Carlos and his farm in the Cloud forest

View from the farm

Our guest house on the farm.

The next journey took an extra two or three hours from Junin. We had to take another bus then hike for an hour. It was worth it. At the farm, we were told about some of the struggles they went through with mining companies.  They tried to destroy the land for extremely small amounts of copper and other minerals.  One ton of the earth only yields thirteen pounds of copper.  As copper becomes rarer, it is profitable to mine in places like this.  The copper yield in Junin is less than a tenth of the copper yield in most mines, but it is still profitable to mine.  These forests are the lungs of the world, and we are choosing copper over fresh air.  It does not make any sense to me.  As they continue their struggle, they like to have visitors.  This is because they like to educate people about this problem, and they like to show them why these forests are worth saving. Carlos showed us their different techniques of farming, which made much more sense than the way we farm.  Instead of using a monoculture, he planted all different crops right beside each other.  Consequently, there is no need to rotate crops.  Not to mention, the coffee tastes better, because it is in the shade of other plants.  The coffee doesn’t need nearly as much attention either.  It makes perfect sense, it is more natural than 50 acres of corn that needs pesticides, fertilizers, and crop rotation.  There is a lot we can learn from Carlos, and I hope that his ideas catch on in other countries.

Cloud forest

Playing soccer with the children of Junin.

When we first set out on our journey to the cloud forest, I expected a remote area.  My perception of remote before this trip was an hour outside of the nearest city.  I was completely wrong!  We traveled deep into the forest along roads that hugged the mountain side. As we finally reached our destination, I had a real taste of remoteness.  It was intimidating being so far away from society, knowing that if something happened medical care was hours away.  Yet hours from anything, there was a village. They needed nothing to continue their way of life, and they were content.  We saw this same village on the documentary Under Rich Earth.  A copper mining company was trying to mine in the area, and this village was going to have be relocated. They wouldn’t be able to live there, because the destruction mining would cause to the environment.  They have a much more cooperative way of living with the earth than we do.  Instead of retaliating, they were calm and peaceful about the situation. They didn’t turn to violence, and it is the only reason that the mining company didn’t win.  They only want to continue their way of life, and the company was interfering with it.  It isn't only the copper companies, it is the people demanding the copper like you and me.  Copper for our cars and our electronics has to come from somewhere.  Since demand is high, the companies will go to extreme measures to profit from it. Does our desire for the newest electronics and cars come at a price? It does, the earth and villages like these pay.

lost in translation

Speaking a different language did not have any negative affects for my first week. We were always in a group of students that we knew, and our guide spoke English. In restaurants, we were given English menus, or we already had our meals already ordered for us.  Some of the advertisements I saw were in English. I turned on a TV in one of the hotels, and instead of hearing Spanish, it was an American movie with Spanish subtitles! I expected some American influence, but it was a surprising to see how much.  Ecuador is very accommodating to tourists, because speaking English helps them make more money from tourism.  However, English is not only in the tourism of Ecuador, it is in their entertainment. My first impression was that American companies were forcing the advertisements and products onto Ecuadorian people.  After I talked to my host brother about it, I think it is the opposite. They like American things because they are nice, not because they are American.  I do not think they are trying to be like us.  For example, Iphones and flat screen TVs are popular, not because they are American, but because they are nice.  Don’t you want the best phone? Where the phone is from is not important.  All of our cell phones come from China and Japan, but it doesn’t mean that we are trying to be like them.  It is a very similar situation when an Ecuadorian wants an American Eagle shirt. 

I’m not sure what the consequences of this are, because it will undoubtedly force them to lose some of their unique culture. These companies aren't forcing products onto people like some would like to say.  They are losing some culture from this, but there are American cultural things they have refused.  For example, having the wife stay at home, and the typical food here are unique to their culture. I don’t see them giving these things up very easily. The English language for Ecuador is a survival tactic.  Ecuador now has the second best economy in south America, and I know that a big part of their economy is American tourism.  They have embraced the language, and the country is thriving.

