By the New Cathedral, on a cloudy afternoon, these performers stand motionless.
Then, they move and beckon to a little girl to pose for a photo with them with her mom. After the photo, they blow them a parting kiss and return to their rigid pose. They work for tips, depending on generosity to fill the bowl on the ground at their feet.
What is unseen is that this little girl, twice earlier, walked to the bowl, bent down to take a ten dollar bill until her mother called her back.
I should have left coins.
Temptation, especially for kids, is never far away, and succumbing is all too human.
Hope you are feeling better Scott. What does the average middle class worker, i.e. lawyer, doctor, teacher make in Ecuador? And, has their currency been stable?
Ecuador is number eight or nine in South America for per capita income at $8,335. The experienced Drs. might make $1500 a month and nurses $700 a month. What is happening is the influx of foreign money puts pressure on prices to go up and locals, who don’t make huge salaries, are squeezed. Foreign money brings jobs though. Money is always important. I am not hard on the little girl because she is little, but she and mom need to talk.I thought the performance artists handled the situation well and probably have had it happen before with older kids who want to grab and run.
the new version of this post is better. It takes me a while to get said what I want to say in the shortest way possible.
Their currency is the US dollar.
Exactly. One thing that is a bother is large bills. You want to have a lot of small bills, $1.00 or $5.00. Merchants balk when you pull out a ten or twenty unless it is a fancy place. Having Ecuadorian dollar coins is also helpful when taking cabs. most rides are two dollars or less within the Historical District and a dollar tip always gets you a smile.