Green Dollars and Gringos

An interesting thing about Ecuador is that the American dollar was recently adopted as the standard national currency here. I am not sure about all of you, but if the US suddenly adopted the national currency of another nation, when we had our own to begin with, I wouldn't be too happy. I think that is probably part of what makes such a distinction between Ecuadorians, or Latin Americans in general, and 'gringos.' 

I have heard a couple possibilities for the origin of the word 'gringo' which apparently comes from 'green go home': the first is a military reference and the second is an economic reference. This is the first time I have really been part of the minority group in a foreign country, which has provided some interesting experiences vis-a-vis making friends with locals and seeing how the volunteers and regular staff at Jatun Sacha interact. There exists a friendly but somewhat strange dynamic between the two groups - sometimes everyone eats all together, sometimes the tables are divided between volunteers and staff. Sometimes everyone goes to the bar together and sometimes we don't. Speaking of the bar, and getting to paying for things, there are always differences in prices for Ecuadorians and for gringos, or foreigners. Whether it comes to airline tickets to the Galapagos ($400 for foreigners, much less for Ecuadorians), national park fees, or even beer ($1.25 for foreigners, $1 for locals) there are big financial distinctions everywhere.