Everyone Loves TV

One of the more enlightening experiences from a pop culture perspective (or, let’s face it, one of the only unless one means Ecuadorian pop culture) that I have tallied from my time thus far in Ecuador is that Americans of the United States are not the only bottle-fed television addicts in the world.

We are staying in a pretty low cost hostel, but it is low cost more for being new and undiscovered than for lacking amenities. That means, like most average or better hostels, this one has a common area with a tv in it. In this case the common room is on the third floor which happens to be where our private room is located. This unhappy coincidence has allowed me to gain insight into other cultures tv watching habits.

We have shared the hostel with Cubans, Swiss, Germans, South Africans, Austrians, French, Latin Americans, and probably a lot more. There is one thing that all of these cultures as represented at the hostel share: the love of tv like it was uncut heroin.

Morning

Afternoon

Night

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

2:30 am

5:00 am

11:00 pm

Weekdays

Weekends

Those are examples of when one is likely to hear the tv on here. Another shared trait of the various nationalities in this hostel is apparent deafness. Most folks in Ecuador are somewhat deaf I suppose because everyone is always screaming out into the street and from the street to buildings and raising their voices even louder to be heard over the constant cacophony of car horns and dogs barking. So it only goes that one must turn the tv up to distorted, ear-shattering levels because the Spanish speaking Bart Simpson has to be heard over the people screaming in the street who are attempting to be heard over the car horns.

I thought that America was the only television drenched society that can’t peel away from The Amazing Race long enough to pay a credit card bill or fix a nutritious dinner for a child. Man, was I ever wrong. The whole world loves their tv and wants it on as often as possible. They want to watch daytime soaps and every second of every commercial. Most of these folks must be traveling in Ecuador just because 90% of the population has pirated cable and they’re sure to be able to catch a good show set against the backdrop of the majestic Andes mountain range, 600 year old monasteries and cathedrals, and lush ecological systems.

Maybe if the television gods smile upon my fellow residents, there will be a Ken Burns-like documentary about Ecuador on soon. I hear it’s a wonderful country in which to travel.

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