Saying goodbye to Ecuador

I am leaving this country tomorrow but know one day I will come back. It's been an amazing experience, and I've been really lucky to do so many things, travel through Ecuador and also two other South American countries, Peru and Argentina. I started missing Ecuador weeks ago. Leaving is so bitter sweet; I am excited to go home and graduate and do something new, but I will really miss my life here. Even though I know I'm leaving tomorrow, my suitcases are packed, and I have been saying goodbye to my friends here all week, it is so surreal. I won't feel like I am going home until I am in my home in LaCrosse. And then, maybe it will hit me.

Of the two semesters I've been here, I've loved the second even more than the first, though the first was also good. This semester, I became very involved with my thesis project about organic food and sustainable agriculture in the sierra, around Quito and also of in the Northern Sierra of Ecuador. I had the opportunity to meet so many smart and interesting people, meet farmers, and I loved talking with them all. I realized, even though now my thesis is finished, the theme is never ending and there is still some much more to find out and to investigate. I am really looking forward to continuing research and learning about this topic. In Quito, people and children work everyday selling candies, gum, or shining your shoes. It's something that everyone sees everyday, but is seen as normal and is just a part of Ecuador. When I began my project I thought about this and asked myself; do these kids care if they eat organic food, or just care about eating food at all? So, I asked everyone I interviewed why organic food is important in Ecuador? Ecuador is a country that relies on agriculture for it's economy (shrimp, bananas, flowers) and poverty is one of the results of continued migration from the campo, the rural parts of Ecuador, to the city, where because of all the migration there are no jobs. Also, the fact is that still today, since the days of Spanish colonization hundreds of years ago, the indigenous people are Ecuador are still fighting for their right to own land and farm the way their ancestors did.

Besides working on my project, I will miss so much my everyday life in Quito. Taking the bus, buying chifles from a street vendor and eating great lunches from $1.50. My last week in Ecuador I became incredibly nostalgic for these things; the bus especially. Taking the bus (20 minute ride from Quito to Cumbaya) is an experience because of the people you see, the vendors who jump on and off the bus selling food and drink, the conversations between the bus drivers and the bus venders, salsa music blaring on the radio (even early in the morning) and of course the crazy driving. To this I say: It's best to not watch; trust the bus drivers who drive the route 30 times a day.

I will miss my favorite park, Parque Carolina. It's a huge park and it is full of people on the weekends; families, kids, soccer, basketball, volley games, flying kites, eating a snack, runners, and of course all the men who cat call at the gringas running by. I never let this stop me from running in the park and usually just gave a mean glare. Carolina proves how fit and health conscience Quitenos are; the fact is, no one is fat. No one. I remember seeing one over weight person; the reason why I remember is because it only happened once.

This brings up another idea about food. I've been a meat eater in Ecuador, and am very glad I made the decision to eat meat (I had stopped eating meat when I went to the University three years ago). My motto is: I will and want to try anything and everything and two, while I'm living in Ecuador, I'm going to eat like an Ecuadorian. So, I've tried guinea pig, cow feet, intestine....etc. All parts of the animal are used, which is the way it should be. I've also realized that being a vegetarian, making the decision to not eat animals for whatever reason, is an urban phenomenon. Though I'll probably return to a vegetarian diet in the states, this concept has become 100% clear to me. I never met an Ecuadorian vegetarian. If you say to an Ecuadorian, "I don't eat meat," the response usually is, "Why wouldn't you?" This kind of mentality exists through Ecuador, but in the rural parts of Ecuador and rural places through the world, eating animals is a fundamental part of diet and life; why wouldn't you eat animals? As I've mentioned before, picking up a bone out of your soup and chewing off the bone is completely acceptable. Kids aren't squemish about it either. I volunteered at a daycare where kids had no problems picking up a chicken bone from their soup and eating off the meat. This would never happen in the states for two reasons: 1) kids might choke on the bone and thus to avoid a lawsuit, would never even be given a chicken bone and 2) kids couldn't handle the bone aspect, being used to breaded boneless chicken nuggets. The point is, if you're going to eat meat, you should have no problem eating chicken off the bone (like it really is on the animal..) and you should be willing to eat any animal or part because really, what's the difference between one and the other?

I will leave Ecuador tomorrow, but have already starting thinking about when and how I can come back. I can only think of one thing I won't miss:
1) Our landlord: Bad, irresponsible, annoying landlords exist worldwide.


Thanks to everyone for reading, I really hoped you enjoyed! I hope to see you all soon in the US of A...let me know if you have any questions, want to see pictures or download some great salsa or merengue music from me!

Que les vaya super bien, les amo a todos, gracias por leer mi blog!

Katie