September 28, 2006
Como estan mis amigos?
Well I still have 2 more spanish classes for this week. It has definitely helped to boost my confidence in the language to make sure that I am pronouncing everything right and a few things I have to work on. I have my own spanish CD's (VISUAL LINK SPANISH) that will help me with the rest of my spanish along with some books so I didn't feel it was necessary to continue with the spanish courses at Simon Bolivar spanish school after this week and basically wanted to know if I was pronouncing my spanish correctly so I will be leaving Cuenca on Saturday and heading south to Vilcabamba. I will probably spend a couple days there before heading south into Peru. I noticed some things he said were different from my CD's but just a few things. It is always nice to translate from english to spanish when speaking spanish but there are a few strange things like to say "I AM COLD" you would say in spanish properly "I AM WITH COLD" (Estoy con frio) or "I AM 20 YEARS OLD" is "I HAVE 20 YEARS" (Tengo veinte anos). To say something doesn't taste very good you say it tastes "Ugly" or "Feo". After spanish class on Tuesday I had gone down to the free salsa lessons on my main floor thinking there would be some hot latinas down there to practice with but there were just a room full of gringos so I didn't bother.
Right now my present itinerary after leaving Cuenca is Vilcabamba- Zumba- (ENTER PERU) Chachapoyas- Tarapoto- Yurimaguas and from there I may take a 4 day boat ride to Iquitos since there are no roads that go to Iquitos which is the gateway to the Amazon (Just planes and boats can get you there). Of course anything can change and I may go to other places or take a different route but that is what I have in mind right now.
My weight loss program is going well. When I got to Quito I weighed myself at 245lbs (Sept 14th) and now I weigh 228lbs. So I have lost 17lbs in 15 days down here. Just snacking and doing lots of walking around the towns and drinking lots of fluids. Thank god I brought a belt or my pants would constantly be falling down. I was 258lbs on August 2nd so have lost 30lbs in 2 months. My goal is 210lbs when I return.
I have also decided I would not stay down here as long as I had originally planned. 7 months is a long time to stay in one place and now that I have decided to move on from Cuenca. I have changed my flight back to Canada for November 23rd so in 7 more weeks which is still a lot of time considering in the past I would see 4 countries in 4 weeks. Staying in one place makes it so that there is not really a lot to write about unlike when you are on the road and constantly moving is when things start happening and so more to write about. I have decided to leave this blog as "My ecuador travelogue" just to keep the web address the same.
Well I guess since my last blog entry where I had mentioned that many if not most travelers down here have been ripped off of their valuables or possessions and I arrogantly said "Pick me! pick me!" well I think the universe must have answered that call since just over an hour ago 2 guys tried to rip off my bag (or at least of some of the contents in it) since after I had my $3 meal at the big market I had told you about (I had rice, beans and a deep fried fish that would give KFC a run for their money) I went to the main square (which was the first photo I took of Cuenca with the Cathedral that I posted below) and sat down on one of the many benches there just to chill out and put on my sunglasses and watch the cute Latinas walking by (always a good way to kill some time :)). I naturally sat down at the far edge of the bench so not to hog it when some young punk (20 years old?) sat down in the middle of the bench about a foot away from me. I instantly got "RED FLAGS" from this behaviour since most people will naturally sit at the other side of the bench and not in the middle. I took a quick glance at this punk and knew he was no good. I was reaching into my bag and as I did (out of curiosity) I was looking in my perpheral vision (with my shades on so no one could see my eyes) and saw this punk eyeing up my stuff as I opened it (OK there is no law saying that nobody can look into my bag of course) but within 30 seconds a well dress Ecuadorian (25 years old?) came from the other side and asked me if I could help him learn some english (even though his english was already very good) and how he was positioned (intentionally of course) was to force my attention away from my bag and his accomplice sitting beside me so this other punk could take my bag while I was totally focused on the other guy and with my instincts yelling at me "ALERT! ALERT! Man your battle stations! We are under attack!!" I immediately picked up my bag and put it on my chest with both arms glutching it tightly to give them the message through my body language that they are wasting their time without being an asshole about it. For a guy that spoke good english he was asking me about some strange english sayings that didn't make any sense so another red flag to confuse me or have me focus totally on him. I mean without being paranoid, I was 99% sure of this being a scam since my instincts never lie and just how the "set up" was coming together and I desperately wanted to tell the english speaking guy "You want english lessons? Fine! Here is your first english lesson saying when dealing with unwanted people who are forcefully trying to interact with you.... FUCK OFF AND DIE!!!" But of course I just don't have it in me to say it. Sometimes it is hard being a nice guy all the time because you aren't allowed to always say the things that are really on your mind.
