A Travel Bracelet

November 15^th

I moved into my very own apartment this weekend! After looking at 20-some apartments (some turned down for personal reasons, others because of PC safety and security policy), and trying to explain to my host mother my reasons for wanting to move out, I found my perfect apartment. It's small – a studio apartment with a personal bathroom and kitchen. It has huge windows with an amazing view over the city and a shower with hot water. I looked all over the city, and had three in mind before Peace Corps came to approve my housing. However, at the end of the day, none of them felt right. I would not only be moving houses, but changing families. In Ecuador families are very very close. It's normal for children to live with their parents until they get married, and even then parents often have a hard time letting their children leave the house. The family is number one in Ecuador, and these traditional feelings shine through with my host family. My host mother lives on the same street as her parents, her husband's parents and five of her siblings/ siblings-in-law. In fact, my new apartment is across the street from my host family, it's in her mother's house. It feels great. I have family all around me, but I have my own space. I can leave my papers and books out, read till all hours of the night, and make my cafe and avena in my underwear :). While I still need a few things (a stove, a broom, some curtains), but I feel safe and happy here – it will be easy to start calling this my home.

I have been in Ecuador for five months now. It's longer than anytime I have spent away from my family and Colorado. There are days when I miss home, the US, my family, and all my amazing friends. There have been days when I call loved ones, and the sound of familiar voices makes me want to jump on a plane and head home. The worst is when things are wrong, and all I want to do is give someone a hug – but, I hug doesn't have the same sentiment when it occurs over the phone. But this travel has just begun. I'm starting to feel comfortable here, and would love to show some foreigners around (hint, hint, wink, wink).

Before I left the states, Ella and her sister Michelle gave me a travel bracelet from South-East Asia. It was hand-woven blue thread with bright beads and small seeds all the way around. The story goes … with this Travel Bracelet, put it on at the beginning of your travel. During this time, make wishes, hopes, dreams for the coming adventures. Eventually, once your travel dreams are ready to take form - the bracelet will fall off. At this time, all of your travel karma will be released into the Universe. During your travels, your good thoughts, hopes and dreams will come back to find you. I've worn my travel bracelet for the past 5 months, through training, my time living with my host family and the first three months of my work here. During this time, I thought often of the meaning of the bracelet and my reasons for traveling to Ecuador. Last night, I was moving my last load of stuff from my host family's house to my new apartment. I started looking around, to make sure I hadn't let anything. My host mother came to my door and told me she was going to miss me. We started talking about some of our plans for the coming years, how we were going to stay in touch and special days we wanted to spend together (yes, my new apartment is right across the street). I looked in all the drawers for left thing, and under the bed, where, I found my broken Travel Bracelet. I've found a place to call home and people to call family.

First solita-almuerzo!


The door on the left goes outside, the middle one goes to my kitchen, the one on the right the bathroom.



The view from the windows is over all of Guaranda :)