Empiezo a Conocer Este Lugar

After walking to and from the bus four times a day for over a month, I´m beginning to ¨get to know¨ my neighbors. In a manner of speaking.

It´s something like this:

When I walk out front, if it´s morning, there is a boy, about 12-13 years old, sitting on the pavement directly across from our gate, holding a bottle of coke and a stopwatch, staring at me.

This used to make me nervous, but then I saw my next door neighbor, a boy a couple years older, running every day with his dalmation. My guess is that they´re brothers, and older brother gives younger brother sugary goodness to sit on the pavement and time his runs.


In the morning there are also a couple of ladies who are out jogging together. It´s a scene that helps me understand why Guayaquil is called ¨Guayami.¨ The ladies have matching jogging outfits, ipods, perfectly done hair, and are laughing together as they run along a sidewalk shaded by palm trees. Someone should really get a picture for some ad brochures.


This same stretch in the evening is occupied by a different crowd.

There´s an old man who stands in front of his house, in the dark, for his 7:30 smoke every night, like clockwork.

There´s also a house under contruction. During the day the men play loud reggaeton on their radios, and in the evening a television can be heard from inside the half-finished concrete walls, blasting telenovelas.


After that it´s just me and my nose for a few blocks. I hold my breath while I cross the street that inexplicably reeks of sulfur, until I reach the Catholic school that has the giant jasmine bush growing along the fence, and I can breathe again.



And finally, the guardias. I live in a gated community, and there are 2 or 3 guards at each enterance, as well as a few patrolling on bicycles. I count them among my amigos here. They´re always incredibly polite and cheerful with me, which is nice.

It´s nice to reach a point of at least partial familiarity. It feels almost like a movie set, with all the stereotypical background characters in place. And now I´m one more extra, the gringa with the green eyes and the purple shoes, walking to the bus stop, same as usual.