“Are you going to a garage sale?” asked the teller at the local bank when I asked her to provide the money that I was withdrawing in ones, fives, and tens. “It looks like there are a whole lot of garage sales this week” she added.
“No, I want smaller bills because I am traveling” I replied. For some reason I didn’t want to volunteer any additional information on my plans.
But, the teller was curious, I guess. “Where you going?”
“To South America. To Ecuador.”
“Oh, in that case you want me to give you newer bills? Because in foreign countries they don’t like bills if there is any small tear, right?”
By now I decided that there was no point holding back with the young woman, who, for some reason, reminded me of my daughter, and was genuinely interested in the satisfaction of this customer. “No, that won’t be a problem at all. Ecuador uses American dollars. They don’t have their own currency.”
She got visibly excited with this piece of information that was entirely new to her. “Really?”
I thought about my student, "R," commenting that travel is easier when there is no need for funny money, and we can simply use the dollar bills instead.
“Yes, there are a couple of countries that operate this way. Which is why I want the smaller bills while down there, which I can then use for expenses like food and taxi.”
“Wow. Something new every day.”
Transaction ended and she wished me bon voyage. I had to check myself from automatically saying "you too."
The next day, I was off to Quito.
I didn’t have any plans on how I was going to spend the six days in Ecuador. Of late, this has become my approach to traveling. I did the homework though by reading the Lonely Planet guide and a bunch of websites, and had in the back of my mind the key things that I would watch out for once there. But, the plans will be worked out after landing in Ecuador.
All I had was a hotel reservation in Quito. Everything else was to be ad hoc.
I didn’t even have to worry about the transportation from the airport to the hotel—I had pre-arranged for a ride, through the hotel. The confirmation email from the hotel noted:
Our representative, Trans Rabbit, will meet you at the airport the day of your arrival, when flight of AMERICAN AIRLINES 967 reaches Mariscal Sucre airport at 22h00. It will be very easy to find him as he will hold a blue sign with your name (Mr. Khe) on it.
He held a black-and-white sign, not in blue.
It was past eleven in the night when I got into the room. A spacious room with an old model television set that distorted the colors at its edges, and with quite a large sized bathroom.
A little after 6:30 the following morning I stepped out of the hotel for a quick stroll before breakfast. I had barely walked a few steps when I realized how close the hotel was to one of the main plazas in the historic old town area—Plaza Santo Domingo. I knew this from the homework readings, but still was quite a revelation. A simple example of the textbook knowledge versus experiencing things firsthand.
My excitement levels quickly shot up when I turned the corner and caught a glimpse of the statue of the Virgin, up on a hill. I walked a few more blocks until I got a good view of the statue. I knew I was no longer in the good ol' US of A. “Maybe I made the right call, after all” I told myself.
It was not even seven in the morning, and there was not much of any activity. Furthermore, it was a Sunday morning, which was another reason for people not to hurry up.
After circling a few more blocks, I walked up to the top floor of the hotel for breakfast. I carefully separated out the ham from the scrambled eggs--I am yet to develop a taste for most animal products--and hoped that the refreshing guava juice would calm down my anxieties about visiting alone a new place with a foreign tongue as well.
And thus began my first day in Ecuador.
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