Patagonia...Wow

So I mentioned to several friends before I left the US that one of my goals while living in Ecuador is to learn to appreciate hiking. Done, and done. While it turned out to be a lot harder to hike in the national park outside my front door, I've done some day hiking when I've had the chance. However, I just spent a week backpacking/kayaking/camping through Patagonia with my parents and it was absolutely ah-mazing. It was beautiful, and energizing, and spiritual, and fun, and everything I expected to come out of a genuine appreciation of hiking. Holy cow. I am an official hiking convert. Life is good, my friends.

Roosters

Whoever said that roosters start crowing at dawn was full of shit. I wake up to the roosters in my neighborhood at 3:30 am. I'm over it.

On a side note, I have a friend who woke up to donkeys having sex outside of window last month. So I guess there's always someone who has is worse.

The daily commute

I was thinking recently about how different my daily commute to work is than it was last year. And then realized it might be a pretty good blog. So, last year my commute consisted of two lovely Minnesotans, an old honda accord with a moldy trunk, and NPR. Now, I take a bus everyday. I live far enough outside of Loja that there are no official bus stops in my neighborhood. Instead I stand on the corner and flag the bus down like I would a taxi every morning. Now, when I say I live that far out of town, it's really only a 15 minute bus ride downtown. Loja's small. The bus costs 25 cents, and on lucky days when it's not too hectic, I'll read a book for my whole commute. However, my bus ride is usually interrupted by various distractions. Men will enter selling everything from bubble gum to their own mother. I had a guy a few weeks ago come on selling some sort of herbal medicine that he claimed not only cured cancer, but also gave you clear skin. Various animals also ride the bus with me, normally a dog or pet, but occasionally chickens and roosters. Other times people will come on hoping to entertain and get a few bucks. Anyway, I've become so accustomed to this, that it doesn't occur to me that it's out of the ordinary. That is, until I compare it to my life pre-Ecuador.

A Good Poem

I don't want to be too emo, or anything. BUT I was re-introduced to this Ralph Waldo Emmerson poem, and it hit home last week. So, enjoy!

Write it on your heart
that every day is the best day in the year.
He is rich who owns the day,
and no one owns the day
who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.
Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt, crept in.
Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a
new day;
begin it well and serenely,
with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense.
This new day is too dear, with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on the yesterdays...

~Ralph Waldo Emerson