The Mercado

For those with no Spanish at all, that means, "The Market". I don´t know how far it extends, as we never reached the far side, and we may well have not even been halfway in, which is, by definition, the point at which you start coming out again, but we started coming out by turning around and roughly retracing our steps. We did not buy nearly as much as people invited us to. Just slowing down to case out the inventory in a particular booth invited offers of great deals, most of which could be purchased for half or less of the initial offer if you really wanted to bargain.

On the other hand, our hands were full, and we really didn´t feel able to cope with anything more by the time we headed out. And yes, Susan felt up to leaving the room today, although she collapsed on the bed when we returned and just read for a couple of hours. However, she is feeling much better. I may make another run here shortly as they will be shutting down in an hour or two, and tend to become more willing to bargain rather than take their goods home again. (end note, just before finishing up - I don´t think so. It is raining again, fairly hard, at least for here, and I am tired.)

I won´t tell you what we bought, as we don´t want to influence expectations, but we are pleased with our purchases. Some things that we really liked we still didn´t get, simply because of size or weight considerations. There are pieces of carved rock that are beautiful, but the idea of having to lug them home dissuades me. Also, I am starting to worry that the extra suitcase we brought may be approaching capacity. I will have to pack it tomorrow afternoon in preparation for our return to Quito, and we do have a good place close to our hotel in Quito to fill in any cracks there before we board the plane on Tuesday.

One of the things that you need to watch in Ecuador is the money. They use the US Dollar as their currency, which means we don´t think about currency conversion, but because this is not the USA, there is more counterfeit currency in circulation. In the bus station in Ambato there was a warning that fake bills would be punched (as with a paper hole punch) before being returned to the person who offered them, and there was a $5 bill taped to the window to demonstrate. It had 6-8 holes in it. And when you offer people here a bill, even a one or a five, but even more with larger denominations, they will carefully look it over and feel of it before they accept it.

So last night I was in a cafe where they sell rotisserie chicken, whole or by the piece, and the guy in front of me, an apparent native, was trying to pay with a $50 bill. This is very rare here, mostly because most places will simply not accept such, but the proprietor asked if I had change. I looked in my wallet, and I did, just barely, but before I made the change I felt of his bill, and compared it to my two twenties and ten. The appearance visually was quite good, but the feel of the paper was considerably lighter and thinner, so I declined to make the change. The proprietor then spoke to one of her assistants, and said to her that I didn´t think it was good, to which I simply replied, "No sé," which means "I don´t know." I was certainly not prepared to say that it wasn´t good, but without being certain that it was good, I was not prepared to make change. The guy with the $50 and the proprietor were still discussing the issue when I got my chicken and left.

And that brings me to another point, one that I have probably mentioned before. My Spanish has improved a great deal over the last 2 1/2 weeks, although it still has a LONG way to go, but to come to Ecuador without speaking any Spanish would be foolish, unless you simply hire a guide and translator to go everywhere with you. Apparently, everyone studies English in school, but very few speak it, at least not more than a few words.

What I really need at this point is some formal study to help me tie some things together, along with continued immersion to force me to continue working and developing my skill. My knowledge of Italian really helps, but on the other hand, my Italian is being sacrificed to learn Spanish. I am sure that if I become competent or better in Spanish, that I could then go back to Italy and regain my Italian much faster than the first time, but keeping both Italian and Spanish conversant would require ongoing practice in both languages. That doesn´t look likely from here. I´m really not too worried about it at this point. I can do what I need to do.

Well, I´ll sign out for now. With tomorrow being Sunday, I´m not sure how many of these Internet cafes will be open, so I may not post again until Monday. It´ll sure be nice to get back to a hotel where my laptop can connect to the wireless Internet.