Anyhow this english speaking Ecuadorian says he is going to England soon and has an english test tomorrow and needs to learn the accent and some typical english sayings (He obviously assumed I was a Brit) and I tell him I am not from England. He then says "oh then you are from Australia?", I say "no", then he says "United States?" and I say no. I mean geez, not too many more guesses to finally get it and as far as I am concerned he has already exposed himself as a scammer but I reluctantly play along being a nice guy and finally say "I am from Canada" at which he replies "Oh my english teacher is from Montreal!" (Scam artists are always looking to get the victim to identify with them somehow on familar ground) and I say then she probably speaks French too and he says no she doesn't and only in Quebec do they speak French at which point I have to enlighten him that Montreal is in Quebec. In a polite way I basically tell him to piss off and he is still being persistant about just taking 2 more minutes of my time and then finally the punk beside me gets up from the bench and says something in spanish to the other guy as he walks past him (Probably saying this is a waste of time or it isn't going to work since I am glutching my bag tightly). As he finally leaves he gives me a very weak and insincere hand shake as he continuallys says "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" (for bothering me) and walks off.
I remember when I caught that attempted pick pocketer in the main square of Mexico city 10 years ago where it was crowded with people (and I was the only white guy there) because of Christmas and he was the best dressed guy on the square and carrying a pen and clipboard and I became suspicious of him when he would watch me then look away when I looked at him he would be pretending to be scribbling something on his clipboard as he looked off in a different direction and as I walked from one corner of the zocalo to the other I would look back and he was always 20 feet away from me in the overly crowded Zocalo square. When I had known his game for the previous 20 minutes of following me around as I kept looking in my peripheral vision and caught him watching me and following me constantly and to finally catch him in the act and confront him I allowed him to sneak up behind me and at the last minute I whipped around and jabbed my finger accusingly into his face (as he must have thought I would be an easy target and thought I was unaware of his presence) and I confronted him and let him know I had been fully aware of his movements and motives and he also started crying "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!". Yeah right, the only thing these thieves are sorry about is that they didn't get your wallet!
This is just typical AWARENESS you need in these types of countries. You might see 99 good people walking around, going about their business but you always have to know there is probably 1% scoping you out (when you least expect it) as an easy target. Being 6'3, white, and by myself puts a big bulls eye on you for this type of theft. Especially being in a touristy area like the square I was at is probably their main turf for ripping off tourists. Awareness is just KNOWING there is one person out there that wants to steal from you without you knowing about it and always being on guard of suspicious behaviour and trusting your instincts.
OK universe, please, I don't want anymore shenanigans like this or anyone trying to steal my valuables for the rest of my trip. OK? There, I put it out to the universe.
Afterwards, another old man sat down at the far edge of the bench as a shoe shine guy pulls up his stool and begins work on this guys shoes. I am curious about what this guy is going to pay for a shoe shine because I know I have been getting ripped off being the white ATM that I am down here so I wait for the guy to finish and see the money exchange hands which was 50 cents. He does another guys shoes and I wait patiently again to see the money change hands (50 cents again). Back in Quito some dirty 6 year old kid with his mom asked me if I wanted a shoe shine while I waited on the bench and I said sure (Thinking if I gave him $1 that would be good money for him). Well after he did then I passed him the $1US coin and he wanted $5!! I thought no way in hell are shoe shiners making that kind of money down here off the locals but at the same time I didn't want people around the park to see some big mean gringo arguing with some poor little kid over money so I looked at his mom (as an arbitrator) and said "Cuanto cuesta?? (How much is it??) and she asked the boy and I heard some negiotations going on because the kid obviously wanted his $5US from the White ATM he just interacted with. After a little discussion she says $2US for 2 shoes and I still knew I was being over charged and don't like supporting the common practice of ripping off gringos who don't know better but I give it to him anyhow (Merry Christmas kid!). Then again in Quito another kid asks me (about 16 years old) and I tell him "no gracious" but he is persistent that I allow him to give me a shoe shine and so I reluctantly say OK. As he is shining my shoes another shoe shine boy walks by and says something to the other guy with a smile (I assumed it was something like "Hey, way to go my friend, you lucked out and found a white ATM. Not many of them around here. Good for you!!") and the kid smiled back at him. Afterwards I go to give him $2 (Thinking I am over paying but the kids needs it more than I just by looking at him) but he also wants $5US and I say NO! and then counters my $2 offer and says $2.50? and I agree just to end it. So since then I no longer where my dress shoes and just stick to my old runners so they don't ask. Problem solved LOL!
I think the cord for downloading pictures from my camera is broken so I took out the memory card and inserted it into the computer and so can continue downloading photos as I go.
On Saturday morning I will be taking the bus to Vilcabamba.
