In her autobiography, Michelle Obama says she made it a goal to learn about a place as well as she could during her travels as first lady. For her, this meant breaking away from the political agenda and getting to know the people that lived there.
Thanks to having family friends that are Ecuadorians, Kyler and I experienced Ecuador beyond the highlights listed in our Lonely Planet guidebook. We got to know the people that live there.
When you interact and share meals with locals, you glimpse at an alternative way of living. You observe what is “normal” in their culture as compared to your own, and you begin to question what makes things “normal” in the first place. This reflection challenges your preconceptions and comfort zone, and you can end up learning more about yourself in the process. This why I love to travel.
It’s different and interesting
In high school I went on a school trip to France and Spain. It was my first taste of Europe and first time outside of the United States, besides Canada.
I remember my Spanish teacher Mrs. Legier telling us to watch our language when encountering something unfamiliar. She told us to say, “It’s not weird or strange, it’s different or interesting.”
What good advice! Our language reflects our biases and perceptions and by shifting our language just a bit we can change how we interpret a certain circumstance.
I pulled this lesson out of my back pocket as we traveled around Ecuador. It helped me frame experiencecs with curiosity, rather than getting uncomfortable. Here are some of those moments.
Latin America means a little bit of chaos
Whenever Kyler recounts a story from his previous visits to Ecuador and Peru, he talks about the undercurrent of chaos (or at least a lack of structure) in day-to-day life. As we waited at a traffic light surrounded by street peddlers juggling, selling fruit and drinks, and trying to wash our windows I started to grasp what he meant.
Parking your car? Better pay the gentleman, a self-dubbed safety officer, who stops traffic on your behalf in exchange for your spare change.
Need to get outside of the city in the early morning? Hurry! The highway tunnel turns one-way sometime between 6:45 and 7 a.m., depending on how punctual the police officer is that day.
Buying a souvenir at the market? You better have the exact combination of cash and coins to pay, because few vendors have change (cambio) for your $20 bill (or if they do, they’re not giving that $5 bill up).
All of these little quirks may lead to disgruntled travelers. To us, it became the hum in the background that defines part of Ecuadorian culture. You learn to account for it and plan around it. It’s not weird, it’s different and interesting.
Food is often besides the point
I quickly learned dinner is typically late, sometimes around 10-10:30 p.m.! This was a challenging for me, as my “normal” routine involves little social interaction after 9 p.m. and being asleep by 10 p.m.
One night we accompanied Andres (Kyler’s Ecuadorian brother) to a friend’s house. We arrived around 7:30 p.m. so I naively thought dinner might be before 9 p.m. Boy was I wrong. As I shoveled the popcorn appetizer in my mouth, it struck me. Food was besides the point. They were focused on hanging out, laughing and enjoying friendship.
Around 10:30 p.m. we had a simple dinner of baguettes and chorizo sausage with chimichurri, known as choripán. It was delicious!
Sometimes dinner parties in the U.S. can become too focused on making food a show (organic, grass fed, free range, chickens with names, etc.) distracting from connecting with who is sitting at our table.
Now, I’m a foodie so cooking elaborate meals and experimenting in the kitchen is a creative outlet and hobby. But after this experience in Ecuador, I learned there is a place for both elaborate and no-fuss dinner parties.
Kisses for everyone
When you arrive or leave a gathering, no matter the size of the group, you greet every person with a hug and kiss on the side of the cheek. Depending on the relationship, men may simply shake hands, but
I wasn’t fazed by this when we were with Andres’ immediate family. I just thought it was a sweet greeting marking our relationship of 6+ years. But when we went to a family gathering of around 40 people, I was shocked to see Andres making his way around the room greeting and kissing everyone individually. Kyler and I followed suite, kissing and hugging complete strangers.
The kissing parade started again as people began to leave. They wove around furniture and jumping children to say goodbye to every single person.
At first I was uncomfortable getting so close to people I’d never met. But because of this greeting/farewell ritual, I felt a shared experience and connection with other people in the room even if I didn’t speak to them the rest of the time. (My Spanish is terrible).
Within a week of returning from our trip, we attended our friend’s Super Bowl party. I greeted a few people individually and did a sweeping hand-wave goodbye. I wasn’t about to go around the room kissing and hugging my friends, but I did feel an urge to make eye contact and say hi/bye to everyone.
Who knows, maybe the next time I see you I’ll give you a peck on the cheek.
I’m curious, what travel experiences have challenged your assumptions or way of doing things? Let me know in the comments below!
Trip to Ecuador: Itinerary highlights
Because I know you’ll ask. 🙂
Quito | 4 days
- Day One
- Cascade de Peguche
- Otavalo market
- Lunch at Puertolago
- Day Two
- Laguna de Mica
- Lunch at Hacienda Hosteria Jose Maria
- Day Three
- Old Town Quito. Tour of Museo del Carmen Alto.
- Day Four
- Laguna Quilotoa
- Stared at Cotopaxi (arrived just after entrance to the park closed)
Puerto Lopez | 3 days
- Stayed at Hostería Mandála. Highly recommend!
- Los Frailes Beach. This blog post was super helpful and we followed their itinerary.
- Ate at Restaurant Carmita three nights in a row. Delicious, fresh seafood. Why ruin a good thing?
- Tour of Isla de la Plata
Guayaquil | 2 days
- Guayaquil and Caco Tour with Mario, the owner of My Trip to Ecuador.
- Spent a day in our hostel recovering from norovirus…a less than ideal ending to an otherwise fantastic trip.
For more pictures, check out my Instagram highlight story, Insta post 1, Insta post 2, Insta post 3 and a grand finale Facebook post (we have to be Facebook friends first).
