Friendship

The Ecuadorian is an enormously friendly person. There are many rumors that it is impossible to get close to an Ecuadorian if you are a gringo. We have not found this to be the case and thankfully have made a number of close friends with the locals. There is a much stronger cast system here than we have ever seen before, a real division between the have and have-nots, the educated and the working class, or those with Spanish heredity and the indigenous Indian population. We shocked our Ecuadorian friends when we greeted our Indian maid with the ubiquitous Ecuadorian greeting hug. Speaking of hugs, it is very common when you first meet someone to give them a hug and a bus on the cheek. Friends, male and female, almost always greet each other this way. When you thank someone for something with ”Gracias,’ the common reply is “De nada,” or literally “It is nothing.” When you ask directions to a store or a street you are unfamiliar with, the person you have asked will always tell you something whether they know the answer or not. It is embarrassing to them to not be able to give you the answer to your question. It would make them feel foolish, so they tell you something, anything to seem knowledgeable. However in contrast, downtown, if you stop in a store and ask where something is, more often than not if it is close by, the clerk or proprietor will walk you there to show you. Such gracious and unsolicited friendliness is the rule not the exception.