So I've been here a month and things continue to be well. I'm finally feeling really comfortable with speaking Spanish, which is a relief because for a while I was having to think REALLY hard in order to talk and my brain would get tired really fast. Luckily most of the young people I hang out with speak English, some of them really well, so if I ever don't understand or don't get a joke they translate for me. They're all really nice and they call me ¨gringita¨which means little white girl, but apparently it's an affectionate term, so I'll roll with it :)
Everyday I encounter something new and interesting. Like the other day when I was with my host brother and our friend Lorena and we went to go look at cell phones. Ok, so they tell me we're going to a store to look at phones, cool. So we go and he goes into the store talks with the guys and then comes back and tells us to wait. About two minutes later a guy gets in the car with a few Blackberrys and we start driving somewhere to meet someone with more phones. Ok... it was kinda weird that instead of going to see the phones the phones come to you, but whatever. We drive to the next neighborhood and park on the street, a couple guys get in, we talk, we drive to an apartment building, we park, and they run up to get something. They come back with two briefcase type bags full of Blackberrys and computers and they each have at least two Blackberrys in their pockets. They unload all of it and there we are 5 people parked on the street in a car full of potentially stolen electronics. I thought it was weird. Something about it seemed a little fishy and slightly illegal. Especially seeing as some of the phones had people's personal pictures in them. No big deal, they told me later, it doesn't really matter where they came from. Ok, sure, I guess. That's just the way you buy a new phone here. It's informal commerce that I understand, it serves the vendors well. That it potentially involves a touch of illegality is probably not very cool, but that's just my American point of view I suppose.
In case you we're wondering both my friends bought new phones and they work just great. They just had to get them unblocked from security codes. But it's totally fine, they know guys who know how to do that too.
It's interesting here also that they sell lots of American clothes in little shops on the street. There's all kinds of American brands in little shops run by whoever, at to me it's really weird because they are selling stuff that in the States you can only buy at the particular store. For example in the mall and on the street they have stores that sell American Eagle, Gap and Hollister clothes. At first I really didn't get it because you have to go to that brand store to buy their stuff in the States. On top of that how could they possibly be certified vendors of these brands, and if they were why didn't the company just open a store here instead of giving the merchandise to individual vendors. Well, turns out there is no certifying of vendors or anything of that nature. Instead people go to the US with empty suitcases, buy clothes or whatever else and bring it back here and sell it. To us it's odd and I had a hard time understanding why it worked this way, but then they told me about the taxes on imports.
In Ecuador the tax on any import is 20%. So everything that I'm familiar with, food brands, car brands, home goods, cost 20% more. A Ford Explorer in the States might retail for $24,000 and here it's almost $30,000 with about $5,000 just going to taxes. 20% sounds outragous to me and here the people think so too, especially when it's not entirely clear where that fifth of the price is going once it makes it to goverment hands. Has the economy, infasturcture, education system or poverty level improved since the tax was put in place? From what I've heard, no, not much. Although in the government's defense the highways have been steadily and drastically improving.
The other thing about imports being so expensive is that what is produced here is really cheap, at least to me. So in general people don't buy imported goods that much unless they are rich, or so I thought. The reality is, though, that the people go to the US and privately bring items back to sell in informal commerce. There are also lots of people who have container businesses and they bring in cars, furniture, all kinds of stuff and somehow skirt taxes. That's how the clothes work, and the phones and the BMWs.
If you really think about it, its a really good business for those who "import" outside of the goverment. If the people are used to paying 20% more than the market price and they only have to pay 10 they think it's a bargain and the seller gains 10% on the investment. Legality doesn't seem to be a concern in this business, so I guess I won't concern myself with it, but it seems like a better system could exist. But I suppose that's true everywhere.
Oh also, a couple weeks ago a blacklist came out from a financial foundation that included Ecuador as one of the most dangerous places to keep your money for lack of security, stability and the prevelence of money laundering. The goverment refuted this assignation, but there's obviously something behind it and I'm just glad I don't have my money in an Ecuadorian bank.
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