Pictures of Sayausi (and a little story)

June 11, 2008
7:30AM
Wednesday
Sayausi
Our Room

HerbalLife

Over the past few weeks we have gotten to know a significant portion of Sayausi’s population. Leon the hardware store owner, Gloria the bootmaker, Carmita the tienda owner, Jenni the hairdresser and daughter of the landlady of the apartament we want, Carmita the clothes store owner, Carmen our landlady and fruit vendor, William the Christian, Christian with the motorcycle, another Christian who we see everywhere, Noemi the girl who serves us coffee in the comedor, Jota the owner of the comedor and the only one in the comedor capable of calculating a total, Nellie her sister and member of the cooperative (still unsure of what that means), Christina the sister of Nellie, Don Manuel the accordianist, his wife Elvira who visited the Galapagos last year, their daughter’s Ruth and Gladys, Emily and Danielle (two of the ten grandkids of Don Manuel and Elvira, and coincidentally are US residents), Dona Mari and her two sons who are also US residents, Dona Anita another tienda owner, Marleni and Veronica the daughter-in-laws to our host mom, their kids Joel, Ronald, Xavier, Maira, and several sons in the States, Lola and Henri and their daughter Belen (she’s just learning to walk and no longer cries when see sees us), Don Jose (a.k.a. a chatty grandpa-like figure), Maira the sister of the hairdresser, Sandra and Marivel (the sisters of Norma our host big sister), their children Juan Diego and Elvis, Elvia and Jimena the ladies who make the best chuzos (chicken kebab) this side of Cajas, and of course the countless people we have met and talked with several times but we have yet to learn their names. Two of these nameless acquaintances run a small business here in Sayausi.

This small business that they run is out of an old restaurant that used to serve coastal food and the colorful sign still hangs over the door. The inside is all white and illuminated by harsh florescent lights. The majority of the space is empty with the exception of six or seven white chairs lined up along the side walls and two tables at the very back of the room, one with four white blenders and five gallon water jug on top of a white plastic water dispensor. Most of the day the store is empty with the exception of two ladies who work there every day.

For the first six weeks we would walk by this store as it is next to Jenni’s hair salon, where we have spent at least 20 hours trying to get this apartment (we will be going by Jenni’s when I finish writing this to talk more about apartment stuff), and every time we passed we would have a thirty second conversation about what they could possibly be selling out of a store that looks like its better suited for out patient surgeries but has four blenders and no operating table. Then one morning, while we were waiting in Jenni’s hair salon to find out if her mom (Dona Carmen) was coming down to meet us to show the apartment, one of these two ladies came in with a giant clear plastic cup filled with steaming, slightly off colored water. Jenni then told this lady to bring us a cup. I tried to refuse as all hot beverages here are served with an equal water to sugar ratio and it was just too early in the morning for such and extreme sugar high. But there’s no saying no sometimes and so we waited. About five minutes later she came back with a giant, steaming clear plastic cup of slightly off colored water and handed it to me. I thanked her and Jenni about five times each (one thank you here is the equivalent of not saying thank you) and asked what it was ( You would think it would work the other way around, a person asking what something is before it is in their hand and they are expected to drink it. Here people move deceptively quickly and more often then not something is on your plate or in your cup before you can politely decline. Then again it takes several minutes to politely decline something so maybe it’s not so amazing).

The lady, still nameless to us, replied that it was an energy drink and very healthy. Energy drink here usually means some creamy looking liquid with raw eggs mixed in. Luckily, this drink was clear and not at all viscous. Bottoms up! Pleasently surprised was I to discover that this mystery drink tasted like plain old herbal tea? So, I asked her (which looking back may have been the reason for the events to follow), “De que es esta bebida?”

“Oh, it’s a mix of different herbs that give you lots of energy and make you really healthy.”
“It tastes really good.”
“Oh it is really good and really good for you. I knew a friend you wasn’t feeling well and she started drinking this energy drink, and some others that I have, and now she’s completely better.”

I think at this point Mike coughed, as he has had a cold for the past two and a half weeks.

“Oh, if you drink this your cough will go away. This will make your cough better. Drink this.”

