Guaguas

This is mostly for Britta and Tina, but this blog entry is going to be all about babies. I´ve learned alot about how Ecuadorians deal with babies, and there are several in my life. I´m going to tell you about them.

1. Babies are called ¨Guaguas,¨ which is the Quechua word for babies. ¨Bebe,¨the actual word, is only used in hitting on other people. ¨Guaguito¨is also appropriate. You can call people guagua if they are acting immature, or if they are only 19 and you are a mature 20. or if they are virgins. Or don´t have a driver´s license. Which my host mother doesn´t have.....but I digress.

2. The Evil Eye (Mal de Ojo) is big here. Mal de Ojo is when you hurt a baby and make it cranky and sick to its stomach by casting a spell on them with your eyes. Witches can do this on purpose, and normal people can do it by accident. Gringos do it alot, so you have to be careful. There are several things you can do to avoid cursing a baby.
a. Do not look at the baby
b. if you want to look at the baby, you have to touch the baby and then make reassuring eye contact with the madre that you are not cursing the baby
c. the baby is probably going to have a little red string bracelet around one wrist. This is to protect it from evil glances from idiots like you. DO NOT TOUCH THIS BRACELET. the mom will slap you.
d. do not take flash photographs of the baby.


Now that you know how to avoid hurting infants with your eyes, its time to learn how to bring your baby in public.

Its perfectly ok to nurse your baby in public. While I am all La Leche League and everything, it can get sort of awkward, because these women with huge nipples are like leaning on the sidewalk and on the bus. At one point, my backpack had a collision with a breast, but not the woman or the baby. It was that big. Sorry if this is TMI, and I´m glad they are breastfeeding, but I just don´t know how to deal with it sometimes.

Despite the presence of engorged areolas, there are a zillion creepy ads for infant formula and child milk-like drinks on TV, none of which I can find, despite 8 minutes of youtube searching. you know the ones, with the happy, white family doing jumping jacks, and then the mom intently watching her three year old sipping white syrup through a curly straw. There´s even one where they make a graph of brain development, but the only measure of growth they show is a picture of a brain between two axes. Science! I looked for that picture, but I couldn´t find it either, so here is a picture of a cute rat.

There are tons of ways you can carry your baby in Ecuador. One way is draped across your lap, with its feet in the isle, blocking the way of people who want to enter. Another way is tied on your back with a scarf. You can also haul produce this way. Other way is in a cardboard box. This is not a joke. There were two toddlers sitting in a box with their mom on a bus. You can also modify the scarf thing the way my host sister did with her baby, and make this sort of overalls contraption.

Speaking of my host sister, who rules, btw, the craziest baby fact as of yet. She and her husband named their son Ilidan. Aww what a cute name EXCEPT it is the name of the bad guy in World of Warcraft, the best way to get out of the house and make friends. This five month baby, no teeth, double chin, is named after this guy .

Ok, I´m going to go drink some coffee and watch the trailer for Babies, the movie, over and over again, while on silent.

Love you all, happy weekend!