Carnival!
Trip Start
Nov 02, 2005
1
53
78
Trip End
Apr 23, 2006
Ibarra, Ecuador
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
After viewing the church and surrounding theme park I caught a collectivo to the border, or at least within walking distance. Lucked out with immigration because I was one of the few people going across on foot so they literally just stamped my passport and let me go. No checks or anything.
Got a taxi to the next town and managed to catch a regular Bus there and we're off. Within 5 miles, the Bus is suddenly stopped at a Police roadblock and they come aboard to check everyones ID. They take one look at me (the only white guy) and decide that I'll have to bring my bags off the Bus for a search. And wow, did they search me. Thankfully I didn't have anything illegal on me or they would've found it or come close.
They missed some parts of my main backpack but literally looked at everything including brand names on medicine like aspirins and Gravol. I made gestures to explain each of the drugs I had in my medicine kit, which amused the other cops quite a bit. Aspirin for headaches, Gravol for throwing up, Imodium for... well.. you get the point. Finally they let me go after feeling my groin area in great detail.
Ibarra (the City) turned out to be very nice and I ended up staying for several days. Had kind of a rude welcome when some kid threw a water balloon at me but missed by a few feet. I learnt later that this is part of a custom here during Carnival. For 4 days everyone soaks each other with water or you get sprayed with foam or silly string. The kids love it, the adults get mad.
It took a full day before I got foamed. Minding my own business standing at a red light and some kids did a "drive-by" foaming of my face. Everything sort of went white and I'm surrounded by people laughing at me and I'm laughing back, so it wasn't so bad. I went out and bought a couple cans of the foam after that though.
Went to a nice restaurant across from the first hotel I stayed at because it was cheap and the food was good. I also have to admit there was a cute girl working there, who turned out to be single but has two kids and doesn't speak english. She also turns out to be a daughter-in-law of the owner; a Woman who was originally from Quito.
How do I know all of this? Because her daughter Ampi is here (at the restaurant) and speaks english, giving her the obligation to translate my english to spanish so I can order more beer and food. Ampi has been living in Virginia with her American husband for 4 years and is back home to visit her dying grandmother in Quito and also her mother here in Ibarra. We get along great and she gives me her e-mail and phone number so we can meet in Quito.
I ate most of my meals in that restaurant while in Ibarra now that I think about it and highly recommend it; the Restaurant El Chagra on Olmedo 7-48. And no, I never groped anyone but the cute girl was amused by my attack of the Spanish language.
It's cool to meet up with an english speaking local (of sorts) because you can ask about certain things, such as why they always give you a slice of bland white cheese with a cup of coffee. The reason... well because they always do that. Same thing with bringing you a cup of hot milk and instant coffee. That's what they call coffee with milk... even though it's all milk with just a little bit of coffee, it's still coffee "with milk".
I met another english speaker by accident while wandering through the market area. A man at a meat stand casually said "hello, how's it going?" and it caught my attention. The guy turned out to be the owner (with his wife) of the stall and we talked for quite a while. He'd traveled up to Mexico City once and also lived in the U.S. for a year, which is where he learnt english before being deported.
Plenty of beautiful Churches and Plazas to view and I really enjoyed walking around Ibarra taking in the sites and watching the people. Even had some Spanish tourists stop and ask me for directions, which I was able to give them since I had my Lonely Planet guide with me and could figure out they were going to the Futbal Stadium.
Met up with some kids who were throwing buckets of water at each other and stopped them for a moment by taking their photo. Then they asked if they could throw water on me and I said "po-kee-toe" (meaning small in spanish and not how it's really spelt). Then I made a run for it and they got almost my entire back with a squirt bottle. I was also attacked by other kids who had water balloons and stood on roofs or balconies. The trick here is to look for wet spots on the pavement or sidewalk as you walk along.
Something I've noticed while being in this City are the stares of interest because this isn't such a tourist town and some of the people (mainly kids) aren't used to seeing foreigners. Little kids stop in their tracks and say "where's he from?" to their parents. Then I say "North Americano" or "Canada" and they say "ahhhhh..." and continue on. Sorry to say this, but most people down here don't really know what or where Canada is expect that it's north and very cold.
