Farewell to Ecuador

Yes, twelve weeks have already passed and we have successfully - well, at least more linguistically gifted than before - completed our time at the language school. Since only relaxations regarding the opening of shopping centers and similar are expected in the near future here, and Peru will maintain the lockdown at least until the end of June, we have decided at short notice to return to Germany and make use of our time there, because unlike in Germany, a lockdown here actually means that people are only allowed to go out at certain times (depending on the location), and traveling is unfortunately far away.

We noticed this fact a few minutes ago when we had a police officer bring us to the airport in a taxi before his shift today, because Otto-Normal is not allowed to drive by car in Quito on weekends. So it's no wonder that we found most of the passengers on our flight in the terminal already in somewhat uncomfortable sleeping positions early in the morning before 6 o'clock. For us, this is only confirmation that traveling - even within Ecuador itself - is a tremendous effort with only third-class options at the present time.

In Germany, we will try to find an apartment as soon as possible and set it up with a little more time and peace. Maybe we can also spend a few days on local vacations. And since we don't do things halfway, we will continue to learn Spanish via Skype ;-)

All in all, it is very sad how things turned out, but in the end, we can only remain hopeful that we will get another chance to complete our journey in the future.

Finally, we would like to make a comment on the current situation in social media: It deeply saddens us to see that some of our acquaintances believe in various conspiracy theories. There is no doubt that the situation demands something from all of us and is certainly unprecedented. Nevertheless, we are glad that this time, it was not primarily about the economy, but rather the health of the people was and is being considered first and then reacted to the best of our knowledge. The following remarks can be made about this:

- From our point of view, the measures in Germany have been very gentle compared to international standards. The rights of the people have been restricted in accordance with the situation, but care has always been taken to ensure that the restriction of rights is moderate and that the rights can still be exercised in some way, as can be seen with the right to demonstrate. Here, distance is of course required, but demonstrations are not prohibited. If some people misuse this (e.g. no distance --> dissolution & subsequent complaint), then that is simply sad.

 - We recommend that some of our acquaintances take a look abroad and not just in countries like Sweden. In general, the countries cannot be easily compared, but when it comes to alleged disregard for rights, look at other countries where a real curfew exists... It feels like the Germans are doing what they do best: complaining...

 - As a third point, we want to point out that the circulated logics - that on the one hand, the government wants to kill the elderly to protect the pension funds and, on the other hand, drive the economy into a wall to cover something up - are not particularly substantial, and it is always easy to spread rumors. We cannot go into this in more detail at this point, but those who spread these rumors should consider whether the crisis will not actually reduce the balance of the pension funds rather than increase it. Just one of many points, but maybe this impulse helps.

- Last but not least, something that is very important to us and should be taken to heart by each of us: Do not believe everything everyone says. Question claims and above all, question the author. Not every medical professional is an expert in virology just because they are writing about it. Experts on the subject have been studying it for years and have publications on it. A lung specialist is not an expert on the subject of coronaviruses. We should trust the expertise of specialists and not those who claim to be experts but are actually just medical professionals.

It is fascinating to see how many videos of demonstrations there are, in which some speakers are of the opinion that they know exactly how everything works and how it should run. With some, it is not certain whether they know what they are talking about when, for example, at the beginning of the speech, they compare the current situation to the 1930s and five minutes later demand direct democracy. We must be honest and say that we probably do not have the time and in some cases certainly not the expertise to confirm or not confirm laws. We would probably mostly look for information in summaries from the media, if at all. So who has the power then? The people? Or rather individual owners of large magazines or television stations? Remember not uncommon headlines of articles, which suggest a supposed misconduct with a question, but are refuted in the article. How often is only the headline read and then leaves a lasting impression? There are always other ways, but they are not necessarily better, even if they may be more convenient and tempting at first glance.

Well then. It's only 3 hours until the flight now, and we slowly make our way towards the queue. :)

We look forward to seeing you soon. Stay healthy!