When the lights go out...

So it´s been a little over a week. I´ve been quite busy since I leave Quito for a month today (eek!) Here are a few things:



1. Quito´s electricity runs on hydroelectric power from a water reserve in the Oriente (Amazon). Unfortunately, since it hasn´t been raining there recently, there is a huge power shortage in Quito. What they do to solve this is turn different grids off in a rotating order - so there are parts of the city that don´t have power at all times. This includes things like streetlights, so traffic is totally crazy. It also includes internet cafes when people are trying to register for classes. Yesterday I was out running errands, sat down to register at 3pm my time, and at 2:56 the power for the whole grid goes out. I had to book it about a mile to find somewhere with power. Fortunately, abroaders register first, so it worked out just fine.



This example contributes to the idea that we in the developed world (problematic term, but you know what I mean) have become increasingly removed from our environment. We are only very affected by environmental events when they´re pretty huge - snowstorm, hurricane, drought. But when there´s a drought, either in our country or another, we still go on eating. One thing I really noticed on the coast is that they are completely interdependant on the land - if there isn´t fish, or if it stops raining like it did 10 years ago, people go hungry. People´s lives are threatened. Even Quito is affected by environmental changes - and Quito is certainly not the country. It´s a bustling city with a transportation system, malls, gay bars and KFCs. But it still stops when it doesn´t rain in the Oriente. We have become so good at trying to harness nature and bend it to our will, that we have lost a lot of interconnectedness with it.



2. Something pretty unfortunate happened this week. Last weekend was Día de los Difuntos, or Day of the Dead, which is a 4 day weekend in which all of Quito seems to go out of town and the city is totally dead. My friend Carl was coming home from being out of town on Sunday, right in the middle of the feriado (holiday), and got off the trolley at a bad stop. He got into a (registered - the ones they tell you to make sure you get into) cab, and the cabbie proceeded to pick up 2 other guys and the 3 tried to rob him. They put a gun to his head, threatened his life, demanded that he give them all of his money and valuables. However, Carl had already been robbed of his camera and sunglasses on the bus on Saturday, and had only $5 after the long weekend. Eventually, when they decided that he really didn´t have anything, they maced him, threw him out of the car and took his shoes.



Obviously, this really shook all of us - Carl wasn´t hurt, beyond the blinding pain of being maced, but it was a reminder that we really are living in a dangerous country. However, there are a couple of things he could´ve done better - he shouldn´t have been alone, in that part of town, with his backpack, on that holiday weekend. Anyway, I don´t say that to scare you guys, but it was a pretty big event of the week.



3. Another unfortunate thing of a different magnitude - all my mosquito bites from the coast are infected. Gross. I´m also probably going to get malaria because I keep forgetting to take my medicine.

4. I leave for my ISP (Independant Study Project) today! I really can´t believe it. I´m really excited - my plan (certain to change, like all plans in Ecuador) is to record the life histories of the refugees I meet there. However, I´m also super nervous - to be doing something totally on my own, with none of my buddies there, to be speaking Spanish all day, to be trying to do research to write a 30 page paper (in Spanish). I know I´m going to be totally fine and have a great experience, but I think I´ll also experience loneliness and difficulty. But anyway. Here we go!

Love,
Alice