Narrations of thoughts from Ecuadorians.

From time to time, I cross paths with Ecuadorians who notice me. I´d say 100%. Sometimes, they look angry, confused, interested, humbled (joke). Sometimes, it´s only clear that they feel something. Instead of trying to be a personal advocate, and wish everyone would look at me like the complete person I think I am, I´ve decided over the month I´ve been here to narrate the words of some of the folks with whom I encounter. The following is a sample thereof. See if you can guess which one was my favorite.

“Whoa, what the fuck is that?”

“Get outta my country, Nazi.”

“Whaa, it’s a white guy. Seriously, he’s right there. Walking like the rest of us, with a bag of vegetables. But, he´s a white guy doing all those things we do!”

“He probably voted for Bush. Whatever that means.”

“That’s so totally weird!” “What, the beard?” “No, not really.” “The hair?” “No, that’s not it.” “Maybe the white skin?” “No, I’ve seen plenty of that.” “Glasses?” “No, I wear similar specs.” “Ah, it’s the clothes, isn’t it?” “No, he dresses like my dad, actually.” “I got it, the sandals…they’re really…white. Is that it?” “Well, no. I guess not. It’s just fucking weird, okay! Let’s stare the shit out of him.” “Yeah, why not?”

“Ha ha ha ha ha ha…I love it. An Ecuador jersey, on a white guy, on game day. And just when you think you´ve seen absolutely everything.”

“There’s a person. He smiled and said, ‘Buenas tardes.’ That was nice of him. I’ll smile back and say, ‘¿Cómo estás?’ It felt nice to be polite, even to someone who is really different than me.”

“Man, I’d like to kick that guy’s ass, but he’s way larger than me, so I’ll just glare.”

“Mommy, will I ever have a big red beard like that guy, cause I don´t wanna?”

“Whooooooooa! Strange!"

"There´s...uh...it looks like...but...I...do you..."

Thank you, thank you.