Great Expectations

Lots of small little details occasionally surprise me about Ecuador, but they're not usually big things (unlike police uprisings against a democratically elected president, recently commemorated during the one year anniversary with a police apology). Usually they're little cultural differences that I think, huh- that's weird- and then move on with my day. So it's hard to pin point some differences. But I've been trying to keep track of a few, and here are two major ones that I can think of (plus a minor one).

Exact Change
Ecuador uses the dollar, so you'd think that coming to visit as a tourist would be pretty easy in terms of currency.  Mostly, it is.  You don't have to be converting pesos to dollars, remembering fluctuating exchange rates, etc. to decide whether your ceviche de chochos purchased on a street corner is a good deal. You can just think, "yes-  $1.50 for a birthday mojito is a good deal!" or, "65 cents for a bagel in Quito is a steal! A baguette in the Supermaxi costs $3 and is a total ripoff!" (all true statements.) 

So, you've decided to buy the Madonna CD and Smurfs puppet from the vendor on the street. An excellent decision. It costs $4 total (something tells you that this is not an original Madonna CD...), so you hand the vendor a $20, or even a $10, sometimes even a $5!  The vendor informs you that he doesn't have change.  What?! All I need is a dollar! I just handed you a $5! This guys has supposedly been selling pirated CDs and stolen puppets all day! How is it possible that he doesn't have a dollar, even if it's in change?! These are legitimate questions, ones that I ask myself all the time.

It doesn't matter.

Sometimes the vendor is being truthful, and he really doesn't have the change. The lady selling newspapers down the road needed change for the stupid gringa who was buying a newspaper from a taxi without exact change earlier, so he loaned her his dollar. Sometimes, he has $75 all in quarters and Sacagawea dollar coins (another true fact- dollar coins are much more common here than actual bills) but he's hoping that you'll just give up and let him keep your bill without a hassle. Although some vendors and taxi drivers have been known to take your too large bill and run off, most will "kindly" offer you the opportunity to get change.  I know, this is ridiculous- you just want to buy a stupid puppet! But your pride gets the best of you, so you head over to the local printing shop/liquor store/mini-market and buy a single piece of gum or something else that's cheap and ask the shopkeeper to give you change. Sometimes even s/he won't have change! But eventually either you give up on your Smurf dreams or you end up paying way more than anticipated. 

The final lesson: You're pretty much expected to have small change on hand.  Except for banks and supermarkets, most people won't accept any bill that's more than $2 more than your purchase, so you'll want to have nice, small change on hand.

Share!
It's probably become pretty clear by now that there are small, mom-and-pop style stores pretty much everywhere here, it also makes sense that people buy lots of small sized snacks from these stores. Some people like to buy little cakes, but my favorite snacks are usually the nuts. Candied peanuts, salted almonds, oregano peanuts, little soy nuts, spicy peanuts (OK, so I really love the peanuts)- they're all my favorites.  Other people buy candies, bags of artisan chips, or fried thinly sliced banana bits.  Whatever your snack vice of choice, it's important to remember that you should ALWAYS share with other people around you!  You might have bought a 10 cent bag with only like 20 tiny peanuts in it anyway, but you should share with the 18 friends hanging out with you during the break.  Sometimes I would forget about this unspoken, mandatory sharing rule, and I would be reminded when people would be like, "may I?" and then just reach into my bag for whatever delicious treat I had.

You're not just expected to share with the kid sitting next to you in class when you get back either, but rather with every single person within bag-passing reach.  They, in turn, should not feel shy about continuing to offer your snack with everyone within their reach.

I know I'm starting to sound bitter about this sharing rule, but really I'm not. It's kind of weird when everyone else eats all of your snacks and you hardly get any, but I've certainly enjoyed other people's snack foods and it's a nice way to not be in such a bubble.

Finally, the minor difference here is that people think of Halls (as in, the cough drops for when you're sick!) as candy!  I realized this when my seatmate was offering (see, more sharing!) Halls with everyone and when she offered to me I said, No thanks, I'm not sick.  And she was like, what? That's fine, I don't really care if you're sick, do you want a candy? And I realized that they're consumed like candy here!  Any sort of mentholated candy is popular here, especially when included with your bill.  Definitely weird for me.