bookmarks toolbar." In an effort to remedy this and retain my position of influence on bookmark toolbars around the globe here is a brand new and hopefully unsucky post.
Life in the jungle is good. Filled most recently with a lot of interesting projects at work and a wonderful visit from my mom and our friend Jessie. Having them here and watching their reactions to all the little oddities and inconveniences of life in Ecuador got me thinking about culture shock.
I suppose for many people coming from America straight to Ecuador the culture shock is more disconcerting and bizarre than a meflaquin dream. However, I have been here a full year now and for better or for worse I've grown accustomed to the idiosyncrasies of my temporary home. Things that once drove me into fits of frustration or panic like 10 hr bus rides without a bathroom break, plagues of giant insects, and the cat calls of teenage boys marinated in cheap cologne no longer even register.
There are all sorts of theories and studies on coping with culture shock. It's a favorite topic of tedious workshops at international job trainings everywhere. But I can confidently say that I have found the true solution to culture shock and integration. The answer is not in exchanges of international values or language immersion or analyzing your inner western biases. The key is to just stop caring so much and give into plain old acceptance. Accepting that as strange or annoying or frightening as this may be it is simply the way things are.
Maybe there are deep religious, social, and economic roots behind every cultural quirk and I should be more understanding and contemplative but that won't persuade the guys on the corner to stop shouting "I love you baby" or make anyone show up to a meeting on time or even stop the bus driver from simultaneously chatting with his girlfriend and eating a papipollo while careening around the sharp curves of Andean roads. So I may as well just order my own papipollo with extra mayonnaise sit back and enjoy the ride.
Mom getting ready to eat her first truly Ecuadorian meal. Ayampaco...yum
I am really happy here because no one died (or was even seriously maimed) on our jungle hike.
Drinking Guayusa. The saying goes that anyone who drinks this tea in Macas will never leave. They seemed more frightened than enchanted by that idea.
