I think most of you knew I had a site buddy, another PCV living in Mindo working in Agriculture. Yesterday was his last day. It was really sad to say goodbye for many reasons, he was such a dedicated hard working volunteer, seeing the impact he made on everyone in town, and all this made me think about my service and I realized that I only have 5 months left! I´ll be honest it´s a day that I had many moments of thinking it couldn´t come fast enough and now that it´s in eyesight I´m wishing for a little time. It has taken me a year and 8 months to not just appreciate but truly fall in love with Ecuador, the slow life of Mindo, and the untimely Ecuadorian hour.
But through this all I´ve had more than enough experience to knock me down and for a time I didn´t let the cuts and bruises heal by just doing the minimum and cutting myself off to the beauty that comes with opening yourself. I think the reality of leaving ya mismo (anytime) helped me to throw away this victim like mindset to actively search for the good and share myself with this amazing little town, stop assuming the worst, and most importantly not taking it personally for example…when the bus drivers claims he is going to town B but the sign on the bus only says town A and when we get to town A he says that they can’t make it to town B, take another bus…which was a taxi ride and a 40 minute delay but the great part was guy lied to the Ecuadorians too!!! So it wasn´t just me the dumb gringa! Instead I´m focusing on loving the good like my evening walks in these lush tropical surrounding encountering frogs, snakes (little ones), multiple hummingbirds, and sometimes toucans! Walking to the neighbors house/store to buy a bag of milk for 70 cents and not being able to walk around town without someone calling my name. It´s the little things I find more endearing and daily reminders of why I joined Peace Corps in the first place.
This time has put me face to face with the many injustices of this world and with this witnessing how good we´ve become at breaking each other down because we´ve lost that idealistic hope! I did, but through appreciating the little things, and taking life one day at a time we slowly find that hope again maybe not idealistic but hope none-the-less. I encourage you all to find the good today and share yourself, we need each other!!!!
Much love to you all always.
Here are some pics from a fun weekend (last weekend) with a English teacher volunteering in Mindo.
http://picasaweb.google.es/alicia.e.odell/ElChaupi
http://picasaweb.google.es/alicia.e.odell/BanosWithHeidi#
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