Things You Don’t See at Home: Part 2

Tiendas – These are little shops which we might call convenience stores, however, they are nothing like convenience stores at home. Most are so small that you cannot go inside. In fact, many of them have bars across the front and you have to ask for what you want. It is passed to you through an opening in the bars. Others just have a counter across the front. Needless to say, there is no “looking around” to decide what you want to buy. Most tiendas have baked goods, although, how fresh we don’t know, some fruits and vegetables, and the usual junk food.  Some tiendas specialize in baby things, like diapers, some in paper and school supplies, some in plumbing and electrical supplies. As we walk down the street from downtown to our apartment we pass by many tiendas on every block. Some of them are open from early in the morning until late at night. We wonder how much business they do but it must be enough to make a living.

Street Food – On any given day you will see people selling food on the street. Carts loaded with skewers of meat, candy apples, or frozen treats are common sights. There are many events in the squares downtown in the evenings. As soon as things get underway, you start to see people hauling in their little tables, propane bottles, hotplates and big pots of something (we don’t know what!). They are set up all around the square in a matter of minutes, ready to do business. Again, there are carts loaded with skewers of meat and others making cotton candy. Bags of popcorn also seem to be popular. It seems any event is an opportunity to make a bit of money. We’ve even seen someone with a little table and a plate of sandwiches for sale. I suggested to Dave that maybe we could go home and make some sandwiches and set up our own little stand. But he reminded me that we’re not allowed to make any money here.

Babies on Motorcycles – Here it is the law for the driver of the motorcycle to wear a helmet and most do, although not always on their heads. Sometimes it’s on their arm. Passengers, however, are not required to wear a helmet so very few do. We have seen small children and even women holding tiny babies wrapped in blankets on the back of a motorcycle.

Cows Grazing in the City – Across the street from our apartment is a small park. At the back is a chain link fence and on the other side of the chain link fence we often see cows grazing. It appears to be a fairly large pasture area but we are not sure who owns the land or the cows. There doesn't seem to be a barn anywhere or a place to milk the cows. But then on a bus ride out of town, we have seen women carrying their pail and milk stool out to where the cows are to milk them right there in the middle of the pasture. Perhaps that’s what happens here. I guess we’ll have to take a closer look through the fence.

Gaps Around Window and Doors – Here the curtains often blow in the breeze, and that’s with the windows closed. At first we were amazed that we could see daylight through all the gaps between the windows and the wall and that the door to our balcony is a few centimetres from the floor. When we started to realize that winter was not coming, we knew why the holes in the walls were not a concern. With no heating or air-conditioning bills to pay, it really doesn't matter. Occasionally we have to inhale the fumes from vehicles that go by and Dave is kept busy mopping the dust off the floors but other than that, the gaps are not a problem!

Photocopy Shops – These are similar to the other tiendas but their main service is to make photocopies for customers. There is obviously a need, since most people probably don’t have personal computers and printers. But how much photocopying do people need to have done? On our ten minute walk downtown we counted over 20 shops advertising “Copias”. It is hard to believe that all these shops can stay in business when they are so numerous.

Street Cleaners – Loja is a very clean city. The street cleaning here is done by hand like most other things. These men are kept busy all day, every day, picking up the garbage on the streets and sidewalks. Some have a cart and a big broom made out of branches and others just walk along with a bag. The public garbage cans are few and far between so most people seem to just drop their wrappers and bits of garbage on the sidewalk. We wonder, if there were more garbage cans around, would it put someone out of a job, or would people not use them out of habit?

Laundry (and other things) on Rooftops – Everywhere you look over the city, you will see laundry hanging out to dry on the flat rooftops. Clothes dryers are obviously a luxury here. And really, when the weather is always nice, why not hang your clothes outside to dry? There are some roofs that are not flat and have all manner of plants growing out of them. As mentioned in Part 1, there are many dogs around and when they’re not on the street, they’re on the rooftops looking down at us. I just don’t think we’d trust little Ollie on the roof with no wall or fence or anything around the edge!

Venders Outside the School Doors – Here the schools, like almost every other property, have a wall around them, opening right onto the sidewalk. When school is out and the kids start flooding out onto the sidewalk, there is usually someone with a cart, immediately outside the door, selling ice cream treats, little trinkets, some sort of egg white “cones”, and anything else that might appeal to kids. They seem to do a pretty good business and consequently, there is never a shortage of work for the street cleaners either.