Chao
Como estan mis amigos?
Well I still have 2 more spanish classes for this week. It has definitely helped to boost my confidence in the language to make sure that I am pronouncing everything right and a few things I have to work on. I have my own spanish CD's (VISUAL LINK SPANISH) that will help me with the rest of my spanish along with some books so I didn't feel it was necessary to continue with the spanish courses at Simon Bolivar spanish school after this week and basically wanted to know if I was pronouncing my spanish correctly so I will be leaving Cuenca on Saturday and heading south to Vilcabamba. I will probably spend a couple days there before heading south into Peru. I noticed some things he said were different from my CD's but just a few things. It is always nice to translate from english to spanish when speaking spanish but there are a few strange things like to say "I AM COLD" you would say in spanish properly "I AM WITH COLD" (Estoy con frio) or "I AM 20 YEARS OLD" is "I HAVE 20 YEARS" (Tengo veinte anos). To say something doesn't taste very good you say it tastes "Ugly" or "Feo". After spanish class on Tuesday I had gone down to the free salsa lessons on my main floor thinking there would be some hot latinas down there to practice with but there were just a room full of gringos so I didn't bother.
Right now my present itinerary after leaving Cuenca is Vilcabamba- Zumba- (ENTER PERU) Chachapoyas- Tarapoto- Yurimaguas and from there I may take a 4 day boat ride to Iquitos since there are no roads that go to Iquitos which is the gateway to the Amazon (Just planes and boats can get you there). Of course anything can change and I may go to other places or take a different route but that is what I have in mind right now.
My weight loss program is going well. When I got to Quito I weighed myself at 245lbs (Sept 14th) and now I weigh 228lbs. So I have lost 17lbs in 15 days down here. Just snacking and doing lots of walking around the towns and drinking lots of fluids. Thank god I brought a belt or my pants would constantly be falling down. I was 258lbs on August 2nd so have lost 30lbs in 2 months. My goal is 210lbs when I return.
I have also decided I would not stay down here as long as I had originally planned. 7 months is a long time to stay in one place and now that I have decided to move on from Cuenca. I have changed my flight back to Canada for November 23rd so in 7 more weeks which is still a lot of time considering in the past I would see 4 countries in 4 weeks. Staying in one place makes it so that there is not really a lot to write about unlike when you are on the road and constantly moving is when things start happening and so more to write about. I have decided to leave this blog as "My ecuador travelogue" just to keep the web address the same.
Well I guess since my last blog entry where I had mentioned that many if not most travelers down here have been ripped off of their valuables or possessions and I arrogantly said "Pick me! pick me!" well I think the universe must have answered that call since just over an hour ago 2 guys tried to rip off my bag (or at least of some of the contents in it) since after I had my $3 meal at the big market I had told you about (I had rice, beans and a deep fried fish that would give KFC a run for their money) I went to the main square (which was the first photo I took of Cuenca with the Cathedral that I posted below) and sat down on one of the many benches there just to chill out and put on my sunglasses and watch the cute Latinas walking by (always a good way to kill some time :)). I naturally sat down at the far edge of the bench so not to hog it when some young punk (20 years old?) sat down in the middle of the bench about a foot away from me. I instantly got "RED FLAGS" from this behaviour since most people will naturally sit at the other side of the bench and not in the middle. I took a quick glance at this punk and knew he was no good. I was reaching into my bag and as I did (out of curiosity) I was looking in my perpheral vision (with my shades on so no one could see my eyes) and saw this punk eyeing up my stuff as I opened it (OK there is no law saying that nobody can look into my bag of course) but within 30 seconds a well dress Ecuadorian (25 years old?) came from the other side and asked me if I could help him learn some english (even though his english was already very good) and how he was positioned (intentionally of course) was to force my attention away from my bag and his accomplice sitting beside me so this other punk could take my bag while I was totally focused on the other guy and with my instincts yelling at me "ALERT! ALERT! Man your battle stations! We are under attack!!" I immediately picked up my bag and put it on my chest with both arms glutching it tightly to give them the message through my body language that they are wasting their time without being an asshole about it. For a guy that spoke good english he was asking me about some strange english sayings that didn't make any sense so another red flag to confuse me or have me focus totally on him. I mean without being paranoid, I was 99% sure of this being a scam since my instincts never lie and just how the "set up" was coming together and I desperately wanted to tell the english speaking guy "You want english lessons? Fine! Here is your first english lesson saying when dealing with unwanted people who are forcefully trying to interact with you.... FUCK OFF AND DIE!!!" But of course I just don't have it in me to say it. Sometimes it is hard being a nice guy all the time because you aren't allowed to always say the things that are really on your mind.
