back from the jungle!

Hello friends, I am sorry I have been completely MIA for the past month. To my credit, I was deep in the rainforest for much of that time, about 4 hours by foot (and then another 2 hours by bus) from the nearest computer. So that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.

I've been back in Miami for over a week now, but it always takes me a little while to re-acclimatize to American culture and gather my thoughts about my time abroad. Life in Ecuador is quite a contrast to the average life in the States; let's just say that we have it super easy, and being in Ecuador always reminds me of that fact. I have returned with a renewed sense of humility and gratitude for simple things, like running water, clean drinking water, washing machines, basically every appliance in our kitchen. I am particularly thankful for my juicer, after watching a friend spend about 2 hours grating carrots and beets, to then squeeeze the juice out of the pulp to make herself a tasty and refreshing drink. I'd love to send her mine- I'm sure she'd get more use of out it than I do! And she'd probably appreciate it way more... All in all, we have a lot to be grateful for!

One appliance that I refuse to use upon my return to Miami is the dryer. Come on, people. We live in South Florida. You can't get more tropical than that in the continental United States. The weather rarely gets below 70 degrees and we barely get any rain in the "winter" months, so why why why do we insist on wasting energy with a clothes dryer? The sun does it FOR FREE.

Okay okay, I'm done. That's my rant for the day.

Of course, Veronica's family hang-dry all of their clothes, and they even have some clotheslines set up on their rooftop for maximum sunshine exposure. Curiously, they have a washing machine in their house, but I never saw them use it once. Washing their clothes by hand is a daily routine for them, and I don't think they can get used to having a machine do the job that they can do themselves. Equally curious is the wooden paddle that every Ecuadorian household keeps in their wash station. Throughout the day, you'll hear them beating their wet clothes with it. I figured it was an anger management tool, but when my clothes dried stiff as a board, I understood the use of their paddle. It softens the fibers!

Next time you do something simple like load a dishwasher, give a thought to those who have to do them by hand, with no running water, by candlelight. A challenge, indeed. I think it's important to be mindful of how good we've got it. Vacuum cleaners, blenders, air conditioning, personal vehicles, food processors (My lifesaver! Have you ever tried making hummus without one? I have, with limited success. Not fun.) - these things make our life easier in ways that we never even realize.

My question is this: what are we doing with these saved minutes of our lives? We shouldn't feel guilty for our good fortune, but rather we should honor the ease with which we live our daily lives by truly making the most of it. My hope is that we are doing our best to be productive and engaged citizens of our country, to live with intention and invest our energy in a positive and meaningful way.