Ah, Ecuador...

Yesterday we went to a hummingbird place with a wonderful family we are getting to know (basically, we love them). Well, I should say that this was the goal of the trip, but we didn't quite make it. Let's just say that road conditions did not allow for speedy travel, so after an hour and a half of driving we figured we would come up with a new goal. New goal: picnic lunch at Nono.... pictured here. We had packed a lunch and drove past this neat (as in "neat-o") little town on the drive out. We are in the town center - catholic cathedral in the background, with a nice parkish area right beside it. Pretty much every town is set up this way, it seems (in Costa Rica, too). I think we were a bit of a spectacle. Anyway, the dog in the picture belongs to someone in the town (hmmm, yes, a bit of an obvious statement...) and they were standing on the outskirts of the park area, calling the dog to come. The dog was enjoying the feeding frenzy a little too much to obey.

On the way home we encountered the situation pictured at the top. When we were driving out, we saw a few workmen on the "road", but thought nothing of it. On the way back, however, these same workmen were "fixing" the "road". The picture does no justice to reality. There was a fairly deep chasm, shall we say, with a mountain of dirt on the other side. Definitely impassable, even with a 4x4. So, we waited until they were done. They told us it would be about half an hour, and surprisingly, it was. They pulled the tractor off to the side and we inched (literally) by it, with a 60' drop on the other side.... and we were on our way. Not a situation we would find in North America.

While not what we might choose to have happen, it seems to be the Latin American way. And truthfully, in many ways, I prefer it. People just aren't in such a hurry here. You always see people just hanging out wherever, talking, relaxing and just enjoying being. Unless they are driving, no one is in a big hurry. Much better on the heart/blood pressure situations. Their priorities seem to be in better order. I can learn a lot here. I hope I do.