MY TRANSPORT (MIS) ADVENTURES PART II

ECOVIA

In my last post, I went through transport issues at my first house, and my first cycle of teaching.  In December I moved to a new house, where my hosts were a married couple Byron and Elsa.  I love Byron and Elsa and we spent many dinners sitting around the table and laughing and laughing. This in spite of  language gaps.  One of the frequent sources for our laughter were my transport stories.

The commute from my new house to work was quite easy and safe.  I was able to take EcoVia both ways.  My house was on top of a very high hill, about a mile from the EcoVia stop.  On the way to work, it was downhill all the way and with breathtaking views of Quito and the Andes.  Coming home at night it was a mile up a Quito hill (a Quito hill is much steeper than a San Francisco hill).  However, the neigborhood ran a small bus service where for 25 cents you could take a bus up the hill.

Ecovia is one of the public transport buses in Quito.  I have a real love/hate relationship with Ecovia - but the love exceeds the hate.  On the LOVE side- Your body is safe on Ecovia (your possessions not so much) , and it runs all the time.  There is never a mysterious no show bus. (The one exception was when VP Pence came to Quito and streets were closed.)  Also, once you get on Ecovia - it is FAST! It is just a bus, but it has it's own lanes so no traffic delays. On the HATE side - Ecovia is one great heyday for thieves.  It is just a common thing to have things stolen. It is of the pickpocket nature - you don't know when it is happening - you just arrive home without your phone, wallet, etc. I had my phone and a key card stolen.  The other hard thing about Ecovia is that it is often very CROWDED.  It is hard to describe how crowded it is.    Below are two pictures which somewhat show the situation.

The Ecovia stretch

When you are on Ecovia you are just smushed in and it is necessary to hold on to the rings/bars overhead. The buses are old and the streets are old and it is often difficult to maintain balance so it really is necessary to hold on. With your arms up, all pockets are exposed and easy pickins.  People with backpacks wear them in front. 

The other main problem is getting on and getting off.  Getting on is fairly straightforward - either you can get on the bus or not.  It is not unusual to wait for four or five buses before you can step onto the bus. But for me the more serious problem was getting off. Think Ecovia=clown car. Sometimes it is a physical battle to get to the door at your stop. In my situation, this was as much a source of humor as much as anything else as the worse case scenario was I missed my stop and had to walk a couple of extra blocks in a safe neighborhood.  There was an element of fun in the whole things too - as anything goes in the fight to get on or off Ecovia. It was a lot like being in NYC - you can just act any ole way and no one notices.   Two different times I was fighting my way to the door and was just about there when a blind beggar -singing along with a very large boom box -came between me and the door as the bus stopped. One one other occasion two very tall and large men were really pushing me to get out the door and at first I was trying to stand my ground as this was one situation I wasn't sure I could get off.  But then I realized was that my best chance of getting off was to step aside and walk in their wake. So I stepped aside, jumped right behind them - and they cleared the path for me.

This issue is more serious when children are involved.  It is difficult to fight your way off Ecovia while keeping a hand on a kid.  Byron has a 9 year old son -Nico- and he told me about how hard Ecovia is with Nico has he feels like he can't ever let go of Nico so he has to manuever both of them with only one hand.

  On one of the last Fridays there, I caught a bad cold and had my phone stolen on Ecovia. My cold was really bad, but just a cold so I never missed work, but my 8:00 at night I was really tired and so I took taxis home instead of  Ecovia.  After the cold was over I only had a few more nights and I just kept taking taxis home out of pure laziness. And these taxi rides home at night were a trip. 

I had three choices of ride services; Uber, Cabify (I think only in Latin America but the same principle as Uber) and EasyTaxi where you use an app for real taxis.  Uber and Cabify are illegal in Ecuador. This doesn't seem to have any impact on their availability - it just means that with Uber and Cabify they ask you to sit in the front seat so it doesn't look like they are a car for hire.  One of my drivers was half German - and looked more European than Latin.  He told me this was a great asset for an Uber driver dealing with the police.

Riding in taxis in Quito is a wonderful excercise in letting go.  As best as I can tell, there are no traffic rules, only guidelines.  I have learned that it is really not necessary to stop at red lights, turn signals are optional,  specific lanes are really not necessary as one can turn left from any lane and live to tell the tale. Because of my natural paranoia, in my first months with taxis unusual behavior was a sign I was going to be murdered ( so far that hasn't happened. )  . So the first time  a taxi moved to the far right lane as we were  approaching a left turn on a three lane extrememtly busy street was a source of fear for me.  But after it happened over and over - I don't worry.   While they do happen, I have never seen a bus or car accident.  So there does seem to be a system to the driving- I just haven't been able to discern it.