So, Mike drank the rest of the drink and we continued to talk to this lady for quite some time. During which I received a call from my mom and so stepped outside to talk with her. I talked with her for about ten minutes then went back into the hair salon where Mike was still talking to Maria, now we know her name. When I walked back in I noticed that Mike was holding a white, square envelope in his hand. As I sat down to join the conversation Mike told me that it was an invitation to a dinner that night. Maria, it turns out, had invited the two of us to a dinner at a hotel in Cuenca, formal dress. The invitation was pretty fancy looking, it was typed out on nice paper, and Jenni (with whom at this point we were pretty close with) said she was also going. What could be bad about this? So, we accepted and agreed to meet her at her tienda next door at 7:00pm.

At seven o’clock we arrived at her tienda where, for the first time ever, there were customers. And for the first time ever, we noticed at least ten giant white plastic containers each very clearly labeled as HerbalLife. The ladies welcomed us and handed us some pamphlets about HerbalLife all written in English (please keep in mind that nobody, and I mean nobody, in Sayausi or the surrounding areas can speak, let alone read, in English). After they made sure that we were settled the ladies, Maria and the other one, returned to preparing drinks for their customers. The drinks were made with water and one to two scoops of powder from these different containers. So the “tea” that we had tried earlier in the day was not actually tea but a powdered energy drink from the States. We took a seat opposite that of the customers that were already there and watched with a certain amount of interest the events that followed.

Each person had in hand a giant clear plastic up filled with steaming, slightly off-colored water. Now there are several amazing things about this. One is that nobody here drinks liquid without tons of sugar. Two is that nobody here drinks large quantities of liquid, ever! So to have a group of people sitting around with giant cups of liquid is absolutely noteworthy. Then, as we observed over the next few minutes, they have another two giant cups of liquid, this time the liquid varies in color from pink to white. The final amazing thing about all of this is that at the end when they were paying it turned out that each cup of powdered mix drink cost $2.00! Keep in mind that in Ecuador a lunch that comes with a soup, rice, meat, vegetables, and fresh juice costs one dollar. The family that was in the tienda consisted of three adults and three children. Each of the adults had three drinks and each child had two, making a grand total of $30.00. This is an absolutely outrageous sum of money for a family of Sayausi to be spending on drinks. Mike and I were shocked, and a little bit nervous as the owners had served us two drinks each while we waited for them in the store. Luckily, they never charged us as the total would have been more than what we are given for a full day’s worth of food!

Finally, at about eight o’clock the ladies closed up shop and we loaded into their truck and started toward the hotel in Cuenca for dinner. The drive lasted about 30 minutes during which time we heard about a friend of theirs who had had cancer and then started drinking these HerbalLife drinks and several monthes later the cancer was gone. We also heard about how each of them had weighed at least ten pounds more before they started drinking HerbalLife and that now they were much healthier. They asked if we had heard of HerbaLife, since we are from the States, and seemed surprised when we answered, no we had not ever heard of HerbalLife. So surprised, in fact, that they asked us at least three more times before we arrived at the hotel, and each time sounded genuinely disappointed in our lack of familiarity with HerbalLife and all of its curative wonders.

The hotel where the dinner was held smelled like old smoke and air freshener and was decorated in accordance with interior design styles of the early eighties. There was a broken slot machine, an out-of-service complimentary computer in the lobby, and all sorts of slightly, off colored mirrors greeting us in the lobby. The bell boy/security guard directed us to the second floor for the HerbalLife dinner.

Mike and I exchanged apprehensive looks as we followed Maria up the stairs to the HerbalLife dinner. I think we knew when we received the invitation that this was not going to be a normal dinner and we may have even thought that it was going to be terrible but we were long past the point of no return now and so continued up the stairs.

The stairs opened up into a dimly lit conference room. There were two tables near the door and eight tables arranged in a U-shape around a projection screen where a dubbed version of some inspirational video was playing to audience of about twenty subdued, dressed up Ecuadorians. We took our seats (the only ones left and the ones closest to the microphone, lucky us) and watched the end of the video. Once the captivating video ended and Mike and I were both utterly convinced that we too could be millionaires if only we were given a really savvy business idea, a short (and I mean short even by Ecuadorian standards) man was introduced and took the microphone at the front of the room. I wish I could describe with accuracy the nasal nature of his voice and capture just how poorly his nice suit fit him but unfortunately we left our camera at home and tape recording people without their knowledge is illegal (we still have to follow US laws here, lame right?).

