More Ecuadorian Oddities

Here are some things I'm learning about my new home country:

• That Ecuadorian men, especially taxi drivers, think of the streets as their private urinal and will stop wherever they need to take care of business.
• That Ecuadorian women are fully empowered to breast feed at their whim with no effort towards modesty. I have seen women openly breast feeding while walking down the street, in the grocery store, government offices etc.  Go ladies!  (Just seems odd in such a highly Catholic and conservative country)
• That taxi drivers, stores and vendors probably won't have change... even for your $5 bill!
• That mañana does NOT mean "tomorrow", it means "NOT today".
• That restaurant service here is NOT like in the US. They are not trying to turn over the tables and do not care if you are in a hurry. Also, they do not want to take any portion of your order until you're ready for everything (even drinks).  Plus once the food is served the waiters job is considered finished and will disappear for a long time. Eventually, LONG after you're finished they will reappear and you have to ask them for the check.
• That even though Ecuador is a coffee producing country, all that will be offered to you is NesCafe.  They're just not into good coffee here, hence, I've stopped drinking it regularly and I'm not complaining!
• That Ecuadorian government employees will give you the wrong information, then take no responsibility for it.
• That no matter if someone in the street has no clue where something is, they'll still point you in a random direction, again, and again, and again never admitting that they don't know something.
• That pedestrians NEVER have the right of way and will not slow down for you. In fact, there have been a number of times that we swear they have sped up when they see us crossing.

Despite of, and in some cases, because of these things, I'm loving our new culture!