Blog Post Eleven: The Changing of the Guard and Public Transportation


Every Monday at 11 a.m. Ecuador has its changing of the guard. During the changing of the guard there is a marching band, horses, the national anthem is sung while the national flag is raised, and the president and many other important government officials come out onto the balcony of the Presidential Palace to wave at the crowd.  It is an event that draws a large crowd every week and is very important to Ecuatorianos. Some similarities to the U.S. that I noticed were the snipers on the rooftops and the protestors that you can find at any government event.

Although there were a couple similarities, I thought there were many more differences, with most of the differences tending to fall in the security category. In the U.S., for any event that high ranking government officials are attending people would have to go through security checkpoints with metal detectors, bag searches, and bomb sniffing dogs among other safety measures. Here in Ecuador, we just walked through the plaza and found a place to stand among the crowd. There weren’t any security measures taken aside from the aforementioned snipers on the rooftops. Also, it is surprising how close the crowd can be to the Presidential Palace. We were at a distance that is similar to what congress men and women could expect to be at in the U.S. To go along with that, there are local shops at the street level that are in the same building as the Presidential Palace. The White House is not even remotely close to being this accessible. In terms of the distance civilians can be at and the initial accessibility, the Presidential Palace appears to be as secure as my dorm room.

I think this event is so important to the people of Ecuador because it makes their President more relatable. They appear to cherish the fact that they can be within fifty yards of their President. When the President waves at the crowd it is as if each person believes that the President is specifically greeting them and they excitedly wave back. It also seems like Ecuadorians are extremely proud to be from Ecuador and they jump at any opportunity to come together as a country and participate in traditions like the changing of the guard.


Being from a small, rural town I don’t have very much experience with the public transportation system in the U.S., but I can state for a fact that taking a taxi or a bus is much cheaper in Ecuador than the U.S. It also seems like more people rely on public transportation in Ecuador than in the U.S. The buses here are always packed to the brim with people, especially when it is raining. Another big difference is how many people that aren’t from the city that rely on the bus system here in Ecuador. There are people that take one or more hour bus rides into Quito every day for work. In the U.S., few, if any, take a bus from hours away just for work. Part of the reason we see that is because it is more common for people to take the train if they are using public transportation, but many people own cars so public transportation isn’t relied on as heavily. Another stark difference between our public transportation systems is the type of transportation. Rather than using buses, most major U.S. cities have a subway system. As a developing country, Ecuador has not reached that point, but they are in the early stages of creating one.




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