Tuesday 19 January 2010

Otavalo...

...was incredible! I don't even know where to begin. The best part of it (for me) was the SHOPPING!! I bought sooooo many hand made ecuadorian clothes, jewelry, purses, etc for ridiculously cheap. I will post a few pictures on facebook sometime this week...After the big market experience we got to visit a few families. The one of the families showed us how they weave scarves. To make one particular scarf takes about two hours, and they sell these scarves for 5 bucks each, meaning that they work (on an average) for $2.50 an hour, every single day. Another family that we visited made instruments, which were also sold for relatively cheap.

Asides from the shopping and the visiting, we hiked around a lake, amidst a 3 million year old volcano (super chévere) visited a waterfall, and just basically went exploring. We were only away for 2 days, but it felt like at least a week. Its definitely a spot that I need to visit again and bring friends.

Experiences like these are quite humbling in that:
  1. I experienced and viewed some of the most beautiful scenes of nature that I've ever seen in my life. Coming from Chicago and seeing so much nature was something completely new for me. I literally felt as if I were a part of God's painting, with every mountain, lake, and volcano placed perfectly where it should be. Going back to the concrete jungle (chicago) will be a huge culture shock.
  2. Going to the market and purchasing so many beautiful handmade items, then watching people as they work so hard to make these items so i can go back to the States and look fly makes me super appreciative about everything I have going on in my life. Oftentimes I find myself complaining about silly things like how much I'm tired of school but when I see these people work so hard for so little money to make things that make me look fly, I'm super appreciative of what I have. Wearing my new purchases will remind me of the constant luxury I have of simply being able to come to this country to buy and wear these things to look nice, study, and go back to the States, instead of spending the rest of my life working so hard to make these things. I really have it quite easy with no reason to complain or whine. And I thank God for that.
Hasta luego
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2 comments:

  1. Friend of God6 February 2010 at 11:16

    LOL @ watching people as they work so hard to make these items so i can go back to the States and look fly makes me super appreciative.

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  2. Sarah17 February 2010 at 11:27

    You would look fly anyway.....
    But isn't it amazing, the perspective you get simply by changing your environment? Zimbabwe did that for me, and you're right, re-entering the concrete jungle is very jarring. I went from traveling in a "combi" on bumpy rural dirt roads to a five-lane Los Angeles superhighway going home from the airport. It was like having vertigo, very weird. And seeing how the rest of the world lives, works, gets by -- very humbling.

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