Reflections

We have been home for two days now, and our experience in Ecuador is beginning to be processed in our brains.  My very first thought as we drove home from the airport was how beautiful this country is.  The roads, the landscaping, the homes we pass, even the shopping centers - they all looked lovely after the concrete walls and concrete houses we saw in Ecuador.  When I drove to Sarah's house the next morning to pick up the kids, I realized that every family that lived in one of the houses in Seville lives in a house that only the richest families in Ecuador have.  

However, I truly missed the wonderful markets in Ecuador when I went grocery shopping today.  Pineapples were $1.00 for three in Cotacachi.  In Queen Creek I paid $3.99 for one!  Bananas were 79 cents a pound here; there they were 5 cents each.  But I could buy everything I needed at one store rather than going to several different shops.

It will take a bit longer to decide whether the lack of government interference in people's lives in Ecuador works better than the overwhelming intrusion of the government into every facet of our lives here.  It is pretty clear that when people are spending so much of their time just providing for the necessary basics for their families they don't have time to worry about a lot of other things.  They also don't have time for leisure activities.  We never saw a single movie theater in our entire time in Ecuador.  Nor did we see any professional baseball stadiums, basketball arenas, or football stadiums.  I am sure there are soccer stadiums somewhere, but probably only in the largest cities.