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Ecuador -Part 9

Posted on Feb 15 2004 under Diary of the ONE | Tags: , , , , ,

I felt it necessary to stop smoking the herb while in South America, the last time I had been there 3 years before I had been eager to try the local weed, mainly fresh Columbian. On one of the first nights I had gone out with one of Cecelia’s friend to score, returned half an hour later with a ¼ which had cost a mere $5 ($60 in England). After 4 days of smoking I felt my control or awareness of situations slipping away.
I stopped smoking completely, wanted to stop smoking! This was most unlike me.

In England I smoke herb regularly (most days) I work as a freelance sound engineer, many earlier years were spent working within the music business, touring & gigging around Europe. An excuse is not needed but I deal with loads of stressed out people, most of which think they are more special or important than us lowly technical crew. My way of dealing with them & my job is to stay un-stressed by smoking, if I were not stoned I would find it near to impossible to hold my tongue & would end up telling people exactly what I thought which usually is hard and direct to the point.

I smoke; I stay employed, simple as that.

This time in Ecuador I went with the intention of not smoking the weed, giving myself a break, clearing my mind & keeping control of my situation, or possibly that Cece had insisted? Anyway, I find myself much more forceful & direct, switched on & alert; oh yes angry, frustrated & short tempered too.

When your surroundings & the language are familiar you can afford to relax, you have a good idea what going on around you, nothing really tests you, you are in your element; in reverse situations the opposite is true, you aren’t safe & secure in your understanding of the situation, you are more like a duck out of water.
I suppose I should briefly explain the obvious; there are some well important guidelines you should follow if you want to stay well when travelling abroad. They can be applied to any country your not familiar with.

a. Don’t drink the tap water or water in restaurants unless you have make sure it’s fresh from a bottle, even then I would still not trust what I haven’t seen, money is in short supply, a bottle can easily be filled from the tap if the unsuspecting is not watching. Ice is also usually frozen tap water, and fruit juice mixed with the same. Ask for your juice pure, learn the word in their language it’s important. Even brush your teeth with bottled water. Around South America you find many people selling from the street or rushing onto the buses as it stops to collect people, you unfortunately should give these a miss; the locals have been eating local food forever & have built up natural defences against the bugs. Our bodies defence systems are far too sterile with too few good bugs to protect us, the bad bubs love us.

b. Food needs your special attention too. Check out the preparation if you can, dose the food look fresh is the kitchen clean? This is common sense, you would be well surprised at how many think “one wont hurt, it looks ok” It dose hurt, I had bad fish once in Atacames, Ecuador I was in bed for a week it was nasty. You have to be very careful in S.America with the fruit & veg; they have a parasite that lives on the outside surface area. You must peel the fruit or soak the veg in an anti-parasite solution or get ill. Once again if you’re not sure don’t go there, that banana cake on the bus might look and taste great it’s not till later you journey becomes the bus ride to hell.

c. Wash your hands, there are far more germs about because there are far less chemicals, detergents & bleaches we in the west have hygiene regulations & sanitised conditions.

d. Street sense, being streetwise. If you live within a big city you are probably aware of the darker side to life; drugs, violence, robbery almost commonplace nowadays. There are those not from the cities & live a life not often exposed to the city ways usually a more trusting more gullible person. Be alert at all times, watch the amount you drink or smoke, because guaranteed there is someone watching you waiting till you get too drunk or too stoned. (An easy target) When you do catch a cab, if alone keep aware of where you’re going, many are not registered & can’t be traced giving them tempting opportunity. Don’t walk on the pavement close to the buildings, like our Welsh friend. It’s too easy for someone to jump out of a doorway or alley. As your walking around notice who is around you let anyone watching know you know, after a while they will back off once they realise your not worth the risk, too alert for them. During the day be aware of anyone overfriendly, pushing to be your friend, they might just be after a couple of beers but situations can change very quickly when your not in control. There was a story of an American who was walking along the beach; a local started waving then approached offering his hand, looking genuinely friendly. He had a shirt over his shoulder as they shock hands the local pulled him close, the American said he felt something light brush against him but dismissed it as the shirt. As he walked away he reached into his jeans pocket, the $3 he had was no longer. It’s very easy to be fooled! Keep a little cash in your front pocket say $10, hide the rest & don’t carry a wallet. If anybody does get close enough to rob your give them the $10, play it up a little & act scared they will usually take it and run off, you got to remember to them $10 is still serious money, it would feed the family for a week. Don’t wear your watch or your good jewellery this will just fuel any situation & you will end up loosing more. Always keep your camera in a cheap bag & never leave it. I had a small expensive Sony dvcam. I knew the risk I was taking but had thought it through & was very aware of where I was using it. I brought a small pepper spray that was always in my back pocket ($8) I never used it but it was in my hand ready on many occasions over 4 months of travelling. If someone had pulled a gun on me wanting the camera I would have just given it to them, you don’t want to die remember. It’s always best to pre-empt the situation and get outta there.

For all the warnings the food especially the fruit is absolutely fantastic in Ecuador. A far different experience than eating food in Britain, everything is fresh, fruit straight from the tree, Veg fresh from the ground, animals & poultry direct. Nothing has been genetically altered, overdosed on chemicals or grown under lights.
I admit being on the equator the climate is perfect for farming, they have a head start.

The difference is so noticeable; first the look, fruits & veg are not all similar to each other, different shapes, sizes. The taste is so good, so rich & full compared to fruits purchased from our supermarkets. The eating sensation comes to life with taste and variety.
The fruit is fantastic, out of this world, all shaped, sizes, colours & tastes. Most of the different varieties, and there are loads, grow all around you, from trees like the mango, oak like in size with hundreds of mango hanging delicately from 90% of its branches, it really is some sight & oh how sweet the mango. Maracuya is one of my favourites, a smallish yellowish fruit similar in size to a lemon. You open it up to find something looking similar to off colour frog spawn, it tastes quite sour like grapefruit you can either suck it straight out the shell or liquidise it to make the most amazing juice. There are so many others, coconut, pineapple, guava, papaya, melons, oranges, grapes, sapote, chirimolla, grenadia, obo, tomate de arvol, watermelon, cirquela, chira, mamei, avocado, guyaba, banana, plantin & grosella to name but a few.

Whether you’re on the coast or in the cities you will find a massive range of fruit juice cocktails available, a must for breakfast, everyone seems to have a juicer, morning, noon & night you drink pure fruit juice with your meal rather than coke or pop, tis so good for the children far more healthy.

You can eat well & cheaply all across South America, at lunch you can get the “El morso” dish of the day, usually soup followed by rice with fish or meat. The soups are great usually made from the leftovers of the day; it’s highly likely for you to find a chickens head or foot or fish head or bull ball’s (good for potency) hiding at the bottom of your soup.

I watched Cecilia devour a chicken’s foot a couple of days ago, like stripped it cleans to the bone and then she sucked the bones dry. Tis a sight you have to appreciate if you don’t want to be seen as the fool. Make the most of you food while you have it, very little goes to waste the full goodness being extracted.




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