Thoughts On Ecuador

Ecuador was a nice country. We met so many friendly people. It felt very safe (with the exception of Quito). But nonetheless, Quito had police and security gurds around and people were helpful. We saw the pride of the people. They were very proud to be Ecuadorian. The people are also very effectionate with each other. Everywhere we went there were great parks with people spending time with families and "showing affection". Some of the men were very forthcoming. I was unaware to consider it rude, or flattering, but it got old. There is a lot of history in this country that is easy to find. Many monuments an museums filed with ancient artifacts.

The traffic laws are very much guidelines and not laws. If a horn on a car was ever broken, I have no idea how it would surrvive on the road. There are no center lines and safety laws. I saw a vespa scooter with a driver, a boy on the back about 8 holding an infant. No helments or seatbelts or carseats. It doesn´t exist. Some neighborhoods were more industrialized than I had expected and some are very dirty. I get mad when I see people litter. Its hard to get used to the little shops that line the streets. They sell everything in little shops. People say this place can be dangerous, but personally I had no problems.

The hard parts are seeing people begging. Old and young. It rips at my heart. Its also difficult to watch the animals wander the streets. It was also difficult to view the vandalism that occure on some of the historical monuments. Something that was great and beautiful has no been covered by grafiti.

The food is mainly chicken and rice, it got very old after a while. There are very little fresh foods and especially vegetables. It would be very hard to be a vegetarian and visiting Ecuador.

Overall I had a great time. We went to the Guayaquil, the Galapagos, Quito, Cuenca and Machala. It was a great first country but I am glad to be moving on.