He began to tell us about his childhood in the campo (rural area) and how poor he was and how little he always had. He went on to tell us how his wife married him even though he was a poor boy from the campo and how he always dreamed of making it big. Then he found this wonderful company and began to work with them and now he has nice clothes and has traveled extensively (around South America, and really only the countries surrounding Ecuador) and how if we want to take advantage of the opportunity we are being offered by this wonderful company we too could have nice suits and travel.

It´s now nine o´clock and still no dinner.

After Guy #1 finished telling us how much his life was changed by working for this company selling HerbalLife, Guy #2 comes up to the microphone and starts telling of his childhood in the campo and how people told him he would always be poor but how he always knew differently. He goes on about how now he travels extensively (again only in the countries surrounding Ecuador and it really wasn´t clear if he travels a lot or just went on one trip) and has nice clothes and makes lots of money. He then goes on to show powerpoint slides of the checks he has received from HerbalLife, each check increasing in quantity. Then he goes on to talk about how to make the most money working for HerbalLife you have to buy a lot of the product and convince some of your friends to work for you to sell the products that you bought. Furthermore, the more people you can convince to work for you to sell these products the more money you make...your friends working for you, well that´s another story.

He goes on like thie for and hour during which time he asked the audience questions and Maria (the lady who brought us) enthusiastically answered from her seat next to us as the rest of the crowd sat in polite silence.

It´s now ten o´clock and still no dinner.

Guy #2 finally finishes and I´m thinking finally it´s dinner, at least I get dinner out of this, when the testimonials begin. This part is kind of funny because about three-quarters of the twenty people there actually work for HerbalLife and each one of them gets up says their name, lists a number of health problems they had before they started drinking HerbalLife, how they no longer have said health problems, and how much money they make a month selling HerbalLife products. This was all very fascinating for the five of us that didn´t work for HerbalLife.

It´s now ten thirty, the video is done, Guy #1 and Guy #2 have given their speel, we heard all the gripping testimonials from the HerbalLife employees (including the two ladies that brought us from Sayausi), and finally dinner is served, cold and remarkably unappetizing considering the level of hunger induced by waiting until 10:30 to eat. Lucky for us, they played promotional videos during the entire meal...at least it distracted us from the tepid fish and cold soup.

It´s now 11:00, so far past bed time I´m surprised I can remember anything from this point on.

Maria and the other lady (we still don´t know her name) are a twitter with excitement. Wasn´t the food great? Aren´t those stories amazing? Is there anything in the world that could be better than selling HerbalLife? Are you sure you haven´t heard of HerbalLife in the States? I was barely awake in the back seat of the truck, nauseous from the food and the loud music that accompanied the video, my clothes wreaked from the smell of old smoke, and my neck hurt from having to stare sideways the whole night to appear interested, when I heard the lady (not Maria but the other one) ask Mike, “So, do you two want to work for our wonderful company?”

So, that was our first fancy dinner invite in Ecuador. A wheeling and dealing small business venture aimed at taking advantage of people with limited alternatives...and we still don´t know what HerbalLife drinks contain.


Other news in the world of Sayausi:

Mike and I participated in an 8km uphill race through Cajas National Park and finished last. Who knew an uphill race at 4,000 meters with a cold wouldn´t go all that well? But we still got a medal, a plastic water bottle, and a ham sandwhich, so how can you complain?

We might be moving into an apartment on Monday, June 16...extra points to anyone who can identify why that would be particularily sweet.

We were invited to have humitas with our hopefully soon to be landlady

First communion was this past Sunday, it was quite the spectacle (see pictures below)

Confirmation is next Sunday, sure to be quite the spectacle.

We were woken up this morning by the smell of our mother roasting cow feet in the front yard....yummm!

Pictures of Sayausi
(as always, double click to see the larger image and don´t forget to read the captions)