So, again, it's been a while since I've written but I have SO much to catch up on, so get ready for a little bit of reading :)
I wanted to start by telling a couple stories. Last week Sierra, Angela and I were invited to come over to our Ecuadorian friend Alejandro's house, which located on the other side of La Mariscal and Plaza Foch from my house. (La Mariscal is the district that has all the discotecas, bars, and the happening night life, and Plaza Foch is a plaza at the center of it all) So we started off from my house, walking towards Plaza Foch together, through crowded streets full of cars and sidewalks full of people, and past loud bars and clubs. At one point, we were crossing the street at an intersection in front of a police car full of 5 policemen. First of all, I want to add that the policemen here really don't appear to do very much. They always ride around together in their cars, not enforcing any traffic laws. I have yet to see a policeman here who really appears to be doing his job. Anyway, we were walking across the street right in front of this police car. At the moment when we were directly in front of them, they turned on their siren for just a split second, to scare us. It worked, and we all jumped out of our britches and squealed. I looked at the policemen and they were all laughing, thoroughly enjoying their joke. They continued laughing and looking at us until we were out of sight. I was totally infuriated at their complete lack of respect, and I could hardly believe what they had just done. So we kept walking, and then about 5 minutes later, the same police car comes driving up next to us and sets of their siren at us AGAIN. I was beside myself with disbelief. How horrible! Policemen are supposed to enforce the law and keep the peace, and be people you can trust! Clearly not in Ecuador. It's well known that the police are corrupt, which is a pretty scary thought.
My next story is about the lovely process of obtaining a package from the post office. My mom sent me a bunch of clothes and shoes and stuff that I was eagerly awaiting. The day finally arrived when a letter came to our director's office saying I had to go to the post office to claim my package. First of all, that in itself is annoying. The package should be sent to the address that it says on it. It is very inconvenient that the recipient has to go pick it up themselves. But I was okay with it. I was mostly just happy that it arrived at all because it's pretty common for packages to go missing. Sierra also got a package in the mail, so we decided to go find our way to the post office the next day and claim our packages. The next day, after arriving at the post office, the process began. We were meeting our Ecuadorian friend Danny there, who we thought could make the process smoother, cheaper, and more efficient. All Ecuadorians are always late (haha, HUGE generalization), so of course we ended up waiting longer than we had anticipated. But finally, the process began. This is how it happened:
1. We went up to the window with the slips we got in the mail to claim our packages. After standing there for about 5 minutes waiting for him to finish his conversation with his coworker (bad customer service is VERY common here), he finally turned and told us that we needed to give him 2 copies of our Censos (Ecuadorian ID).
2. We ran across the street to a copy center and asked to have 2 black and white copies of each of our Censos. The guy didn't really listen to us very well, because it took a few times for him to verify exactly what we wanted.
3. With our copies, we ran back across the street and handed them, with our slip, to the man behind the counter. After signing some things, we had to pay him a dollar to even have him go look for our packages. He gave us a slip to give to someone at the next window.
4. After waiting for more employees to finish their conversations, we handed in our slips, which went into a pile with some others.
5. We waited for our names to be called.
6. When my name was called, I was taken into the back to find my package. I identified it, and the guy proceeded to open my package and look inside it to check what was in it and determine the value. He taped it back up and told me to go back out and wait.
7. I went back out and waited again for my name to be called. It was, finally, and I was led to sit down at a desk where a woman showed me on a computer screen that I would need to pay $21.60 to claim my package. I guess anything over 4 kilos gets charged. That would have been good to know beforehand.
8. After she told me this, she gave me a piece of paper that I needed to take to the Bank counter and pay for. I did so, and got a receipt from the bank saying I paid.
9. I returned to the woman with the slip, but she was busy conversing with coworkers so I had to wait until she was ready to do her job. She finally turned to me, only to say that I needed to go make a copy of the receipt that I had just been given.
10. So I ran back across the street, made another copy, and ran back.
11. I gave her the copy and she slowly and in between conversation fixed the forms up and stapled them and such. She then gave them to me and told me to wait in another line.
12. I did. And after about 5 minutes, I handed over my paperwork, signed some stuff, was taken again back into the mailroom and was given my package.
Honestly, probably the most ridiculous experience I have had with the governmental system of Ecuador yet. It is shocking how bad their work ethic is, and the fact that I had to PAY to pick up MY package, and that they had the right to just look through it is RIDICULOUS. That's socialism for you. But I finally got my lovely package with all my things, so eventually everything was okay :)
So moving on to my next story... the other day I was sitting at my desk doing my homework when I heard a really loud crash outside my window. I looked out down at the street and I saw a car on its side rocking back and forth, people running to the scene from all directions, and the other car that hit it maneuvering its way around the accident and speeding away, past onlookers yelling at it to stop. People came out and tried to work together to flip the car over, but couldn't. Eventually it became apparent that everyone was all right and the ambulance came and everything, but it was just a freaky situation. It just really surprised me that the other car, after hitting this tiny car and flipping it on it's side, just sped off without checking to see if everyone was okay.
I've been having some pretty crazy experiences here...
