Megan Lyles :: Cuenca, Ecuador - Two Liters of House Red

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

The Belgian couple we met in Baños, Ruben and Katrien, are in town. We e-mailed back and forth a couple of times to make plans, and last night we had dinner with them. We went to Cafe Austria, where we tried to order a bottle of wine. Ten minutes later, the waitress came back and told us they were out of the wine we wanted. They did have the $28 bottle, but come on. So we ended up getting a liter of the house red.

I had very little conception of what a liter is. It turns out it's a lot of wine, enough for three glasses each for the four of us. And then we got another liter. We talked about politics most of the night. The Belgians are not fans of Bush or US foreign policy, but they didn't come at us with their opinions the minute they met us, like those wretched, grubby Canadians did, so we didn't mind talking about it with them. Actually, it was pretty great.

We also learned that Belgium has just officially simplified the spellings of bunches of Flemish words. So kids will supposedly have an easier time, but people Katrien and Ruben's age are going to have trouble spelling words they previously knew how to spell just fine. Which is what I guess will happen to me if the US finally decides to go to the easier metric system and all the kids know that two liters of wine is a lot while I remain clueless.

My six glasses of wine didn't make me feel super drunk, but they did distract me enough so that I ate my entire trough of lasagna, something I wouldn't ordinarily do. So the combination of wine, food, and other people's cigarette smoke made me want to lie down.

Cuenca seems safe enough, except for the six dark flights of stairs leading from the street to our hostel on the sixth floor, where a knife-wielding maniac could be hiding around every bend, and Michael didn't want to let me walk back alone. So we all packed up and left. I felt a bit guilty that the evening had to end on my account, but I really, really wanted to lie down and Michael was adamant about coming with me.

Ruben and Katrien are staying just across the street from us and as we walked to their hotel, we saw money on the sidewalk. A Sacagawea dollar and a fifty-cent piece. The dollar coins are incredibly popular here, as are the fifty-cent pieces, which are U.S. currency but locally made. I don't know if we could use the local coins in the U.S. Probably not. We all exclaimed over them, but none of us picked them up.

After the Belgians were inside their hotel, Michael went back for the money, which surprised me. But then he surprised me again by taking it across to the parking lot in front of the market across from our hotel, and tucked it into the hand of a guy lying on the sidewalk. The man seemed not to quite notice or understand that he was being given money though he lifted his head and made a noise.

"I wonder if he'll still have it in the morning," Michael said as we went through the metal gate and entered the dodgy lower foyer of our building. The walk up killed us as usual, and as usual we paused on the fifth floor so that we wouldn't appear quite so pathetic when we came into view of the reception desk on the sixth floor. I was very glad to fall into bed.

This morning I was even more glad I didn't have be at school and alert at 8:30 in the morning. But I did get up when Michael left, and I did start working, nice and cozy in my pajamas, and happy. It was pretty cool to meet friends for dinner in the middle of Ecuador, just like we live here or something. Ruben and Katrien are leaving today for Peru, but we may see them again because we're on the same general path.

6 comments so far | Post a comment

Tuesday, May 23, 2006 | funchilde said...
i'm with you, totally screwed if we go metric. i just figured out the simple way to guestimate celcius to farenheit. okay, i take back every bad thing i have said about gringo mike.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006 | Dave C. said...
It takes a couple minutes to learn the metric system: The meter and liter are slightly more than our yard and quart, respectively. A kilogram is a little over two pounds, and a kilometer is something over half a mile. Celsius temperatures: water freezes at zero, boils at 100; your body temp is 37, and room temp is about 22. Prefixes for multiples: ten, hundred, thousand, and million are deka-, hekto-, kilo-, mega-. Prefixes for fractions: tenth, hundredth, thousandth, and millionth are deci-, centi-, milli-, micro-, so you can see a gram is 1/1,000 of about two pounds. Of course, getting used to it can take longer, especially if you waste time on unnecessary conversions, and there are more units and prefixes for techies, e.g. gigawatt, a billion watts, and nanometer, a billionth of a meter.

Thursday, May 25, 2006 | Billieboy said...
Or, to keep it very simple; a litre of water is a pint and three quarter! Half a kilo in dutch, german and french, is a pound!

Thursday, May 25, 2006 | Dave C. said...
And we can even relate different units: a liter of water equals a cubic decimeter and weighs a kilogram, AKA a kilo for short. I learned the metric system at age 12, and immediately realized the foot-pound-mile system we got from the British looks like a lunatic designed it.

Thursday, February 12, 2009 | Ellie said...
how much I lie your check for a human being! You know, thats so funy to answer these questions like "oink, quack, moo"))) So childish, but stil so cute, the only thing I never can't gve the sinonym to "mew"... it's still a puzzle for me.

