Reconciliation with Quito

July 1, 2017

If you have been reading this blog all along, you may have noticed that I had a hard time in this city, especially at the beginning. There are many reasons why it was like that:
- the weather
- insufficient language skills (which still bothers me to this day)
- uncertainties regarding travel and public transportation
- poor sleep at the beginning (possibly because of the altitude?)
- the constant ups and downs in the city, 'breathing like an elephant on a mountain tour'
- the clear overestimation that I can handle everything easily
- the cold, especially at night, the unexpected climate
- the ailments (vertigo, stuffed nose, diarrhea, ...)
If someone from school had called me and said, 'hey Marcel, we could use your help here and would recognize the rearrangement of boxes, crates, old junk in the attic as educational leave.' - I would have driven to the airport on the same day and convinced myself that I had to participate in an urgent mission.
Of course, there were also things among all the enumerated negatives that showed me how privileged I am, how beautiful it is here, and above all, it was the people who were open and welcoming.

Today, when I look back, I have to say it was all 100% right! the plan, the implementation, the follow-through. Well, 99%! It was unnecessary to have my wallet stolen. How can someone be sooo stupid?
Anyway. In doing so, I realized that I can quickly move on from such things, which is not usually my strength.

I don't want to miss anything I have experienced. Nothing! Not the gloomy moments and certainly not the beautiful, funny, successful, shared, joyful, quiet, profound, educational moments. I have learned a lot. Even if my Spanish needs improvement, I have no fear of traveling to places where only Spanish is spoken. I'll manage. Latin America? gladly again. Ecuador? absolutely! I will see the Shuar from Tawasap again. That's a promise. Quito? - oh yes. I am slowly starting to like the city. The weather is much better now. On two consecutive days, I saw the three volcanoes Cayembe, Antisan, and Cotopaxi. It is still cold at night. Yes, of course, you idiot (I mean myself, who was not aware of this during the preparation), the city is located at 3000 meters above sea level. Hello! No wonder you can see your breath when you wake up.

And what I particularly like is that I move around the city like a local. On the bus, on the streets, through the crowds, in the stores. That makes me proud, always has. It was the same in Edinburgh. I knew my way around and moved through the streets like a city dweller.
Of course, I don't look like a mestizo or an indigenous or a mulatto. But like a quiteño who is simply of European origin.

It's the last week and I feel like I am making peace with the city, to one day return with this feeling. It's as if this city wanted to make it clear to me at the beginning that it is not so easy to conquer, that it first shows its thorns. It's not like 'aww, what a beautiful city. I could live here.'
Oh no, first showing the dark face with the purpose of making the gringo leave.
I held on and I am proud of it. And undoubtedly, it did me good.

Today I took the bus to the city, got off at Ejido, collected Pokémon, walked towards Plaza Foch, and on the way sat down at an Egyptian restaurant for lunch. After lunch, I had a delicious pink drink made from grapes, blackberries, and milk, and then had an Arabic coffee. The coffee wasn't that great either. While I was enjoying the drink, a shoe shiner approached, came straight to me and asked if he could have the drink. - No! (That guy annoyed me so much because even if you're poor, you don't do that, and especially because he had just drunk a water bottle first and then thrown it on the ground, not even twenty meters away from me. Anyway, rich or poor, he lost me there.) - Can I give you money for bread? - (Now I made the mistake and asked how much a bread costs) - 1 dollar - a bread definitely does not cost one dollar! - 50 cents - No! - why don't you give me anything? - you threw the bottle on the ground. You don't do that. And above all ... (now I was missing the word for shameless) - ...

He continued to babble. Fortunately, now the owner's son came out and told the guy to go away. He did the same thing further up with someone else. I told myself that the next unobtrusive beggar would get double the amount than what I would normally give.

Afterwards, I quickly went to the hairdresser over at Parque Carolina, of course, the Venezuelan on Avenida Portugal. Since the shop was full, I made a sign to him with my fingers 'quando?' - I meant minutes. He showed two - he meant people.
In the end, there were three in between, but it didn't matter, I had time and the hour could recharge my battery.
In any case, I have to look somewhat clean when I have to go through US immigration in a week. Just so that the facial recognition doesn't classify me as a potential Muslim.
To avoid any misunderstanding: I have nothing against Muslims. But Trump has a phobia against them.