Written May 27
The American flight to Miami this morning was cancelled (a common occurrence according to the hotel bell captain), so my final day in Guayaquil was spent in a Hilton Hotel bubble. According to Frommer’s, it’s the best in the city: shampoos, soaps, etc., pool and sauna, restaurants and a mall, and wifi. The room is a shock after my quarters this month: air-conditioning so ferocious that I open the windows to get some warm, steamy breezes, marble bathroom with about a dozen sample size soaps, shampoos, and creams, hair dryer and iron. Frank Sinatra and Johnny Mathis are playing in the restaurant. My first hot shower in Ecuador is a long one with the realization that if we only had cold showers, we’d save a lot of water. Ironically, the one thing I miss from Raquel’s house is a TV. The one here isn’t working, and I would have spent time with a movie in English. And more irony: when I go out this afternoon for food for the plane, there are no little markets along the side streets; instead, it’s a hike to the giant mall with a supermarket. But I confess that after many hot, busy days without a lot of comfort, the Hilton feels great for a day.

I leave Ecuador thinking I’ve done well for the Observatory, if only as their calling card to organizations that wouldn’t otherwise talk to them, and for myself, in seeing a way to learn and contribute. I’ll be working long distance with Raquel to finalize the project report and design a 3-year project for citizen monitoring groups, as well as looking for a way to advance my Spanish.

I also came to an important realization this month about the inexpensive bananas that I buy in the US, almost all of which come from Ecuador. The result of my buying them is more poisoning in the drinking water of 3 million Ecuadorans. Why? Because there are no controls on the pesticides and fertilizers used in the industrial plantations here, and plantations use lots of chemical, including ones no longer allowed in the US and Europe. Because the runoff goes directly into the rivers of the Guayas watershed, which is also the drinking water source for towns and cities in the lower Guayas region. Because cities and towns don’t have treatment systems to remove pesticides and other chemicals. Because I don’t want the bananas on my cereal to hurt the Rodriguez family with whom I stayed, and my other Ecuadoran friends and colleagues. Luckily there’s an alternative: organically grown.

Cheers,
Claire