Other than housing woes, things are great. During our one weekend when our housing request was pending and we didn’t have to look for places, we got to get out of Quito for the night. We stayed at this beautiful volcanic lake a couple hours outside of the city, and checked out a little village called San Anton
io de Ibarra that is famous for woodworking. It was great to see some of the campo. While our embassy friends looked for furniture, Monique and I relived a bit of the Peace Corps days, sipping cheap warm beer on a concrete bench in front of a convenience store in the town’s central park.The next morning we went to a very cool reserve that rescues large birds of prey from unpleasant situations around the Americas (usually crappy zoos or private residences that keep them as pets). They had several condors, which are pretty amazing, along with a bunch of hawks, eagles, owls, and falcons. While we were checking out this bald eagle, the head of the reserve came out with a cute little baby chick, which the eagle promptly swallowed whole before singing us a song.
School and work are going well. Monique has been able to travel a few times to meet with local mayors implementing USAID projects, and is so far enjoying her job. I’m learning lots about the new Ecuadorian Constitution, which is fascinating, and am putting my knowledge to use at our legal clinic. Last Saturday I got to give a Know Your Rights presentation to about 30 Colombian refugees, many of whom are being victimized through housing, employment and educational discrimination, because in a general view in Ecuador that Colombians are criminals. It’s very exciting and challenging work.
President Correa is also keeping us on our toes. He recently implemented a new system of taxes on almost all imported goods, as a means to stimulate the economy. Overnight the prices on tons of consumables went up about 40%. Sucks for us because Chilean wine and olive oil are too expensive; sucks for the rest of the country because cheap Chinese clothing and farm tools are no longer affordable. We’ll see if it spawns an uptick in consumption of Ecuadorian wine (which as far as I can tell is nonexistent). And there’s a rumor Correa's going to cancel Carnival celebrations, because Ecuador took too much time off for Christmas. Seems like a bold move a few months before an election, but we’ll see how things pan out. We've already got our tickets booked for the beach. For the moment he’s wildly popular in most of the country, but pretty much reviled by the middle and upper class Quiteños (especially all of my ruling-class offspring classmates).
Correa also caused some waves in the diplomatic circles by publicly ridiculing and banishing a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent when he cancelled a few hundred thousand dollars worth of aid to Ecuador (although the agent in question had left the country 3 weeks before he was banished). Seems like this was mostly sword waving, but it’s given me a new joke for the realtors: “How long do you expect to rent the apartment? … Until Correa deports us!" Ha ha ha.
School and work are going well. Monique has been able to travel a few times to meet with local mayors implementing USAID projects, and is so far enjoying her job. I’m learning lots about the new Ecuadorian Constitution, which is fascinating, and am putting my knowledge to use at our legal clinic. Last Saturday I got to give a Know Your Rights presentation to about 30 Colombian refugees, many of whom are being victimized through housing, employment and educational discrimination, because in a general view in Ecuador that Colombians are criminals. It’s very exciting and challenging work.
President Correa is also keeping us on our toes. He recently implemented a new system of taxes on almost all imported goods, as a means to stimulate the economy. Overnight the prices on tons of consumables went up about 40%. Sucks for us because Chilean wine and olive oil are too expensive; sucks for the rest of the country because cheap Chinese clothing and farm tools are no longer affordable. We’ll see if it spawns an uptick in consumption of Ecuadorian wine (which as far as I can tell is nonexistent). And there’s a rumor Correa's going to cancel Carnival celebrations, because Ecuador took too much time off for Christmas. Seems like a bold move a few months before an election, but we’ll see how things pan out. We've already got our tickets booked for the beach. For the moment he’s wildly popular in most of the country, but pretty much reviled by the middle and upper class Quiteños (especially all of my ruling-class offspring classmates).
Correa also caused some waves in the diplomatic circles by publicly ridiculing and banishing a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent when he cancelled a few hundred thousand dollars worth of aid to Ecuador (although the agent in question had left the country 3 weeks before he was banished). Seems like this was mostly sword waving, but it’s given me a new joke for the realtors: “How long do you expect to rent the apartment? … Until Correa deports us!" Ha ha ha.
And of course, the worst part about being in Ecuador this month (besides missing inauguration in DC) was not being in Pittsburgh for the Superbowl. We didn't take the camera out to the bar, but here was my preparation:
OK…off for more apartment searching. Keep in touch!
Abrazos,
Dan and Monique
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