Graffiti Lessons

How can you learn about what real people are thinking when you visit a city and get shuttled from fancy hotel to meetings to resorts? Well, one way might be to read the writing on the wall. In this case, graffiti in the streets of Quito, Ecuador. Here are a few samples of public opinion:


Bush, Urribe, Assasins, Terrorists
(Urribe is the Columbian president and widely viewed as an American ally/pawn- You may remember, there was a little border dispute between Columbia and Ecuador recently)


With oil and copper, a poorer Ecuador
(Better in Spanish because it rhymes: Con petro y cobre, un Ecuador mas pobre)


For Sale: A country with a view of the Ocean


Do you sense a theme? We haven't seen the same sentiments expressed in Iquitos (although I did see one denouncing APEC- the Asian Pacific Economic Council- which met here earlier this year) but things seem to be a little tamer in general here.

You can’t spell Iquitos without Quito …and Is (Andrew)

At the end of March we went to Quito, Ecuador for a week so that Jess could make a presentation about the current state of her Fulbright project. We were both ready for a change of scenery, and took the opportunity to visit her host family from a previous study abroad experiece, the Mirandas, and see some of the historic downtown area. Quito is a long city that runs down the middle of a valley 9,300 feet above sea level. It was cold, cloudy, and rainy all week and we quickly realized how acclimatized we had become to the lowland rainforest. There were some giant cathedrals (the immense gold plating and paintings of sinners that covered the insides were a bit disturbing) built by the Spanish in the 16th century, or, as our devil-impersonating tour guide described it, old enough that “our grandmother’s grandmother’s grandmother’s grandmothers” attended mass there. Many of the downtown street vendors have been moved to market areas and major renovations projects are going on to make most of the areas we were taken to very clean and safe-feeling (although a bit sterile). A fancy dinner on one of the hills above town let us look out across the city from the feet of the giant “Virgen de Quito” statue and see all the cathedrals lit up through the clouds.

In addition to many conversations with other Fulbrighters and learning lots about current events in the Andean region, I also had some more adventures with parasites (see article below) just to really make things interesting. That only slowed us down a little bit though. The commission took us to a resort in the rainforest, which was pleasant, (although nothing like the Muyuna ecotour), and we did play some miniature golf and went swimming in a river with actual rocks in it! (The rivers in our area don’t have rocks). However, the highlight of the week for me was a trip to the Tucanopy organic coffee farm. It was run by an inspiring group of Ecuadorian families, who grew most of their own food, worked to preserve not only their property but the whole region against extractive/destructive industries, and know how to make a mean pizza. After a short hike around part of the property we took a ride on their circuit of 6 zip lines. (See our youtube videos for an example) which was a fun way to see the forest, although I wished we could have spent more time there, on the air or the ground. Afterwards we headed back to Quito and then to Lima, arriving just in time to watch Carolina lose to Kansas. This week found us back in Iquitos working hard (and at times frantically) to keep the volunteer/social information gathering program running.

We might actually be living in Ecuador (a meandering historical tangent by Andrew)

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During the Fulbright presentation week, when we introduced ourselves as Peruvians, there were several pointed reminders that Ecuador and Peru were fighting each other not so long ago. Not knowing much about the conflict, I decided to do a little research and this is what I found out: The most recent conflict between the countries occurred in February 1995 and was known as the Cenepa War. The history of the conflict is long and complicated, but it’s a border dispute that goes back to the original Spanish empire, Jesuit missionaries from Quito and political alliances against Simon Bolivar. Ecuador has claimed as far south as the Marañon River (which would include Iquitos-see map) and until 1999, Ecuador's official motto was: “El Ecuador ha sido, es y será País Amazónico” (Ecuador has been, is, and will always be an Amazonian country). However, Peru’s military has been bigger and better organized in each conflict, and Ecuadorians are still a bit annoyed about it. As far as I can tell, the countries both have equally amazing human and natural resources. However, I’m not sure that Iquitos or the region of Loreto have much to do with either of them and if they had their own choice about it, would probably choose to be aligned with Brazil. Or independent….

There’s a Worm in My Nose!! (Andrew)

So for those of you reading the blog who don’t know, our adventures with parasites continued last week, but this time it was my turn! On Sunday when I woke up to catch our early flight to Lima and then Quito, I had so much swelling above my right eye that I could only open my eye halfway (Imagine Quasimodo). In Quito we met another Fulbright scholar, named Michael, who took me to his lab at the public medical university where they confirmed that I did not have Chagas disease (a strong possibility because of the places we work), for which I was very grateful. However, over the next few days, the swelling moved from place to place on my head, providing a combination of amusement and nervousness. We didn’t have time to get it looked at any further in Quito or Lima, but the consensus seems to be that it could be a parasite that results from water or eating badly cooked fish. This was almost enough to make me a vegetarian again, but there are some delicious dishes here and the non-meat options are severely limited. So for now, I’m just taking my anti-parasite drugs and avoiding ceviche, which shouldn’t be too hard.