WELCOME TO GUARANDA...

...a small yet bustling mountain town set in the middle of Ecuador. Nicknamed by locals ¨the Rome of the Andees,¨ it´s set in a valley, between rolling 7 hills that decorate the countryside like patchwork quilts in every direction. A river runs through it and a white-capped mountain—Mount Chimborazo, the closest point on earth to the sun—dazzles in the background. In many ways it maintains the quaint, traditional culture typical of the sierran region of Ecuador—without lacking the modern necessities that allow for comfortable living. Every morning the roosters crow at the crack of dawn to set in motion an orchestra of sound and life: traditional musica nacionale resonates between footsteps, honks, hammers, and greetings, along with moos, bahhhs, and oinks. Thousands of indigenous people pour onto the streets from surrounding communities, lugging barrels of fruit, flowers, bananas, and other harvested products to sell on the streets or at the local market. These women wear bright shawls, long skirts, woven sandals, and feathered hats, and use a boldly patterned belt to secure the heavy load they carry on their backs; their hair is braided carefully in back according to tribal customs. The men wear ponchos made with alpaca or sheep´s wool and elegant hats that represent mount Chimborazo looming in the distance.




On Guaranda´s busy sidewalks, these traditional mountain-dwellers walk side-by-side with the city´s mestizo population—an ethnic mix of indigenous tribes with Spanish conquistadors—which makes up Ecuador´s mainstream culture. They stroll down the street in jeans and brand-name sneakers (usually fake versions), the teenage boys catcalling and blasting music from their cell phones, representing a more modern lifestyle. These are the ones who teach me to live a la Ecuatoriana—to dance salsa, meringue, and other latin american rhythms—to arrive at least an hour late to every scheduled program—to eat mountains of rice and various forms of carbohydrates in every meal (and cheese in my hot chocolate for dessert)—to get around town hanging on to the back of a truck—to use any excuse available to stop work and participate in random street celebrations—and more wonderful quirks of Ecuadorian culture.




In the past 10 months, this has become my second home. I´ve learned to live a different lifestyle, speak a different language, dance to different beats, and eat things that I formerly thought of as either inedible, unhealthy, or household pets (that´s right—roasted guinea pig is a typical Ecuadorian dish). I try my best to smile at the constant inefficiencies of its institutions, and appreciate the slower pace of life that they bring… It´s a spirited culture full of unexpected eccentricities and juxtapositions, set in breathtaking natural beauty, and filled with warmhearted people. I hope that by reading some of my descriptions, you can get a taste of an experience I´ll never forget: one year spent here, just south of the equator, as one of the only gringas (north american girls) in Guaranda.

¡Bailemos! (Let´s Dance)

Dancing is a huge part of latin american culture. As soon as they start walking, they start dancing.


I realized this during my first house party I went to in Guaranda (which, like many get-togethers here, was a mostly-family ordeal). I thought I was in for a slightly boring, small-talk night with the 80 year-old great grandmother… until the music came on, and she stood up and started shaking it alongside her 2 year old great granddaughter. The 7 and 8 year old cousins were already rocking their latino hips with sensuality beyond their age.

Then recently, I went to my little host nephew and niece´s Christmas program, naively expecting to see a nativity pageant and listen to off-pitch Christmas carols as one would see at any U.S. elementary school. Even after 8 months of learning to expect the unexpected from Ecuadorian culture, I was a bit shocked when suggestive reaggaeton music started blasting from the speakers, and the second-grade class swung their hips down to the floor and back up again in unison. I was expecting baby Jesus, and I instead I got baby José and his sesame street possee breaking it down MTV style in front of their proud parents. That day, I learned that my 8-year old host niece Arianna and her classmates can swing their hips better than I could ever hope to in my life…



Which brings up the well-known fact that North Americans can´t dance—los gringos no pueden bailar—and after spending time in latin America, I understand why. We don´t really have the opportunity to dance until we´re in middle school—just the time when puberty is pulling our body in different awkward directions, and we´re too self-conscious to risk looking stupid in front of our braces-clad classmates. By then, it´s too late—we´ve already lost years of potential practice—years when we could have been shaking our hips carelessly, before we cared what people thought. Not only that, but when a guy can dance in the U.S., his friends promptly question his manhood… whereas in Latin America, the guys who CAN´T dance are the ones under ridicule.
Salsa class for our group of volunteers from the U.S.A.--
part of our cultural orientation in Quito, the capital city

Furthermore, the music we dance to in the United States (i.e. techno) makes us look like awkward robots anyways. On the other hand, Latin American music is dynamic and danceable—it has an energetic rhythm and melody that inspires hip-shaking—even in the dance-handicapped gringo. At the dance clubs here (¨discotecas¨) they play different genres of music—reaggaeton, salsa, meringue, cumbia, and musica nacional—in sets of about 5 songs each, so that you never get bored. Which is why dancing here is so much fun!

But it wasn´t easy to get to the point where I could enjoy a night out dancing with my Ecuadorian friends. I thought the biggest challenge of living in Latin America would be learning Spanish (hah! yet another demonstration of my northamerican naivete). Learning to follow the steps to all of the different dances while attempting to mimic the swift, suave hip movements that come so naturally to Ecuadorians has been no easy feat. But, after several host-family salsa lessons and Saturday nights at the discotecas, I think Blair and I are starting to catch an eensy weensy bit of Latino rhythm. On new years eve, for example, a guy friend congratulated me on no longer dancing like an awkward gringa—a big confidence boost to start off the new year! And earlier that night, when I was at our family´s new years fiesta and I started dancing with my host dad, the Venezuelan in-laws were shocked:¨Look, a gringa who knows how to dance! Where´s the camera, we´ve got to film this!¨--as if I were a rare specimen at the zoo. After months of trying to shake off my ingrained awkwardness, I took this as a huge compliment.



So, learning to dance has proven a big part of my rite-of-passage as an assimilated gringita in Ecuador. I doubt I´ll ever measure up to Arianna´s elementary school music video moves, but at least I can defend myself on a dance floor. Step by step, I have overcome my cultural handicap. Perhaps the most important part of this is embracing the true spirit of dancing: shake it like you mean it without caring who´s watching. I only hope that when I´m 80 years old, I´ll still be twisting my replaced hips alongside the youngins… (with a little awkward twitch, just to stay true to my gringa roots ;)
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