大咖福利影院

AmberFenton wrote:

Pollution from Trucks and Buses is the worst... Loud barking dogs, dogs and cats all over the place and the garbage in the streets, plus the feces of all the animals. Non-existent sidewalks, or those,聽 with repair badly needed.... Not least, the Pushy People, the "Me First" attitude. When I am standing in line, and a person walks into the store, goes straight up to the cash register and is being served, before anyone else....

I am at a loss on how to try and change these things....

I feel that I am the one needing to adjust to all of this, but it is the hardest part of living here. Everything else is working out fine and I love it in Ambato. Is there any other Expat, who resides in or around Ambato?

Amber鈥檚 post contains all the signs of someone soon headed out of Ambato -- and maybe out of Ecuador -- in exasperation.聽 Maybe not today or tomorrow, but within a year.

Everything is "working out鈥� fine in Gringo-less Ambato , except...

聽 ...Pollution from trucks and buses

聽 ...Loud barking dogs about which she has posted multiple times

聽 ...Too many dogs and cats all over

聽 ...Garbage in the streets

聽 ...Animal excrement

聽 ...Streets without sidewalks, sidewalks in disrepair

聽 ...Pushy, 鈥渋gnorant" people at the store queue

聽 ...Frustration about the fact that she can鈥檛 find any other Expats

聽 ...At a loss for how to adjust.

You may be in denial if you come to a foreign place where there are no other Gringos, where attitudes about animals are so different, where cutting in line is considered a norm of behavior -- and expect things to be different from how they鈥檝e been forever.

The dogs alone are enough to drive someone nuts if he or she lacks the right support system.

I鈥檇 consider the possibility that Ambato is not a fit for Amber, as much as she鈥檇 like it to be.聽 The only Gringa in town is not going to change the way folks there behave.聽 Some retirees from up North are never going to adjust to life in a city devoid of English speakers with their familiar behavior .. after a lifetime of doing things the North American way.

Others can adjust if they become fluent in Spanish and/or are in the right city in the right environment with in-person Expat support and friendships available.

cccmedia

AmberFenton wrote:

Pollution from Trucks and Buses is the worst, and one of my pet peeves. Loud barking dogs, dogs and cats all over the place and the garbage in the streets, plus the feces of all the animals. Non-existent sidewalks, or those,聽 with repair badly needed. And last, but Not least, the Pushy People, the "Me First" attitude. When I am standing in line, and a person walks into the store, goes straight up to the cash register and is being served, before anyone else. I have walked out of many stores, because I have no patience for that kind of ignorant behaviour. I am at a loss, on how to try and change these things, I mentioned. I am the "guest" in this country, so I feel, that I am the one needing to adjust to all of this, but it is the hardest part of living here. Everything else is working out fine and I love it in Ambato. Is there any other Expat, who resides in or around Ambato?

That seems to be years away from what I can experience here in Bahia de Caraquez.聽 They just redid the sewer system and are currently busy putting asphalt on the Malecon and fixing sidewalks here and there.聽 It's not perfect, but you feel the effort.

I've been traveling a lot and what I realized is environment is a rich people's concern.聽 First, you need to make enough money to live under a roof and feed your family.聽 Unfortunately, they've been witnessing "us" focusing on having smartphones, cable TV (with a nice flat screen), eating out, having a car, etc., so before they care about the environment, they want all the things you really don't need to be happy...

The only way things will change (I think) is through education.聽 In Bahia they do have recycling bins.聽 Where does it go?聽 Probably in the same place as all the other rubbish, but you need to start by developing the reflex, educating people.聽 That's what we did in North America 25 years ago... You need to start somewhere.

My daughter will turn 14 in April and since we are here, she was upset about all the dogs and cats in the streets.聽 So she decided to participate and started her own foundation () to raise money, feed some of them, bring some to the vet (with the money she raised baking and selling cookies).聽 She went in a few restaurants in town, asking if they could keep the rest so she can feed more.聽 Then, some people in town noticed that and are helping her.聽 They are currently planning a sterilization campaign with a veterinary from Quito who offered to come here and spayed/neutured 60 animals for free.聽 It's might not be a lot, but it's a beginning.聽 Two local radios offered to talk about it, and more and more people are mobilized.聽 It won't change anything day-to-day, but you need to participate in order to change things.聽 Complaining is too easy.

AmberFenton wrote:

The dog situation is a little unusual, where I live, but I am trying to do something about it. It is a 4 story bldg. next to my rented house, with a Shepherd dog on the fourth floor terrace and another Shepherd dog on the ground. Those two are barking constantly, 24/7, where-as the other 6 dogs hardly ever bark. There is a Pit-bull, which got out of the gate and attacked a stray dog, so that was reported to the authorities by my land-lady. Nothing was done about it. The woman with all those dogs has some sort of mental problem, at least, that is what her husband is saying. The dog on the 4th floor terrace has been examined, and was found to have something called scabies. There were feces everywhere.

And no expats living there?聽 Who wouldn't want that?

OrganicMom wrote:

CCC, I thought I read once that some other country (can't remember which one) was going to give EC money for a high-speed train system in Cuenca to combat pollution.聽 聽Didn't that ever come to fruition?

is closely following the construction of the new tram and other Cuenca transportation-news.聽 A detailed report on tram progress was posted there yesterday and is currently on the Highlife welcome page, dated March 29, 2016.

cccmedia of Quito