dale la patria

imagine voting on a constitution, a brand new, 170-something page constitution that affects nearly every political aspect of the country. would you read the whole thing? see which politicians back it? and if it were mandatory to vote, knowing that you and your entire country are changing its course more than any one specific presidential election ever could. if you agreed with certain aspects, morally but other parts could hurt you economically or otherwise, yes or no to the constitution? or how about if you agreed but thought the system was too corrupt, would it be worth it to see how it turns out?

-si o no?

in ecuador this question divides the nation. si o no isn't si o no to any question, it's huge banners with NO written across in red on the street corner. or SI bumper stickers on the back of a car. it's SI i support the president or NO i think he's an extremist, communist copy of hugo chavez.

as of yesterday, 56% of the country believes in SI. to implement the constitution SI needs to be voted for by over 50% of the ballots, meaning more votes than NO, blank ballots and faulty ballots combined.

as of a week ago, my public health government director dad said SI but i asked again at dinner and he didn't know what he wanted. he strongly agrees with the public health amendments the constitution would implement but thinks that the extra money going into it would really only pay lazy corrupt government workers. my mom has begun to disagreee with president correa's actions recently and so is leaning towards no.

this is the month of SI o NO. it's kind of a big deal here. i really hope that the results from later this month are covered internationally because it's pretty fascinating stuff to be in the middle of.

and you know those stencils or images of obama with HOPE under it that are artsy and all over the place? there are neon green and blue banners, government funded, with a stencil-like image of the president that basically says vote SI for the constitution and for the country. good old fashioned propaganda (like what i consider those hope obama things, but those are at least not paid for by taxes and whatnot).


french manicure-$4.00
delicious nutella crepe-$2.30

an absurdity: minimum wage is $200.00 per month (that's how they do things here) yet they've calculated that a family of 4 needs $506 a month to not be in poverty (education, health costs, food, etc). let's say mom and pop make minimum wage, $106 is a real chunk missing for this nice family when you're talking about poverty as allowed by the government.