Robyn in Peru: Ecuador

Sarah’s guidebook warned that there might be some “slight of hand” at the Equator. That the cool tricks they showed us (balancing an egg on a nail, water spinning down the drain in both directions, etc.) might not have been entirely genuine.

Honestly, I didn’t care; I was having a blast. I eagerly volunteered to test things out, and when it came time, I plopped my feet on either side of the line, proving I could be in two places at once.

It wasn’t too far off, really.

My whole week in Ecuador was kind of like that — straddling my two worlds: indulging in American comforts, while moving among Latin American realities.

Well, for one, I ate very, very well. I mean it was amazing. There was BBQ (with corn bread!), Mexican (with real guacamole), peanut butter, puffy Cheetos, homemade cookies, spinach salad, and vegetables — lots and lots of vegetables.

And oh, Oh! A club sandwich!! I could have cried. Made with real turkey breast, three slices of bread, bacon — oh thank you, Jesus, bacon!! — lettuce, tomato and mayo, it was positively decadent in all its sandwich glory.

But that was just the food.

I used the dollar, had hot showers, spoke English for hours at a time, rode in legit accordion buses, watched the Disney Channel, decided what to eat when and ate as much or as little as I wanted without offending anyone, and slept rooster-free — all with three great friends from the US.

For a week, I almost felt like me again.

Almost.

Perhaps there was no slight of hand, but despite my creature comforts and company, I wasn’t back home. No matter how bad I wanted to be.

It broke my heart to see so many children working in the street instead of at school. People tried to cheat me, and I had to barter. The catcalls were just as gross but in better English. The “Chinese food” was terrible. I got sick. And eventually, my friends got on a plane to go home.

And there I was, back on my own in Latin America.

But you know what? It was totally worth it. We saw some pretty amazing things and spent time with great people that had nothing to do with my life in the United States or the Peace Corps.

Like, for example, I went zip lining. ME, ZIP LINING. In the cloud forest. Right after we hiked to some killer waterfalls. We also sat on top of a volcano. That’s right, in a crater lake. You could see the bubbles and everything. And for a few days, we didn’t worry about bills, school, tri-annual reports, PEPFAR meetings, moving, or starting a new job. We just kind of enjoyed each other, while hanging out in the middle of the Earth.