Center of the World

Originally thought to be the center of the world.

A little bit further down the road.  The actual center of the world.

It’s one of those places I dreamed of going to but never thought I would.  It finally hit me how far away from home I was as I stood at 0 degrees latitude, 0 degrees longitude.  As I stood at the center of the world, all of my family, all of my friends, and my girlfriend were thousands of miles away.  The next 65 days were not going to be easy for me.  Then my thoughts were interrupted, because the guide said that this monument wasn’t actually at the center of the world.  The monument was found to be inaccurate when satellite technology was used to make a more precise measurement.  Some people thought it was funny, but I thought it was amazing. Just think about it, a few hundred years ago people used surveying equipment on mountaintops near the monument to pin point a spot that was extremely close to the exact spot. What struck me as even more significant is that even though the technology had changed and proved the old way wrong, the government still used the monument to symbolize the center of the world.  It was known as the center of the world, and even though technology changed and proved it wrong, they were still reluctant to the change the spot. If this were in the United States, it probably wouldn’t be accepted.  We would demand that the true spot be found and the monument be moved, yet the Ecuadorians don’t seem to mind.  I think either it is because they have more important things to worry about like keeping a stable government and economy.  I’m not sure if this is a cultural difference or just a matter of priorities. This is just one of the small differences that I have began to notice.

Expectations

View of Quito

  

When I arrived, I had no idea what to expect, but I did have this idea of a small country with a lot of farmland and very spread out houses.  I couldn't have been more wrong. As you can see from this picture of Quito, the capital is probably as big as Washington D.C., if not bigger.  The houses are packed in as close as they can get.  Many of the residents actually live on top of stores or in buildings that are connected.  You might ask then, how do people get any privacy?  The privacy they do have is guarded very carefully. For example, if you have a small yard just big enough to fit a car into, you would build a stonewall around that area to protect it.  Not with barbed wire, but with shards of glass cemented on top of the wall. I believe this is to ensure that there is no question of who owns what.  I’m sure that being close to so many people creates problems at times.  At least it definitely would for Americans. Here in Ecuador, the government is not as stable as it is back at home. The walls could be for protection again riots. Also, it seemed as though they biggest houses have the most security. With a police force that not many people trust, they take things into their own hands to protect themselves. This is different from the united states, because we have a lot of trust in our police force.  I’m not sure if we are naive for this trust of if it is just a cultural difference.

Cars

When arriving at Quito late at night, I noticed many things that were different right away, but the one that stuck out the most was the types of cars that they were driving.  I am a car enthusiast, and I realized that the American car companies like Chevy and Ford are making cars that I have never seen before.  The cars they were driving were small, fuel-efficient hatchbacks.  All ones that I believe many Americans would drive, yet it raises a question. Why wouldn’t they make these cars for the U.S. also? American car companies have a stereotype of Americans only wanting gas guzzling, luxury cars.  We can afford larger cars and afford to pay for the gas for them, so they are the cars we think we desire.  This is becoming a problem.  For example, in the United States, we look at a euro van as an ugly van.  We would rather ride in the large, 15 passenger, Ford vans if we are in a large group leaving the airport.  However, the smaller euro vans are much more efficient and cheaper to own.  It is this American assumption that car companies use to decide that they will only release certain types of vehicles to the United States.  As a consumer though, we are never given that choice.  It was already decided for us that we would prefer the larger more luxurious cars instead of these more efficient, smaller ones. 

Problog like a prologue but for a blog

My name is Tyler and I am a  nineteen year old biology student at Baldwin-Wallace College.  I am studying abroad this semester in Ecuador with 15 other students and two professors from my school.  First, we spent 5 weeks on campus learning about Ecuador, globalization and tropical ecology.  Now, we are leaving the United States to spend the next ten weeks in Ecuador.  The first two weeks we will spend traveling.  The last eight weeks we will be living with host families in Cuenca as we learn Spanish. I'm not sure what lie ahead, but I am anxious to step out of my comfort zone and experience another culture first hand instead of reading about it.