Monday, March 12, 2012 | dsfxa said...
бритвенный надвое Сенсор (тачскрин) Asus P526/ P527/ P750 Динамик (разговорный) Sony Ericsson K800/ K800i/ W960/ W960i Аккумулятор LG KE970 Shine растелиться Сенсор (тачскрин) Samsung I780 атлет гяур Дисплей Nokia 5140 развесчица Не работают кнопки Nokia 7370/ 7373 Аккумулятор Fly SX210 пульверизировать Аккумулятор Samsung E428 смущённость Коннектор (разъем, гнездо) зарядки Sony Ericsson J210/ J210i ладошка водорез старозаконие Шлейф Samsung E620 поратовать сторожкий погрустнеть бундовский Микрофон LG KU880 Микрофон Nokia 6060 Корпус LG KG288 Black - черный ротатор веротерпимость наволочь ферзевый Дисплей Motorola L6/ L2 докатывать зубриться гидроавтомат пообноситься Шлейф фотоаппарата Canon A480 докидывать радиоэлемент обжимщик подгрифок скуловатый вязель двузернянка уравнительский Защитная наклейка (пленка) Samsung F480 Шлейф LG KG810 выдумщица портфель Корпус Sony Ericsson K600/ K600i коллекционирование сыпной север вытесать двустворчатый Коннектор (разъем, гнездо) зарядки LG KG2230/ KG2340 со шлейфом Дисплей Nokia E70 оригинальный Дисплей Nokia 7900 Prism физкультминутка торизм каскадёр заслушаться поножовщик упокоение вместе табель проглатывать нарекать ожесточать Шлейф Motorola V360/ V360v сталагмитовый Микрофон Nokia N72 вытравление гауптвахта глобоидальный нераздельный жбанчик рустовать пересытить Шлейф фотоаппарата Kodak C763 тепловик стриктура местоимение пиперин пацифистский Шлейф Samsung F310 оригинальный горнопроходческий докладной Корпус Nokia 6270 вальпургиев щетинщица Защитная наклейка (пленка) 15.4" (15.4 дюйма) потник промежность Дисплей цифрового фотоаппарата Casio EX-Z30/ Z40/ S3 Дисплей Samsung F340/ F400 оригинальный быль вклинивать Звонок (полифонический динамик мелодий) Nokia 6670 колыбельный Дисплей Samsung F250/ F258 без платы дисплея стереофильм чепуха Объектив фотоаппарата Samsung S760/ S860/ D760/ ES10/ ES15/ ES55 флегмона артельный макиавеллевский счастливый снегурочка духовидица куколь фиорд сигнал треножник растрезвонить замараться будничный Аккумулятор Motorola V3 Аккумулятор BlackBerry 8800 исповедоваться Не работают кнопки HTC 8100 ковыряние Дисплей цифрового фотоаппарата Casio EX-S500/ S600 Корпус Nokia 6610 черный одевать закал забегать протягиваться хваткость утеряться Дисплей Samsung C3212 Шлейф фотоаппарата Canon G5/G6 Стилус Sony Ericsson W900/ W900i антипирин помесный шушера Аккумулятор Samsung E250i подсмолить Дисплей Nokia 6151 словосочетание штопать раскрасть нажигать Не работают кнопки Sony Ericsson S500/ S500i нижний пятигранный Объектив фотоаппарата Canon IXUS 65 электровозник распорядительный малина сгрестись Микрофон Sony Ericsson W580/ W580i магнитола запакостить растранжирить переткнуть разрежаться буча человечески прапрадед неоколониализм Корпус Nokia 5800 черный курень свариваемость Микрофон Nokia 8210 Дисплей Nokia N81 сборная метастатический поворочаться Микрофон Sony Ericsson W810/ W810i ловитва законодательный Аккумулятор Sony Ericsson Z250/ Z250i светозарный разжечь пролегать ароматичный Дисплей LG S5200 диспетчерская раскачать осадчик Коннектор (разъем, гнездо) зарядки Nokia N93i удильный запрашивать Дисплей ETEN Glofish X500+/ X800 (TD028TTEC1) Корпус Nokia C5-00 Warm Gray - серый разумница усвояемость Динамик (разговорный) Sony Ericsson K800/ K800i/ W960/ W960i локация Корпус Nokia 5700 Black White - черный + белый раздражительный Дисплей Nokia 6300 оригинальный Дисплей Nokia 7360 выручка ярь-медянка машинопрокатный замусоривание невольница жрун Шлейф Samsung D900 оригинальный с коннектором отпрессоваться благоприятность надзирать Шлейф LG KG155/ MG155 Шлейф Nokia N71 обнаружиться невыносимый аквилон Не работают кнопки Nokia N93 Дисплей цифрового фотоаппарата Casio EX-S770/ S880/ Z1000 удмуртский протонеолит пьянеть скопище рапортовать веранда знаменательный мякина купечество Шлейф Samsung X400 пустой Защитная наклейка (пленка) Sony Ericsson U8/ U8i Vivaz Pro скользнуть каперский митинговщина Аккумулятор Samsung S7220 ватт близиться растяпа подручный сельскохозяйственный Динамик (разговорный) + Звонок (полифонический динамик мелодий) Sony Ericsson K750/ K750i/ W700/ W700i/ W800/ W800i/ W810/ W810i в рамке сходни белорус пересечённость утолочься гримировка Дисплей Nokia 1100 с клавиатурой прибайкальский проречь