communication

I wanted to share some of my experiences of communication gaps, whether it's due to language barriers, culture differences, or technology malfunction, there are times when I feel every day in Ecuador is a struggle to understand and be understood, while an amazing learning experience, it can also be incredibly trying at times.

The other day I had to meet up with the owner of an export company to discuss the possibility of working with them to export the products the artisans I am working with make. I had received their contact info from a man who has sold art work from South America around the world for decades. After giving a brief explanation of what I am doing and what I am looking for, he suggested I go with him to a town called Otavalo a couple of ours north of Quito to meet with him and see the office he does most of his work out of. I agreed and we arranged a time and date, on a Wed morning meeting about 15 min away from my apt at 6 am to make the scenic drive to the indigenous town.

The morning of, I grabbed my backpack I had prepared the night before and headed to the street to catch a cab, only to realize that I had no money with me. Because I was worried I would need some cash (as very few places in Ecuador accept credit cards), I ran to the nearest ATM and hopped in a cab by 6am on the dot with what I assumed to be sufficient for any small costs on the trip and handed the driver the address of where I was to meet the owners of the export business. The driver, a native Quiteno did not seem to recognize exactly where the Quito office was located,but we headed in tat direction while I tried calling the couple. While most meetings in Ecuador run at least several minutes late, I was a little on edge since the couple had set such an early meeting time.

While they did not pick up, most likely a problem with the cell phone connection, they called me back almost immediately exasperated and asking where I was. I explained what had happened and asked for directions, explaining that I was minutes away. I then conveyed the directions to the cab driver, while watching the clock turn to 6:07. While on our search for the location, I received two more calls, with the final one telling me they had left since they needed to start working (this call came in at 6:10, while I was two minutes away from the office). Since I did not want to start the trip off on a bad note, I let them go after apologizing for holding them up and told the cab driver to take me back to my apt., to which the driver responded by asking me to call the owners again to help us find the building as we were still slightly lost.

I unsuccessfully explained to the cab driver that I wanted to return to my apartment, as the people I was meeting had already left. He choice to ignore my request, while the taxi metro continued to rise, and continue searching for the original building, asking me several times to call back the couple and ask for directions again. As I was incredibly tired and wanted to know where the meeting location was for future reference, I chose to be complacent and let the driver take me on the fruitless search for several minutes before repeating over and over again that I wanted to return. Upon my 6th request, he decided to listen to me, without any acknowledgement of my previous directions to turn back. I then asked him to take me to my office, located slightly north of my apt. He gave an affirmative response, and I finally was able to calmly sit in the back and let him take me to where I wanted to go. About 8 min into the trip, as we should have been arriving at my office, I look out of the window to find we were near my apartment. I immediately asked where he was going, to which he responded "back to where I picked you up from"

By now, I was very frustrated and had a rather expensive cab fare to pay by Ecuadorian standards. I asked the driver to stop where he was and let me out, explaining that he had not listened to me the entire trip. He blamed it on my accent, which can be difficult to understand at times, but not once had he asked me to repeat or explain something. I tried to pay the fare, but the driver did not have change for the $10 bill I handed him and he asked for change. I had $3 in change, but the fare was closer to $5. He finally let me go, paying just the $3 I had and actually seemed to feel somewhat uncomfortable for his inability to listen to me.

I left the cab exasperated, and began to reflect on the situation. I believe part of the issue was my gender and age. He felt as though he was helping me or taking care of me by ignoring my directions, which is indicative of the machista society that exists in Latin America and came up over and over again throughout my work there.