I think I’m allergic to something Ecuador-ish. I took some Benadryl, so this will be a quick blog before it takes affe-
Still here! But I’m fading fast, so I’ll make it short tonight.
Today was Tourist Day. We had a couple meetings, but most of the day was spent checking out the city of Guayaquil. We had a very enjoyable time. The city is situated on a river, called, oddly enough, the River Guay. And, yes, there was a bridge over it. (There’s a cheap joke there if you work a little. Hey, what do you want? I’m Benadryll-ling.) They’ve done a great job with a riverwalk sort of thing with restaurants, gardens and interesting people everywhere. We enjoyed some more local food and getting to to know the city. There’s a definite “feel” here that is different than north of the border. It’s more relaxed, even in a large city. I like it.
One of the most interesting parts was seeing some Galapagos turtles up close, as well as some iguanas. Strange, strange creatures, as you can see from the pictures (and yes, someone is actually hand feeding one). We then went to a local fruit market, bought a lot of fruits I never saw or heard of before in my life (sorry, no pics for them), and went to someone’s apartment to have a meeting as we ate them.
We are still looking for that “fit” with the organization here, to see where the common ground might be, where Good can be achieved through a project. Great discussions as we look for it, about topics like the definition of what a successful life looks like here in Ecuador, and how that is the same, and different from, a successful life in the US, or elsewhere in the world. IS there a universal “Good Life”? And how does one help others to achieve that, in a culturally appropriate way, as Americans?
You know, light after dinner chitchat…
What answers have you come up with? It seems that answers–definitive ones–to questions like these are still really hard to come by. It’s frustrating at times, but I guess the point is, at least we’re asking the questions.
And we get to see Iguanas to boot.