Quito, Ecuador April 3-4, 1979
Note: This post is partly rant – about the Latino macho ‘culture’ of women-baiting, and partly information – about a number of interesting issues here, shared with me by a British researcher. There are no accompanying photos.
This morning I got an early bus from Misahualli to Tena where I caught a direct bus to Quito. I was so tired from previous day’s hike that I slept through almost the entire ride, despite being sandwiched in the back row between two Indians. Back in Quito I decided to stay at the Hotel Colon instead of the Grand Gringo. Much better place, and even has hot showers! That’s such a rarity in the cheaper places I’m staying.
Today I met Dan, a young American guy – maybe 21 or 22 – just back from traveling in Peru. He doesn’t have a good word to say about South America, partly because he’s just had a bad experience: “a bunch of thieves broke into my room, stole my passport and $150.” Unfortunately, in all likelihood, the thieves were other travelers – certainly that’s what I’ve been hearing. Interestingly, most travelers are blaming the French, French Canadians and Italians for this behaviour. But of course, that’s hearsay... . Dan is also very down on women traveling alone in these countries: “I know you’re brave and all that, but it’s just not the same as it was. It’s not safe.”
Although there are very few gringo women traveling alone, of the 4 or 5 that I have met, all of them – all of them! – have been seriously molested or raped, some more than once. And then there’s the constant harassment by the Latino and mestizo men the ‘I’d rape you if I could’ looks, the ‘pssssts’ and clucks, and rude gestures, the snickers and sneers and revolting advances. I understand that the men here believe that any woman walking alone in the streets is by definition a whore. What is more upsetting is that it seems that many of the women here share that opinion. They tend to avoid us, or if they cannot avoid us, are often rude and dismissive.
Add to this the latent, and often open, hostility of the Indian and mestizo people to us gringos. “Gringo go home!” graffiti, jeers, gestures, constant rip-offs and attempted rip-offs, service with a sneer, or forced politeness. Today when I was walking through town, I was accosted by a well-dressed and respectable-looking young man yelling “Yankee go home! Yankee exploiter go home!” Like a fool I responded: “No soy Yankee.” To which he replied (in Spanish): “All ‘estranjeros’ (foreigners) go home! Get out of my country!”
Some of the harassment is clearly related to the widespread alcoholism here – locally brewed beers and ‘chicha’ are ubiquitous, and strong, and too many young men are unemployed. Unfortunately drunkenness can unleash violent behaviour, and because many of the men carry knives, machetes, or guns, people can get hurt.
The streets are not very safe places to be at night or on market days when groups of men gather, and drink, and drink... .
And then there are the local and national ‘police’ – too corrupt to be believed – all of whom are well armed. They frequently hassle gringos, accusing them of possessing drugs (which may be true), or planting drugs on them so that they can threaten them with arrest and then line their pockets with whatever cash the gringo has on hand. They definitely cannot be counted on to protect gringos, or come to our aid if we are threatened – they might do so, but they might not, or there might be a cost for the service. I’ve met a growing number of gringos who have been attacked – on streets, in hotel rooms – by strangers and by presumed ‘friends’ (including other gringos) – and robbed, sometimes at gun point, or been badly cut up by machetes, where the aim seemed more about violence than robbery. Some have gone to the police, who have just shrugged in a ‘what do you expect’ kind of way. Others haven’t bothered, having heard that this is the response they are likely to get.
And so, I am constantly on guard, looking over my shoulder, feeling vulnerable, like easy prey, almost, at times, hunted. Sometimes I catch a glimpse of myself in the plate glass window of a shop and am troubled and saddened by what I see – a woman closed in on herself, her shoulders hunched forward, her head and eyes cast down, trying to make herself small, to avoid the attention, the constant verbal assaults by the macho South American men and boys. I wonder what weeks and months of this physical response might do not just to my body, but more importantly to my psyche? I now find myself, instead of preferring to be alone, looking for company, preferably male, to go anywhere or do anything. This because even two women traveling together are not safe, and certainly no less harassed by the men here. I hope, as I get into more rural and remote areas, where there are fewer gringos, that some of what I have experienced will dissipate, and I will feel both safer and more welcome. That I’ll only have to look out for the more ‘typical’ traveling perils of food poisoning, bus, truck or car accidents, land and rock slides, poisonous plants or insect bites, aggressive dogs, or just getting lost in an unfamiliar landscape.
Colourful Ecuadorian aerogram
This evening I went to dinner with a couple of English women, one of whom is a specialist in Ecuadorian anthropology. She’s here doing research into infant mortality and the use of herbal remedies. She was knowledgeable about many other aspects of indigenous life here, and I took advantage by peppering her with questions about things I’d seen and wondered about.
Regarding the cultivation of corn on steep slopes, and whether soil erosion is a problem, she said it is quite possible that this is a relatively recent phenomenon – the result of population growth and development that has forced the Indians out of the lower and flatter lands into the mountains. And yes, there is a tremendous amount of soil erosion, due to heavy rainfall and steep slopes, so it is likely these fields will not last long. Apparently terracing was only practiced in Peru, Ecuador and Columbia, not in Central America. Also although the Indians have traditionally lived at high altitudes, it was common practice for a tribe to hold lands at some distance away (sometimes several days walk on foot) for the growing of low altitude crops like corn and beans. Around their high altitude homes they grew potatoes and raised llamas, which are not eaten, but used for wool.
Quechua and Quichua are the same language, now spoken by most Indians in Peru and Ecuador. Quechua was originally the language of a trading tribe that was conquered by the Incas. The Incas then spread the use of Quechua throughout their empire. When the Spanish conquered the Incas they encouraged the exclusive use of Quechua – for all communication, not just trade. Many indigenous peoples thus lost their original languages. A few more isolated groups, especially in the jungle or at very high altitudes, retained their languages.
The Incan worship of the sun was based on their agrarian culture and the need to know when to plant and harvest crops. The Incans imposed sun-moon-thunder worship upon conquered tribes, which generally kept worshipping their own deities as well. There is some evidence that sun worship was beginning to be replaced, at the time of the Spanish conquest, and among the Indian nobility, by the worship of a more Christian kind of god – an all-encompassing kind of being which, unlike the sun, does not have to rise and set every day. It was therefor somewhat easier for the Spanish to impose Catholic religious beliefs. As usual the existing religious beliefs, rituals and celebrations were ‘Catholicized’, making the religion even easier for the people to accept and adopt.
The use of coca – usually chewing the leaves as a stimulant and hunger suppressant – was extremely wide-spread. It may have begun in Ecuador and spread south. The main things found, in traditional offerings to the gods, are coca leaves, chichi (local beer made from corn) and maize. There is no evidence of magic mushrooms being used, though some hallucinogenic drugs were used (the juices of some plants and peyote). Sacrifices were performed at many sites, mostly of animals, but also of humans. The supreme sacrifice to the gods was a virgin girl, the next a white llama
Regarding the issue of infant mortality among indigenous peoples here, the rates are high. Furthermore almost 50% of children die before the age of 6, mostly of malnutrition, dehydration and related diseases. In terms of what appears to be the unusually high incidence of male births, and in particular the almost exclusive incidence of males as first-born children, this is undoubtedly a result of the continuing practice of infanticide. Female babies are left out in the open to die, or more actively killed by smothering or drowning.
The Colombina - a great Columbian chocolate bar, with peanuts!
Comments
Post a Comment