Las Cajas

 

Sunday I got to see Ecuador in an incredible new way. Guided by an adventurous Canadian couple, 9 of my fellow interns and I hiked a portion of the Andes right outside of Cuenca called Las Cajas. With the majority of us not having experience hiking, the five hour journey was much more than we could have expected. Reaching altitude that none of us had experienced before, the trek included a lot of huffing and puffing, but also some of the most amazing sights I have ever seen. (I promise you none of the pictures I took can do it justice)

The couple that guided us on our hike was so intriguing—they had travelled across the entire world hiking for weeks at a time across some of the most dangerous terrains and even cycling across Australia. I have never met people so in tune with nature and so in love with exploring life. It was actually exactly what I needed after a week of studying poverty.

Coming to a developing country such as Ecuador it is so easy to get caught up in the hardships and what people lack. With all the poverty you forget about the beauty—the beauty of the land, the nature, the culture, and the people. Being out completely isolated in these gigantic mountains really puts it all in perspective… You cannot ignore the message of nature when you are just one tiny speck within such an enormous, majestic mountain range.

Returning from our journey in Las Cajas to an entirely closed Cuenca was incredibly symbolic. In Ecuador, Sunday is a day centered on family, therefore everything is closed. One of my favorite cultural values that I have seen so far in Ecuador is the importance of family, and after returning from such an eye opening trip in the mountains, the closed stores reminded me of the beauty of the culture as well.

I know I will see some things here in Ecuador that will be difficult for me to swallow, poverty is always incredibly unsettling, but I am realizing more and more that the poverty does not have to stand in front of the beauty. I may be in a developing country, but these people are genuinely happy… I think I am going to learn a lot more from them.

Lot of love from Ecuador,

Jen