Anyhow this english speaking Ecuadorian says he is going to England soon and has an english test tomorrow and needs to learn the accent and some typical english sayings (He obviously assumed I was a Brit) and I tell him I am not from England. He then says "oh then you are from Australia?", I say "no", then he says "United States?" and I say no. I mean geez, not too many more guesses to finally get it and as far as I am concerned he has already exposed himself as a scammer but I reluctantly play along being a nice guy and finally say "I am from Canada" at which he replies "Oh my english teacher is from Montreal!" (Scam artists are always looking to get the victim to identify with them somehow on familar ground) and I say then she probably speaks French too and he says no she doesn't and only in Quebec do they speak French at which point I have to enlighten him that Montreal is in Quebec. In a polite way I basically tell him to piss off and he is still being persistant about just taking 2 more minutes of my time and then finally the punk beside me gets up from the bench and says something in spanish to the other guy as he walks past him (Probably saying this is a waste of time or it isn't going to work since I am glutching my bag tightly). As he finally leaves he gives me a very weak and insincere hand shake as he continuallys says "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" (for bothering me) and walks off.
I remember when I caught that attempted pick pocketer in the main square of Mexico city 10 years ago where it was crowded with people (and I was the only white guy there) because of Christmas and he was the best dressed guy on the square and carrying a pen and clipboard and I became suspicious of him when he would watch me then look away when I looked at him he would be pretending to be scribbling something on his clipboard as he looked off in a different direction and as I walked from one corner of the zocalo to the other I would look back and he was always 20 feet away from me in the overly crowded Zocalo square. When I had known his game for the previous 20 minutes of following me around as I kept looking in my peripheral vision and caught him watching me and following me constantly and to finally catch him in the act and confront him I allowed him to sneak up behind me and at the last minute I whipped around and jabbed my finger accusingly into his face (as he must have thought I would be an easy target and thought I was unaware of his presence) and I confronted him and let him know I had been fully aware of his movements and motives and he also started crying "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!". Yeah right, the only thing these thieves are sorry about is that they didn't get your wallet!
This is just typical AWARENESS you need in these types of countries. You might see 99 good people walking around, going about their business but you always have to know there is probably 1% scoping you out (when you least expect it) as an easy target. Being 6'3, white, and by myself puts a big bulls eye on you for this type of theft. Especially being in a touristy area like the square I was at is probably their main turf for ripping off tourists. Awareness is just KNOWING there is one person out there that wants to steal from you without you knowing about it and always being on guard of suspicious behaviour and trusting your instincts.
OK universe, please, I don't want anymore shenanigans like this or anyone trying to steal my valuables for the rest of my trip. OK? There, I put it out to the universe.
Afterwards, another old man sat down at the far edge of the bench as a shoe shine guy pulls up his stool and begins work on this guys shoes. I am curious about what this guy is going to pay for a shoe shine because I know I have been getting ripped off being the white ATM that I am down here so I wait for the guy to finish and see the money exchange hands which was 50 cents. He does another guys shoes and I wait patiently again to see the money change hands (50 cents again). Back in Quito some dirty 6 year old kid with his mom asked me if I wanted a shoe shine while I waited on the bench and I said sure (Thinking if I gave him $1 that would be good money for him). Well after he did then I passed him the $1US coin and he wanted $5!! I thought no way in hell are shoe shiners making that kind of money down here off the locals but at the same time I didn't want people around the park to see some big mean gringo arguing with some poor little kid over money so I looked at his mom (as an arbitrator) and said "Cuanto cuesta?? (How much is it??) and she asked the boy and I heard some negiotations going on because the kid obviously wanted his $5US from the White ATM he just interacted with. After a little discussion she says $2US for 2 shoes and I still knew I was being over charged and don't like supporting the common practice of ripping off gringos who don't know better but I give it to him anyhow (Merry Christmas kid!). Then again in Quito another kid asks me (about 16 years old) and I tell him "no gracious" but he is persistent that I allow him to give me a shoe shine and so I reluctantly say OK. As he is shining my shoes another shoe shine boy walks by and says something to the other guy with a smile (I assumed it was something like "Hey, way to go my friend, you lucked out and found a white ATM. Not many of them around here. Good for you!!") and the kid smiled back at him. Afterwards I go to give him $2 (Thinking I am over paying but the kids needs it more than I just by looking at him) but he also wants $5US and I say NO! and then counters my $2 offer and says $2.50? and I agree just to end it. So since then I no longer where my dress shoes and just stick to my old runners so they don't ask. Problem solved LOL!
I think the cord for downloading pictures from my camera is broken so I took out the memory card and inserted it into the computer and so can continue downloading photos as I go.
On Saturday morning I will be taking the bus to Vilcabamba.
Chao
