I think I am going to have to pass on a photo today- not particularly in the mood (but perhaps if I take a photo before the end of the day, I will make a photo post). But I will do a post about how going to the Banco de Guayaquil brings out the "Mr. Hyde" in me. It seems that almost every time I enter that place, I am suddenly transformed into an angry human being. Yesterday Adam and I waited patiently in the long line at the bank to figure out how to transfer money from our PC accounts to pay for part of our trip to the Galapagos (btw, did I mention that we are planning to go at the end of May with our friend Renee?!). Well, as it turns out, the teller lets us know that we have to come before 12noon in order to make a transfer.
Moving into today, Adam and I are at the bank at 11am (yes, we should have gone right away, but Adam had a meeting at the university and I had work in my office). The line is incredibly long- the bank recently implemented a number system which is awesome (before you would have people push you aside and cut in front of you in line- now you just have the person cutting in front of you at the number machine...in fact, an old man totally pushed Adam aside today when he was in the middle of swiping his card in the machine to get his number! Adam was like "Disculpe!" and the guy didn't even bat an eye). Anyway, we finally get to the front of the line and the teller (same guy as the day before) says, "Oh, you have to go to that big window over there. We can't do the transfers here." Yeah, thanks for telling us the day before. It turns out the big window had NO line whatsoever. By the time the lady at the bigger window attends to us, she tells us it is too close to 12noon so we will have to come back tomorrow. I was fuming because we wasted an hour and there is NO signage anywhere telling you where to go for XYZ business. And the lady just looks at us like morons- as if it should have been obvious to us not to stand in the long line.
It is exactly the same thing that happened to me last time when I got pickpocketed and had to get a new card. I stood in the line for 45 minutes and then was told that I needed to go upstairs. There is no reception or anyone to ask questions to, so you either have to ask the customers (who don't seem to know either), or wait in line and find out too late. It is not like in the U.S. where there are big signs (like New Accounts and Loans) and where there is usually someone free who can tell you where to go. Oh, and I saw a lot of people at the bank totally confused by the new number system since suddenly there were no lines and just a bunch of chairs.
I know that it is not their fault that I don't know where to go to get certain stuff done or at which unmarked window or floor to go to, but that is the one thing I absolutely HATE about Ecuador. For someone new in town, you would have no idea where/how/when to get things taken care of. It is like the bus system- you just know because you live here, but for the newbie, it will take a good while to figure out the system. Mostly through trial and error. I mean, how in the world would you know that the bus to Riobamba doesn't REALLy take you to the bus terminal- it drops you off on the side of the road a good 3 miles from the terminal. So if you are transferring elsewhere, you have to catch a taxi there. Or that there are two bus terminals in Quito (north and south) that will cost you an arm and a leg to get between (or a cheap 2 hour metro ride where you have a very good chance of getting pickpocketed). This country really is one of the planner's worst nightmares- and sadly, I am a planner. I like knowing where I am going, what I am doing, and having minimal surprises.
So, I was furious that I wasted an hour this morning and accomplished nothing. Adam and I decided to pay by credit card and not bother with the hassle of going back tomorrow and discovering some other step that we didn't know about. Rant over. =D
P.S. We had maggots in our kitchen today, crawling all over our floor. I think they were from our potluck we had this weekend- someone threw away chicken in our trash can below our kitchen sink (usually we throw meat products in the trash bin outside) and we took the trash out today and it was nasty. And then I ate rice at lunch and could only think about how they looked like little maggots. Seriously, today is just not our day!
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