Gringo al SUR – At the boundary between two worlds

In Ecuador, whoever has fair or fairer skin and does not look Chinese is called a “gringo”. Whether you are Swedish, Australian or even, how ironic, Russian, you are a gringo. At the beginning when I first arrived in this country in 2008, this was a little disturbing to me. I am European, from a tiny country  called Belgium and I feel in no way related to the real so-called “gringos” from North America.

My English is pretty good due to the fact I enjoyed 15 years of British style total immersion in New Zealand where I lived and worked as a software consultant. However my native tongue is French, not English.

I tried many times to explain to Ecuadorians that Belgium is only 1000 km from Spain, and I add, to make sure that they understand, that this would be roughly equivalent to the distance  between Loja and Lima in Peru, and that consequently, if I am a gringo, then the Spanish are also gringos. Logical right? I use to spend holidays in Spain with my parents. Everybody goes to Spain. For us it is next door after France. In addition, there are many Spaniards who are whiter than me, so it cannot just be the skin color. They can also have blue eyes. Even Ecuadorians can have blue eyes. To no avail. I am a gringo and there is nothing that I can do about it. Better get used to it and make the most of it.

One key advantage I have on most real gringos, e.g. North Americans, is that I speak almost perfect Spanish now. Many times, Ecuadorians ask me if I am from Spain. This ability to speak Spanish helped me develop a wide circle of contacts in Loja and gave me the possibility to participate in TV and radio programs. This is how…

El “Gringo al SUR” was born.

This was a Ecuadorian’s good friend of mine’s idea: Ramiro Jimenez. He is the creator of a TV show on Ecotel TV in Loja and had the idea to create this character: a gringo not like any other gringo. A gringo that would appeal to an Ecuadorian audience and have something to say to an Ecuadorian audience about their own country. His nickname would be “Gringo al SUR” or shortly GAS. I am flattered that I was deemed suitable and qualified for that role.

In a few words this is the GAS character’s profile:

Gringo al SUR is an expat who embarks on a discovery trip around the Loja province and it numerous “pueblos”.

He likes talking to the people. He is very curious by nature and wants to know everything.  He is not scared of asking silly questions and make people laugh.

His ambition is to help the people living here rediscover the beauty of their own country and province, to show them things from the perspective of an outsider..

In Spanish the slogan would be “Vuelve a descubrir tu pais”.

Indeed, it struck me that many Ecuadorians underestimate their country because they don’t really know it that well and don’t realize how beautiful it really is. There is this slogan written at the back of the buses in Loja that says “if you haven’t been to Loja, you don’t know my country”. This is absolutely true. Loja deserves to be better known.

However the opposite is also true. Loja is only one part of Ecuador and the rest is also worth seeing. I slightly changed the slogan in order to tell the people from Loja to open up not only to the rest of Ecuador but also to the rest of the world.

We produced 8 episodes of Gringo al SUR and they were aired on Ecotel in 2015. This was a unique opportunity to “go deep” and see remote places such as Chuquiribamba.

Many people in Loja still recognize me and ask about the show. Ecotel TV is no more and we wait for some new opportunity to resume our work.

Here is a video sample (in Spanish) of what happens to me all the time in the course of my normal activities in Loja.

You can watch all the episodes on line HERE

At the boundary between two worlds

What is explained above is only one side of the Gringo al SUR, the side that Ecuadorians can relate to. The other side is that I am still and will forever be, an expat. I have spent far more years of my life in the first world than I have spent in the so-called third one (I have always wondered where the second might be !). So I understand what the first world mentality is. When I feel a bit down, when the third world gets at me, when I want to scream at Ecuadorian people “get off Facebook” or when I am confronted with the bigger than life Ecuadorian bureaucracy, I try to not forget why I walked away from the first world.

It is certainly not because I was living in a bad place. Here is a photo of my hometown Nelson in New Zealand. Not exactly a bad place.

However something is broken inside me. Or maybe not. A better way to look at it might be that since I left the first world I have now become more myself, the person I have always been. Ecuador has shaken me so much. I certainly feel that I am a better person now. There is something that contributed a lot to make me fit into that GAS role and it is that

I live with a woman from Loja

and we have a young girl together (3 1/2 at the time of this writing) while she has two of her own (boys, 11 and 9). She does not speak English and neither does our daughter nor her two boys . I know that I should do something about it but I keep postponing. For a start, English is not even my own language so why should I teach it to them? Some days when I watch American politics I think that Russian or Mandarin might be a far better choice for the future. And why not French? In the mean time we speak Spanish.

She helped me like no-one to understand what Ecuador is really about. She made me realize that most expats live in a bubble and frankly have no clue about this country. This does not mean that they don’t love it. It means that what they see is only the outer layer of the onion. Going deeper requires time and effort and a good knowledge of Spanish is absolutely indispensable. I also helped her to understand her own country better. This is because I often question things that she never really thought about. Why are people acting this or that way? may I ask her. The fact is that often she does not really know either although she was born here. So we talk, exchange ideas and it is an enriching experience for both of us.

On the other hand I help her understand better how expats think. Thank to my near perfect Spanish I can converse with anybody about any topic. I realized that the gap between Ecuadorians and American expats is huge. There is NO WAY they will ever understand each other. This does not mean that things are bad. They will coexist peacefully just like tourists coexist peacefully with their hosts. Integration is another kettle of fish which is way out of reach for most.

In further write-ups, I will develop this important topic further and try to give concrete examples.

conclusion

Living at the boundary between two worlds is a very exciting and nurturing experience. I can liaise equally well with the expats in Vilcabamba and Loja, speak their language and share their values (to a degree), as I can liaise with Ecuadorians of all ages and social status, speak their language and share their values (to a degree). After all if one wants to be friend with his car mechanic, one has to be able to crack a good car mechanic joke in Spanish, as simple as that !

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Tags: Ecuador Loja Vilcabamba Culture Expat Gringo