EasyTaxi provides real taxi drivers, who know the city and never speak English.  Uber is pretty good, but I do tend to avoid Uber.  Cabify has really nice drivers, they offer you a bottle of water, their cars are very nice, and frequently, they have no idea where they are or how to get anywhere.   They often get lost on the way and never actually arrive.  With all three services, the thing that truly strikes fear in my heart, is when they call me - and they often call me.  They call me out of curtesy, to be sure they know where to pick me up, etc.  But this puts me in the situation of having to speak Spanish on the phone.

My first notable taxi ride was with a driver named Angel.  He called me to confirm location-though I really wasn't able to help.  When he picked me up  he quickly asked if I was married.  I said no - which made him very happy and he then asked me to marry him.  He was about my age, and as he explained very lonely.  He thought we would really get along as he knew English and could help my Spanish.  He felt we would have great times traveling together, and thought we should go to Banos the next weekend.   When he dropped me off, he reminded me that I had his number since he had called me, and I could call him about Banos on Friday.    I really liked Angel...but did not call.

Soon thereafter, I took a cabify ride with a driver who had no idea how to get anywhere in Quito.  My neighborhood was well known and on the Ecovia line - and by this time generally I could communicate the way home This driver had very little English and my Spanish is not much but I did my best to  tell him how to get to my house .  He said.. OH.. Guayasamin? and I said Si, as the Guayasamin Museum was part of my address.

You may be thinking - why doesn't she just give him her address and he use GPS.  And the answer  is that Ecuador does not use what I would call a "real" address in the sense that each building has a number.(another thing I don't fully grasp)   My address at Byron's and Elsa's was;
                                         Feliza Pasmino y Lorenzo Chavez
                                         Conjunto Balcones de Bellavista
                                         Diagonal a la Capilla de Hombre Guaysamin

This means, I am near the intersection of Lorenzo Chavez and Feliza Pasmino ( sadly Feliza Pasmino is not on google maps) and I am among the apartments Balconies de Belliavist which is a block form the Capilla de Hombre by Guyasamin.  A lot of words but no specific point.  So when my driver said Guayasamin I was emphatic with my yes as I lived a block from the Guayasamin museum which is one of the major tourist spots in Quito.  Sadly, I did not know there is a town Guaysamin, right outside of Quito.  And to this town we headed.   Two blocks from the turn up the hill to my house, the driver turned on a major highway which takes you to the Quito airport.   I knew this street, knew it was wrong, and knew that turning around was almost impossible for miles.  There were few common words between me and the driver - but I was able to communicate that this was really really wrong.  He pulled over to the side of the road ,and I tried to explain to turn around.  He insisted that  this was the way and showed me various maps on his phone.  Somehow we continued down this street the wrong way.  Finally I convinced him he was wrong and that he had to turn around.  He believed me, but there is no turning around,  It is a two lane highway with fast bumper to bumper traffic.  (To add to this experience this driver was one of the worse drivers I have ever seen.  Even though I was well into my "letting go" stage at this point - I actually let out an involuntary scream as he continually swerved into the other lane).   The driver was a very nice guy - and as he realized our situation he kept saying ,,, LADY, SORRY........ LADY, SO SORRY. 

In Quito, no matter how busy a highway, there are people walking between lanes selling various items; water, candy, dolls, Qtips, fruit, etc.  My driver paid one of these vendors a dollar to go into the other lane and stop traffic so we could turn around.  The  vendor was successful, we turned around, none of the drivers swerves led to a collision, the driver believed I knew the way home.. so home we went!    Byron and Elsa laughed and laughed at my story, but they laughed till they cried when they found out the driver was from Riobamba.  I have no idea why that was funny. What I always will remember is the sound of LADY, SORRY  LADY SORRY.

My second notable Cabify ride was with a woman who did not know how to get to me, how to get to my neighborhood, how to use the GPS provided by Cabify, how she was supposed to get paid.  ( She really didn't know how to drive)She did the trick I've become familiar with - call your friend who speaks English and hand the phone to me. Then I am to explain these things in English to the friend, who in turn will explain to the driver in Spanish. However, in all cases that this has happened the friend really does not know English. The chance that she will understand complex English and translate it correctly is slim too none. After a looong time I convinced her to turn on her phone and use the Cabify GPS.. but this only lasted a minute or so.  Slowly, I made it home.

In April I left Byron's and Elsa's - I really loved it there but they were expecting their first baby May 1 and I had an opportunity to move into the apartment of an Ecuadorian teacher and gain some independence - so I moved. Most nights, I have a ride home with my house mate.  So everything is easy, but there are no stories.