Embracing the Weirdness…Ecuador’s Surprises! -DEC 12th, 2013

Embracing the Weirdness…Ecuador’s Surprises!

Posted by Donald Murray 

· Thursday, December 12th, 2013 

· No Comments

 Our first exposure to the weirdness occurred the day after we landed in Ecuador as we began the long drive from Quito to the coast. We encountered a variety of biological and mechanized conveyances sharing the roadways with each other. Yep! Things with hooves share the same streets and roads with things with wheels. You can round the bend on a mountain road and encounter a herd of cattle blocking both lanes requiring quick, evasive action.

  It’s not uncommon to see a man riding a donkey alongside a motorcycle carrying 4 passengers. Drivers passing slow moving traffic on blind curves is the norm as are the too-often, horrific collisions! I cannot explain this. It is if some of these drivers just don’t understand or believe there could be opposing traffic. Driving a vehicle in this country will expose you to weirdness and moments of terror that you cannot see or fully experience riding as a passenger...read more: http://donaldmurrayecuador.com/embracing-the-weirdnessecuadors-surprises

Learn Spanish Before Living in Ecuador Part 3

Learn Spanish Before Living in Ecuador Part 3

Learn Spanish before living in Ecuador

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that one of my goals is to learn Spanish before living in Ecuador.  But what does it mean to learn Spanish?  It might be better to say “become familiar with the Spanish language”.
After studying on and off for six months I am convinced that formal Spanish lessons will eventually be needed. Immersion in a Spanish speaking culture will also be a huge help. But for now, these little windows on the language will have to do… I’ll try to make it as un-boring as possible.

Are you a puzzle person? Learning something completely new like a language is a lot like putting a puzzle together.
What do you do first? I go for the easy pieces.
Outside pieces first, then I look for objects, faces, and similar colors.

An American Military Veteran in Ecuador: Expat to Illegal Alien

An American Military Veteran in Ecuador: Expat to Illegal Alien: As you may have surmised from the title, we went from Expats legally residing in Ecuador, to Illegal Aliens living in Ecuador. How? We went ...

Are You - possibly considering relocation to Ecuador or other parts of S.A....?

1942 - "Der Führer's Face" This song is a Walt Disney Production and was used in America as propaganda during WWII-

~~Is this Nutsy land so good, Would you leave it if you could,
Ja this Nutsy land is good, We would leave it if we could,
We bring the world to order, Heil Hitler's world to order,
Everyone of foreign race, Will love der fuehrer's face,
When we bring to the world dis order~~ 

Chorus
When der fuehrer says we is de master race
We heil heil right in der fueher's face
Not to love der fuehrer is a great disgrace
So we heil heil right in der fuehrer's face

When Herr Goebbels says we own the world and space
We heil heil right in Herr Goebbels' face
When Herr Goring says they'll never bomb dis place
We heil heil right in Herr Goring's face
Are we not he supermen Aryan pure supermen
Ja we are the supermen (super duper supermen)
Is this Nutsy land so good
Would you leave it if you could
Ja this Nutsy land is good
We would leave it if we could
We bring the world to order
Heil Hitler's world to order
Everyone of foreign race
Will love der fuehrer's face
When we bring to the world dis order,

Comments by Jour-Ja: not really about Ecuador, but you may be able to draw some parallels for wanting to look outside of  N.A. and possibly considering relocation to Ecuador or other parts of S.A....? Good ole Walt Disney - what a guy!

Ecuador Blogs….Which Ones Should You Read?

Ecuador Blogs….Which Ones Should You Read?


Lets try and guess how many Ecuador blogs and forums there are…
Go ahead and pick a number….
Lots and lots of them, that is for sure. A good guess might be somewhere between 300 and 500.  Some of these are more active than others.
So which ones do you take the time to read? How do you find them?
Maybe you just Google “Ecuador Blogs” and look for the most popular. Those usually will show up on page one and two.
Maybe you join an Ecuador Facebook Forum and then get referrals from the membership…

World

Hungry Planet: What The World Eats

What's on family dinner tables around the globe? Photographs by Peter Menzel from the book "Hungry Planet"

Sept. 20, 2013128 Comments

Peter Menzel, from the book, "Hungry Planet: What the World Eats."

Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo. Food expenditure for one week: $31.55. Family recipe: Potato soup with cabbage. (The family in the picture lives in Tingo, a small town just outside of Quito, ECUADOR)

Read more: Hungry Planet: What The World Eats | TIME.com http://world.time.com/2013/09/20/hungry-planet-what-the-world-eats/#ixzz2lhNaOlbM

Comment by Jour-Ja: Thanks to my few followers, I will try to do more original & better content next year! But I just had to share the above photo right here at Thanksgiving Time! What a Beautiful Ecuadorian Family in their humble abode w/ and abundance of Food! Let's not forget those less fortunate than we at all times as well as this time of year, be sure to reach out to your fellow man & woman, give them a hug & encouragement, not everyone lives on the Equator w/ a year round growing Season.

 ...you talk about Thankful~ and happy to have an abundance of fresh food:-) The family in the picture lives in Tingo, a small town just outside of Quito, ECUADOR -

The picture was taken by Peter Menzel, for a book he did with his wife, Faith D'Aluisio, called "Hungry Planet: What the World Eats."

Do note in photo over the Father's head is an "Angel's Trumpet Plant - Brugmansia / Floripondio (can be made into Scopolamine) used by EC Indigenous to help the young children & babies to sleep well and have sweet dreams,

..but is also commonly found in Boliva / Peru / COL ( and other SA countries) and is also used by other aspects of SA society in the Scopolamine form for nefarious reasons, it puts you sort of under a spell / trance like state for- date rape - take me to your ATM etc etc crimes., so be on your toes and alert at this time of year: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopolamine

Video Camera surveilance will double in 2014

 22 NOV 2013- www.hoy.com.ec

  Someone is probably watching you. Video surveillance in Ecuador has increased five-fold in two years. There are now 2,000 surveillance cameras in the country. And that number is expected to double in 2014. These surveillance systems are located on streets and bridges, at harbors, parks, airports, beaches, borders and soon within fútbol stadiums. 

 

  Critics call it an invasion of privacy. But authorities believe the cameras help in the fight against crime. ECU-911 said every day it receives hundreds of requests from people who want the cameras put in their neighborhoods. By year's end, all taxis and public buses will also be equipped with surveillance cameras.

 

La videovigilancia se duplicará en 2014

Publicado el 22/Noviembre/2013 | 00:52

El número de cámaras se quintuplicó en dos años.

Sonría, aquí también hay cámaras: la polémica videovigilancia llegó hasta los taxis y buses en Ecuador, y su expansión parece irrefrenable ante el éxito que le atribuyen las autoridades en la lucha contra la delincuencia.

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=es&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hoy.com.ec%2Fnoticias-ecuador%2Fla-videovigilancia-se-duplicara-en-2014-595537.html&act=url

 

Via - David Sasaki,