Parque El Eljido

July 11, 2002 Bienvenido a Ecuador     Four countries in one day- U.S., Mexico, Panama and Ecuador- wasn't bad considering the level of airport security they put the passengers through nowadays.  But once I stepped foot onto Copa flight 271 in Panama City, a preview of Third World travel greeted me.  The flavor of foreign soil began to show.  Inside the plane fuselage, cold steam streamed down from the edges of the overhead bin, coupled with the dim fluorescent lighting giving the setting a very cryptic mood.     A blond who settled in the row before me dodged the dripping water on her head.  The nuisance tiny balls of moisture forced her out of her seat as she slipped into the next row.  At which time, a young man of about 16 barked English at one of the flight attendant as he entered the aisle.  He wanted some AA batteries for his Walkman.  The flight attendant tried his best to ignore him and succeed afterward.  The young man kept on grumbling about the ill services.     Fortunately, the fly was short.  From Panama City to Quito only takes over one hour and it felt like a flash.  The flight started at 7:00pm when the sun has already sunk and by the time we arrived, the Quito airport was virtually shut down.  As everyone began to file off the plane, the same young man who raised a ruckus earlier, struck a conversation with a college type kid who wore a University of Miami baseball cap.  He warned the other guy to stay off El Eljido park at night.  He recalled a story which involved him and a friend walking through the park one late afternoon.  They encountered a group of black kids.  A sense of danger arose.  Fortunately, he said his friend has brought a joint with him.  They invited the gang of black kids to sit down and smoked the doobie.  He iterated that the joint saved him and his buddy. Without it, “we would have been butt raped and tied to a tree,” he claimed loudly.    The luggage claim area was dark and empty except for the passengers from our plane.  There were the “migracion” officials but the custom check was almost non existence as we exited straight out the door.  I grabbed a Taxi and headed over to Hotel Jardin Del Sol.  I gave the Taxi driver $20 for a $5 fare and he couldn't get change.  The hotel manager fronted me the money for the cab fare.  Change is a rare commodity in Ecuador.  If being handed bills larger than $10, the local often groaned and baffled.  Many times they have to run off and get change elsewhere.  Once you get the one dollar bills back they were so dirty George Washington looked black.