Four points on Ecuadorian Culture

I thought I´d leave a short simple post, sans pictures, about a few funny things that I´ve noticed around here in case you don´t want to dig through a long post. However, if you haven´t done so, be sure to check the one post previous to this, and my buddy Bobby´s blog: http://bobbyinrwanda.blogspot.com/ he finally put some pictures up, and his work is in a lot of ways more interesting than mine.

1.) So the first time I saw this I couldn´t believe it, but now I have seen it several times. For those of you who aren´t aware, the light emited from an arc welding torch is one of the brightest sources of light that people come into contact on a daily basis. Ask my friend Micky Momen and he will tell you that just a few seconds of staring at one left him in tears for days, with possible permanant retinal damage. The only way to protect youself fully is to have a full helmet that not only proctect the eyes, but shields the skin from an almost garaunteed UV skin burn. What do they do here? They JUST CLOSE THEIR EYES! I have walked by at least three men with peeling faces and probably just the hint of a retina left as they have succumed to the UV burns induced through the eyelids.

2.) Do you ever ask yourself what happens the maniquins from the early 90´s with the bleach blond steller swept back haircuts? The kind with a permanent plastic coiffe that are deserving of a pair of cut off jeans, a kanarly neon wind breaker, and some really sweet Ray-bans? Well, I really didn´t until I got here and saw them in every store window, towering two or three feet above the average ecuadorian they are catering to... I guess they are cheaper?

3.) So Stewart and I are riding to school this morning in a packed trolly bus, and I look over at the bus next to me. There pressed up against the window of a commuter coach bus was a mom. The mom was supporting her 5 year old boy who was even more pressed against the window. The lower half of the window was open. The boy was slightly bent at the waist as a stream of urine came out from his nether regions, out of the bus, 10 feet of the ground, and onto the taxi waiting below. I´ll just say that no one watching this affair had any questions about whether he was circumcized... When you´ve got to go I guess you´ve got to go.

4.) For those of you somewhere more remote that Quito, Ecuador, I´m happy to let you know that yesterday was Halloween everywhere except Quito, Ecuador. Thats right, in the 12th hour the new president, Rafael Correa, embolded by recent sucesses in .... ? decided to make Halloween illegal. Annoucend in a national press conference yesterday by the man himself and his sidekick the chief of police, anyone caught wearing abnormal costumes of any sort would be arrested. Any bars displaying Halloween decoration (most of which were already displaying at the time of this announcement) would be shut down and the owner would be thrown in jail for seven days. Think about this the next time you think your freedom is speech is being trampeled!
Happy Halloween! This weekend Stewart and I are going to Mindo, Ecuador where Al Roaker (so?) will be broadcasting LIVE the Today show. They are do a special on the climate and have someone on the Equator, and at both poles. So look for us Monday Morning in this secluded cloud forest hiding between the trees with signs that say: HEY MOM IM ON TV!