving without a phone, but I may yet buy one in Lima.
Yours might work if its a newer but we might have to get a sim card - which are v cheap. It would porbably be a good idea to have one between us I suppose.
And yes, there are numerous cabinas telefonicas and internet cafes.
Thank you, that was extremely valuable and interesting...I will be back again to read more on this topic.
Sweet website, I had not come across thebleaksky.blogspot.com before during my searches!
Keep up the great work!
Thanks for sharing this link, but unfortunately it seems to be down... Does anybody have a mirror or another source? Please reply to my post if you do!
I would appreciate if a staff member here at thebleaksky.blogspot.com could post it.
Thanks,
John
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