¡Carnaval in Baños!

For those of you whose limited Spanish vocabulary includes the word "baños," don't be mislead. I did not, in fact, spend four days in a bathroom, but rather in a lovely city southwest of Quito. Think "Bath,' like England.

This weekend was too fantastic to condense into a well-written blogpost, so I'm going to let some photos speak a few thousand words for me.

Here's the view of Baños. From a small field with this lovely vista, we sang songs and talked for a bit. An energetic nun led us in a few activities.

With one of my dearest friends and a new friend.

I'm becoming a percussion expert thanks to my new friends.

We went to Chimborazo! 5,000 METERS!

We went to an amazing waterfall and got to go behind it--getting refreshingly drenched with the powerful cascade.

This is what Carnaval looks like! Water and flour and silly string and more. All's fair in this war.

We sang and played coastal songs. And, last but not least...I danced the mapalé. This is a crazy coastal dance originally brought to Colombia by slaves from Guinea. I was jokingly dancing around to a drumbeat when my friends observed my apparently legit moves and invited me to take part in their surprise dance number after one of the evening meetings. Definitely an unforgettable experience for all of us! So unforgettable I'm not sure I'm going to live it down.

I'm going to be really sad to leave these friends when I return to the States. But, all things are beautiful in their time.

 

On the last day in Baños, there was an entire meeting of mockery, paying tribute to the experiences of each of the four days--people imitated the songs, the presentations and...our dance.

On being content in this inconvenient life

I´m definitely trying. And being mostly successful. Read on.

Saturday evening was really interesting. Some friends and I got together with a man who runs his own company (cooking oil production, which is a big industry in Ecuador) to discuss his business, his ideas on economics and, to make a long story short, who he was voting for in the upcoming presidential elections here. I appreciated the fact that he scrutizined the candidates´ positions on education: none of which appear to have grand plans in that area, unfortunately. There are some who want to continue increasing the government, until it´s a father to us all--rather what the US seems to be trying. There are others, thankfully, who´d rather let people live freely but well. As the current president is pals with Hugo Chávez, I don´t have a lot of confidence in him. He has built a lot of great roads though. Most think he´ll be re-elected.

Back to contentedness. After spending that evening in a beautiful home in the valley (the first house I´ve been in since arriving), on the way back to the city I had a great conversation with a new acquaintance. He was from here but had traveled to Argentina, Chile, and Italy. After having gone to countries with more stable economies and politics and more convenience, you´d think he might have returned discontent to his own country.

Here in Ecuador, life is fairly inconvenient and sometimes irritating, as I´m sure I´ve described in full. For example: getting anywhere takes forever.

Work is a twenty-minute walk away (which is incredibly close by local standards!). Getting north in the city to see people takes 25 minutes on a usually crowded metro bus. Getting to another friend´s house is a 20-minute walk (or 10 minute bus ride) and then a packed, 20 minutes on the Ecovía (another trolley/bus line). If I want to buy something, it´s not only finding the right store (Wal-Mart and Target do not exist here) but getting there, being safe, and then returning home with the purchases, which hopefully don´t weigh too much.

Nothing is open 24-7. If you need/want groceries or some necessity, chances are you might not get them immediately. Just to leave my apartment building takes a few minutes: locking the door, going down three flights of stairs, unlocking yet another big door to leave. All things that are unfamiliar to me and time-consuming.

If I want to eat something, I either make it myself or eat at a restaraunt that may or may not have everything on its menu. No microwave. No dryer. I don´t drink the tap water.

And right now, it´s raining which makes me very happy because it dampens (..literally) the sounds of the city. But, my dilemma: I have to get to work. Taxi? Stand and wait for a bus in the rain, then walk more in the rain? Just plain walk to work and arrive soaked? I might just do that. Unless, of course, it lets up. I´m going to wait and see. I was going to go grocery shopping but now I´ll wait inside, listening to Jon Foreman and writing my blog.

Which brings me to my next point: desire. There´s much to desire when one lives in Quito. All of the aforementioned things and more, perhaps. Why do I sometimes consider living here? why did the guy with whom I spoke say he wouldn´t permanently live anywhere else?

Because anywhere else is too convenient. There´s nothing to desire. Everything is a drive, a phone call, a credit card swipe away in the States (of course, sometimes I really miss that!)

In the dear US of A, I can get distracted from the most profound and basic human desires: love, interior peace, eternity--the longings that make our souls uncomfortable here in time. (Don´t you ever feel like your soul is just squirming...for the lack of a better word? It´s kind of unnerving.)  When something like that strikes me, I could easily fulfill it with some quick solution, material or otherwise: a nearby friend, a chat with a family member, a tasty snack on hand, shopping, a nice drive in my car, or plain old physical comfort, and peace and quiet. All of those things are good. But, they´re temporary. And I think I can sometimes trick myself into thinking that´s all I´ve got and all I need.

Here, you can´t escape desire! So what stands out to me are the moments I do feel fulfilled: moments of soul-sharing with friends, of natural beauty, in the sacraments, in prayer and meditation, when I get to the root of something that´s troubling me and resolve or just embrace it, when I realize the value of my family and friends around the world, and when I realize my own value as a beloved creature. The basic wordly desires bring me to what my heart is actually longing for.

It got me thinking of the things I love: being up before the sunrise, reading great literature, natural beauty, great conversations with friends, delicious meals shared with loved ones.

I love being up before the sunrise, so I can hear the birds, watch the sky change and the clouds clear: once the sun is up, I´m almost disappointed. The sunrise is always different, yet the sun always rises in the same way. The desire is beautiful! The thing awaited is the almost monotonous.
I like long books so I don´t reach the end too quickly: I love the desire of getting there, the journey.
When I´m somewhere naturally beautiful, I don´t want to leave, I want to look at it forever, live there. But, go I must, so I enjoy the fleeting moment.
Moments of peace like meals and conversations always end--they´re beautiful in their time.

If I saw this every day, would it be as amazing?

The glorious moments of beauty, peace, and love burn just a little bit: they´re stretching my heart and imagination and soul ever so slightly, so the next time, I can appreciate better the brief joys. It´s like a fire: the more you add, the more brilliantly it burns, and the more fuel it needs.

So, in short: I´d like a car to drive to work right now. It´s still raining. But, I don´t have one. Just the desire for one. When I eventually get back to mine in the States, I´m going to love it--and for now I´m content with my car-desire.