I love living in Latin America. Yes, despite my 1000$ piece of equipment being stolen Saturday just because I am white and was working alongside a group of white tourists, I still very much love living here. A conversation I had with a close friend yesterday that reminded me of why.
I don’t think I’d had a proper conversation with her since the last time I left Canada. Once we started talking, naturally I asked what was new?! What has been going on in her life? She reported that there was nothing much new. She went to work, came home and bitched about work, repeat. She is very happy in love, so she doesn’t hate life, but claimed to have nothing seriously exciting worth reporting or telling.
Living down here on the other hand, I have been up for a little over an hour and already could have at least 2 stories to tell. Things out of the ordinary happen every day. Even after 3 months living and working here, out of the ordinary work took place Friday and Saturday. It is all this that reminded me of why we left. Why we came here. To escape the monotony and routine everyday living in Canada can bring with it.
Here we have an adopted street dog that has become extremely protective over our house and watches guard all night every night. We have to watch for giant snakes in the grass while walking to work and jumping in the river. We had a woman this morning crawl out of the brush of trees in our back yard, with a big smile asking us if there are any pigs in the yard. We have a neighbour that weed wacks his ENTIRE yard, every week or so. We have a bed that we have to re-inflate every week or so. We have bugs the size of hands flying in to our house every evening, leaving us on spur of the moment strategic bug slaying missions. We have hilarious chickens in the back yard and a neighbour’s rooster that comes to visit them and keep them ‘in check’. We buy our vegetables every Monday from a guy who sells them out of his van who stops by our office for us. The list just keeps going. This doesn’t even include the crazy people our co-workers and neighbours are, and our encounters with them.
All of this is part of our everyday life here. Never in a million years could we claim this is boring or monotonous. Every day life throws new excitement and challenges at us. Wonderful new memories and learning opportunities. I feel like I have learned, experienced, and grown more throughout this last year in Latin America than I have during many other years combined. And despite the pitfalls and setbacks that are always ever present as well, some minor, and some major, I truly wouldn’t change a thing.
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