These past few weeks have been a blur for me. I have found a sort of routine here which has made the time really fly. It's strange to be so comfortable here sometimes, and because I'm so comfortable it makes me very homesick. I'm enjoying my time here a lot, but I am also excited to have some time back in the states. Being in this daily routine and watching the days and weeks pass without anything remarkable happening makes me kind of bored and uncomfortable. BUT, I meditated on it this morning and realized I am in a very human and divine place. I have no plan, no idea where I'm going next, and am constantly wondering who I am and want to be-- but all of these questions keep me grounded in a strange way.
Also being here for such a long stay has given me a deeper perspective on traveling as a conscious person rather than traveling as a tourist. Yesterday I met a woman from the states who has been living here in Ecuador for over year. As I kept overhearing her talking "Ecuadorians are like this, Ecuadorians are like that," I was thinking of how an Ecuadorian would feel hearing her over-generalizations and assumptions...then I was thinking of how many times I've done that in my travels. How many times have I left a country and later explained the people and their culture as if I was some qualified scholarly expert just because I had traveled there for some time? I don't want to think about how many times I've done that, actually. And furthermore, I've been a total hypocrite because I lash out at anyone who classifies us from the states as 'obese, lazy, stupid, close-minded...etc.' These generalizations were (and are) not only damaging to the people we are describing, but I was also spreading these stereotypes to the minds of those people who may never have the opportunity to experience the culture and country for themselves. I apologize if I have come off this way in any of my conversations or blog posts in the past- I am really going to make a conscious effort in the future to not only stop myself from perpetuating these stereotypes, but also to challenge others who may do the same.
