And it came to pass in those days....

Last Friday night I went to a Vietnamese Restaurant called Uncle Ho´s to watch the US Presidential debate. Word got around among the American Expats in Quito that it´d be on a big screen TV. I arrived a little late and the place was packed. Wall to wall people, even folks sitting on the floor. (For the Portlander´s this place is about the size of the inside of the Tin Shed... oh man would I really love a blue cheese burger from the Tin Shed right now...) The TV ended up being about 28 inches, but it was bigger than the one that appeared to normally reside there. The debate was interesting and I have to admit I´m glad that´s about all of this race that I´ll witness.

Honestly, I find Ecuadorian politics more interesting these days. They voted on the new constitution last Sunday. Because voting is mandatory, they stop selling alcohol three days before and election in hopes of ensuring that no one votes drunk. With the vote on a Sunday, it made for a slow weekend. I caught a 7am bus to Otavalo on Saturday to spend a weekend with a college friend who lives there (that story in another installment). ¨Catching a bus¨ is a lot more interestingthan it sounds. First of all, you can get on or off a bus anywhere, there aren´t exactly ¨Bus Stops¨as we know them, except for at bus terminals going to far off locations, but those are really bus starts and even these buses stop if someone along the route wants on. Well they don´t stop exactly, more like slow way down, so the expression of catching a bus is literal.

Because the main bus terminal is in the south of the city, I live in the middle, and I was heading north my host mother suggested that I take a cab to the street where the bus would pass by. No problem I though, except this street turned out to be their equivalent to a highway. Awesome. When the bus listing my specific destination came tearing around the corner it wasn´t even in the slow lane so I figured he didn´t see my international "I want to get on the bus" (similar to the international "I want to get a taxi") signal. But he did and right in front of my eyes the driver muscled through two lanes of traffic to the far lane where I had to run to catch up with him (on
the side of a highway) and jump on. Phew.

Something you should know, everyone had to return to the city they were from (or the place of their last known address) in order to vote. This reminds me of the Christmas Story in Luke chapter two where a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; because he was of the house and lineage of David...can you tell that I had to memorize that at one time? Any way, needless to say the bus was crowded. I got one of thelast two seats on the bus and as we proceeded along we picked up people regardless if there were seats. Now these aren´t city buses with bars to hold on to. These are old tour buses, in fact this is probably where tour buses go to die. They have great big tall seats, curtains (often with additional valences and pom-pom fringe added) and NOTHING in the isle for the people to hold on to. I had an eye contact only conversation with a traditionally dress woman bracing herself against my seat and the one in front of me. She´d roll her eyes after she got clobbered by peoples bags getting on and off the bus, make faces when we´d hit a large bump or fly around a corner. It was one of the funnest conversations I¨ve had in a long time, probably because I understood every word.

The new constitution passed, by the way, by a vote of about 70%.

I´m now off to watch the vice presidential debates with a bunch of gringos at a place called Finn McCool's. I expect it will be entertaining.

Love and Hugs,

Dayna