Going To Ecuadorland: Snippets from a Trip

I went to Ecuador not for pleasure but for a client. Gosh that sounds romantic. CMI has a client in Ecuador; sweet. Finally I had outgrown the constraints of North America. Traveling there was like going to a new world. The transition, twelve hours of travel and the hour standing in line to get out of Ecuadorian Customs, solidified that I was no longer in Kansas. Not to mention, everyone spoke Spanish.

Was that really a bullet proof vest on that security guard who took my suitcase out of the car? He also wore a pistol. What was that about? I assumed that the pistol was for protecting me in my hotel room. Oh dear; what had I gotten myself into? 

Dinner was served in a small dining room perched overlooking mountains. As I enjoyed the freshest shrimp ceviche ever and the most exquisite wine, I knew I was in a new world. 

In the morning I took a quiet walk around the hotel. There were a few people on the street. I did see two dogs. Walking around at 10,000 feet elevation is what I imagine walking around the sea bottom in a full-blown diving suit is like. It feels like you have fifty pounds attached to your legs and you cannot move. If you do move, you turn into Mr. Huffy Puffy. I could not catch my breath. 

In Ecuador I instantly related to everyone. Everyone looks you in the eye. It does not matter who they are, Waiter, campesino, the wealthy, everyone has a presence. Everyone is sincerely courteous, in a way that I do not experience here in Illinois.

I instantly related to my clients. We did not have time for pleasantries. There was work to be done. Three years of planning to be accomplished in three days. We worked in the CEO’s apartment overlooking hills covered with farms and trees. Yet we were located in the middle of Quito with a population of two million and really horrible traffic. How did all that manage to co-exist? 

The visiting cook and her company made a catered lunch right there in the owner’s apartment. She prepared empanadas, a staple of Ecuadorian cuisine. Empanadas come in various shapes, sizes and flavors as do the avocados. Ecuadorians can talk about the distinctions and differences of their avocados and empanadas with the same rigor that the Argentinians talk about beef and red wine. Who knew?

I spent Saturday with my new Ecuadorian family. Not my clients, but a different family who adopted me. I got new aunts, uncles, cousins and even parents. I was instant family. Familia is all important in Ecuador. The love of family is palatable. The high point of the evening was eating cuy, Ecuadorian guinea pig, a delicacy which a number of us had never partaken in. It’s delicious. I highly recommend it. It tastes like pork; who knew?

Sunday was corporate team building with 38 Ecuadorian participants. A German woman in her twenties that I just met assisted me. The participants had never played stoopid games before. They loved it and threw themselves into it with a passion. That engagement and enthusiasm was present in the meeting where the participants played full out. We laughed a lot together and I loved that. My Spanish was not perfect or entirely adequate, but the participants made it work. Nothing got in the way of this company laying new tracks; impressive.

The evening before my midnight departure we went to artesian market in Colonial Quito. They call it old town. The shopkeepers tested my Mexican bargaining skills and I walked out with some really great stuff for family, friends and colleagues. Am I full service or what?

The transition out of Ecuador also included waiting in a line. I was in first class and waited an hour. I love how no one is discriminated against standing in line in Ecuador. Long lines include everyone. At midnight I walked back on to the plane. The stewardess recognized me from my previous flight to Ecuador. At that point I knew I was coming back to Kansas.