I guess its been a while since my last Ecua-update. Sorry about that blogsphere.
These last couple weeks have been so full and crazy and have flown by. I’m coming to the end of being swamped by school (i hibernated with my computer for a week or 2 workworkworking), loving that the sunshine came back for this perfect week after hiding for a couple weeks, and experiencing as much culture and beauty as I can before I head home.
Recently I’ve seen a whole lot of really cool indigenous culture. A couple weekends ago we went with one of my classes to this ceremony/festival south of Quito. It ended up being a giant hike (which we werent expecting) but when we got to the top of this big hill they had a beautiful mass and food and song and celebration. It was a really cool mix of indigenous tradition and that modern catholic faith. They were all so welcoming to us obvious foreigners and couldnt get enough of telling us all about why they were there and what they were doing, it was great. The next week, I showed up for the same class and our teacher informed us that we were not, in fact, having class that day because there was a protest/march of indigenous people protesting the privatization of water in their towns, and we were going to go. Granted, as American citizens, that probably wasnt the best place for us to be. But we only spoke Spanish, pretended to be tourists, stayed away from cameras, and soaked it all up. It was so incredible. This mass of indigenous people with flags waving, chanting in front of congress about their rights and how water is a gift from Mother Earth. SO COOL. After a while we left and hung out with our classmates for a while. woohooo Ecua-friends :)
It has finally hit me that I’m actually leaving this place, and I keep realizing how many things I am going to miss. We were talking the other day about how this will never happen again. Even if I come back to visit, it wont be in this situation, with these friends that I have grown so close to and love so much. I am so happy to see my family and friends back home again, but I’m preparing myself for some pretty horrific reverse culture shock and I know I’m going to miss this place so much.
Yesterday was the big 20. It was a perfect day. :) My dear friend Angie made me a delicious breakfast, then we went and climbed to the top of the Basilica, a beautiful church in Old Town with an incredible view. After that we got lunch, got out fingers and toes done, and went to our IES goodbye dinner. So much fun.
Quito is beautiful. God is so good. Time is flyying. All I can do is embrace every second. And that is what I will do.
