My last day I have spent wandering around Quito. Adam left in the early morning, so I started this journey as I began, alone in giant Quito. I went to the two Guayasamín museums today. Guayasamín, one of the most famous modernist painters in Latin America, has two museums here in Quito. His artwork is astounding but it is his life work which moves me. His museum, Capilla del Hombre, which was his vision, is a tribute to the suffering of the indigenous populations in Latin America. Works in the museum focus on the Spanish Civil War, the violence in Chile, Honduras and various other Latin American countries as well as the faces of americans: mestizos, negros and indígenas. The artwork was incredible and inspiring, but it was a quote on the wall which really got me.
`Yo lloré porque no tenía zapatos hasta que vi un niño que no tenía pies´
`I cried because I did not have shoes until I saw a boy that had no feet´
Maybe it caught my attention because right now I have no shoes, and my previous blog posts show how much I have been dwelling on that fact. It is not a quote that makes me feel very good about myself, but I am very glad I saw it. I think if I keep that in my head it may help me keep things in perspective and remind me of the greater duty I have to other people.
As my home page states, this trip to Ecuador has been part of a mission to see what lies beyond school and beyond the conventional education. I was hoping that this trip would help me to narrow down what I want to do next, but I feel as though I have opened a door that leads to a sunlit room with one hundred doors. This room is nice and I think I could stay here for awhile, peeking through windows or cracking open doors, until I find that source of sunlight.
This trip has reinforced the importance of kindness and the power of a smile. I feel fortunate to have a good grasp of the spanish language, which I believe has helped me immensely on this trip, but my biggest help has been the kindness of those around me. The people I have traveled with, passengers on the buses, store-owners, people who have opened up their homes and countless others in the states who gave me advice, encouragement and contacts.
I think that kindness is something you will find anywhere, if you open your heart up to it. There are so many people in this world overflowing with love. I am not sure where my path may lead but I want it to be one of kindness and light. I want it to be filled with encouragement, love and smiles. It is funny how a smile may shift a day, a week or an entire trip. I feel that my trip has been made by the people I have met. The places that I hold the closest to my heart are ones where I made some great connections and laughed a lot. They are places where a sense of community was formed. My brother used to tell me that he did not care where he ends up living, a place is a place. I thought it was ridiculous, but am starting to see what he means. A place is a place, it is the people that you are surrounded by and the attitude you take on that makes the experience.
This summer, although full of Grand Canyon work, holds some other exciting adventures waiting to unfold. There may be some sporadic posts accounting for these adventures and new friends, I will try to keep my facebook current. Thank you for reading.