5 Things about Loja Culture: Tiempo Lojano

Tiempo Lojano 

Anyone who knows me, knows that I like to be punctual. It's important to me to show up on time or a little early to work, church, or any other particular event. I also like to plan ahead, or at least I used to.Then I adapted to life in Loja.

Llegar "tarde" 

The only thing in this culture that actually starts and stops on time is work (and church for the most part). People understand that work needs to begin when each person clocks in, and every worker understands that they work until the hour is up. Events with family and friends, on the other hand, do not start at the time that the invitation says. If I show up 30 minutes late, I will be one of the first ones to arrive.

Razones 

There are many reasons for this phenomena in my opinion, and I happen to like them.Reason NUMBER 1: If it's an event with friends and family- why stress over arriving on time? The whole point of getting together with friends or family is to enjoy it, so it's counter-intuitive to run around stressed about arriving on time when the reason of getting together is to relax and have fun together. Reason NUMBER 2: The show will go on whether or not I get there on time. The world and the event does not revolve around me, so those who arrive "early" can start enjoying the event even if everyone else doesn't get there on time. Reason NUMBER 3: I'm doing something with other people and it would be rude to leave that event early to go somewhere else.(more on that later). Reason NUMBER 4: I've underestimated the time I needed to get ready. My makeup isn't done, or I've decided to change my outfit/shoes/jewelry/etc. I didn't start getting ready until late, or I couldn't make up my mind on how to look my best. My guy friends are actually worse about this one than my gal pals.

Hacer planes 

Another aspect of time is how my Lojano friends make plans. In the States, for adults, if you don't make plans a week or two in advance, your plans won't happen the majority of the time. People fill up their schedules months at a time. I think that in some ways, we are afraid to have "down time." We would have to really know ourselves if we stopped going and going and going and that's scary. People from the States also tend to believe that being busy is equated with being important and valuable, so we stay busy. Most Lojano's aren't like that.

In Loja, plans are made for events that day or only days before. This is true for work, friends, and family plans. Friends will send me a text in the morning asking what I'm doing at night. At most, I will hear about something a couple days before. If I'm going to travel, it's not necessary to buy bus tickets weeks in advance.  Most people will buy the tickets a couple hours before, or at the time the bus leaves. Trying to make plans weeks in advance is useless because no one will be able to tell you whether they will be free or not. Even if you make plans a couple days before, both people have to confirm that day for the plan to work out. This difference has been difficult for me at times because I too like the security of having plans, but it's actually a beautiful thing. It allows me to be spontaneous. It looks like unexpectedly going out to coffee or dinner with friends after a long work day and having my spirits lifted. It will take a completely free weekend and turn it into the most lovely time filled with laughter and fun at the last minute.  

In general, I'm still adjusting to differences in perspective about time, but I can appreciate many of the reasons for the differences. So, I hope this post encourages you to do something spontaneous and take advantage of the time you have to spend it with the people who really matter to you!