Quito Viejo

Blog 12. Quito, Ecuador.

The Panecillo overlooking all of Quito.

A super touristy day. I got the chance to go to Old Town Quito, the original parts of Quito that has been preserved by the city, which is full of beautiful architecture. I took the trolley to Old Town by myself, carrying lots of cash and my credit cards (which you should NEVER do, if you can help it, but I had no choice today) and was paranoid the whole day about getting robbed, but I didn’t, bless the Lord (He definitely was watching out for me today, considering all the churches there were in walking distance). I thought I would have a problem because I was traveling by myself, a 5 foot 3, slight-looking Asian-American female, wearing a backpack on her front, dressed in all dark clothes. Usually the crew I travel with contains at least 1 six-foot tall white American male, which makes all of us girls feel better, for whatever reason (you can blame the brainwashing patriarchy if you’re looking for someone to blame, or it might just be common sense). We usually get heckled a lot while traveling by people trying to sell us touristy things, but usually a “no, gracias” is enough to placate the venders.

But today, I didn’t even have to say, “No, gracias.” EVERYONE IGNORED ME. Expect for the random awkward eye contact with men on the train (which is bound to happen on a train that is always 120% filled to above capacity, which is partly my fault, because my eyes do tend to wander in a new city), nobody tried to sell me anything! And the people of Quito, unlike a lot of the people of Chone, were totally unimpressed that I spoke Spanish — they actually talked quite rapidly whenever I asked for directions or had questions, and acted as if I understood everything, and were very kind in pointing me to the right direction (although Ecuatorians seem to be very kind in general). I was so thankful that I didn’t get robbed that I didn’t realize how strange everything had gone until I was explaining my solo adventures in Old Town Quito to the rest of our group during lunch. I hadn’t been treated like a tourist today. Was I imaging it?

I explained my experience to Marco, another one of our Spanish teachers. “It was strange,” I said, half-joking. “I didn’t get heckled by any venders today.”

“You didn’t stand out, right?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said, flummoxed, “that’s what it felt like. Why?”

His answer astonished me. “Because,” he said, “of your stature. You are darker skinned and dark-haired, and your features are familiar enough here. There are a lot of Asian establishments here - restaurants and stores. There are a lot of people from China living in Ecuador. But people like Justin,” he pointed to said friend, who is a six foot tall white American male, “really stand out because they’re so light and very tall.” True — I appear to be the average height of Ecuador — “And they look more like tourists than you do.”

WOW. I understand the effects of stereotyping based on looks, but this is a rather strange case where my looks mean safety rather than isolation. I’ve also heard that male tourists tend to have a worse time with robberies and violence in Ecuador; women seem to be generally fine walking around by themselves or in groups here. Perhaps that’s due to the machismo culture; either way, I think it’s a very interesting look at how culture really changes the lens of stereotyping — which I’ve always thought of as leading to a universally horrible consequence — and its effects. Don’t get me wrong, Ecuadorians are just as obsessed with light skin and blond hair and blue eyes as the rest of the world seems to be (the lighter-skinned people in our group tend to attract the most attention and compliments from the locals; my white American friend, who is blonde and blue-eyed, has been told very many times that he should find an Ecuadorian girlfriend so that he can stay here forever), but it’s also true that they stand out in all crowds, especially the wrong ones.

Of course, I’m sure the balance of power isn’t that easily cut and dry, but for now, I’m super thankful to have come home safe without having anything stolen. Or maybe it’s because I’m religiously following all the safety rules the other students have taught me when in Ecuador (which I promise to write on later!).

Then again, in the parks of Quito, people have erected signs that say “No Mas” referring to no more femicide in the country, which has just been recognized in March by the government as a federal crime. So maybe all this safety stuff is just an illusion.

Here are the touristy pictures from my day: