Priorities

I wish I had the pictures. 

I've been pretty lucky.  

When I was growing up, we had exchange students... several.  The first two came from Ecuador.  We didn't have them at the same time, they were one after the other.  But they were also best friends.  Fernanda was the first one.  He parents came to visit while she was staying with us.  Our families became close.  In fact, Fernanda's brother, Patricio, lived with us for a year a bit later.  Gina was next.  She was Fernanda's best friend.  A couple of months after Gina went back to Ecuador, we went down for three weeks to visit both families.  

Talk about a culture shock...  And not just in one direction.   

Upon arrival in Guayaquil, after being herded into customs by young men with guns (another story) we drove down to Manta. 

Culture Shock #2

I'm going out of order here because my point is in the other one.  But, #2 was this.  Wealth on a level I had never seen.  The next door neighbor was a coffee baron.  His giant home (compound) fronted the Pacific Ocean.  A couple of different pools, tennis courts, and a wall around the property.  He was a very nice guy, and threw a lavish party in honor of my parents (an excuse... his wife didn't let him drink except at parties, and he liked to drink).  He spent more on booze for the party than many people spent for their homes... for one party. 

Culture Shock #1

Poverty on a level I had never seen.  I am not exaggerating when I say that we saw people living in grass huts.  There is a particular story that I can't relate here except to say that our guest tipped a kapok farmer for use of his bathroom... more than he made in a year, and it didn't dent our travel budget.   

But the point...

Here is the point... in just a moment.  Those same grass huts had power going in.  And TV antennas.  Keep in mind that this was 1974, and antennas were as state of the art as could be found there...  The point is that these people were living in grass huts and had TVs and refrigerators.  They had cars, too...  

Instead of spending money on a better house or on a better education or on something that would have a long term positive effect, it went to "stuff wanted now" like TVs. 

We are suffering from the effects of a mortgage crisis and housing bubble burst.  And one of the things i hear entirely too much is about people trading equity in their homes for things that didn't add value to their home, or even long term value to their lives, but instead... bass boats, flat screen TVs and flashy cars.  

I know that I am over-simplifying this.  There are a lot of people around the country that are being hurt by the housing bubble/mortgage meltdown mess that didn't really do foolish things.  And there were a lot of people in Ecuador that had challenges that prevented them from changing their situation.  But, the fact remains that for many, the situation is of their own design... not on purpose, but rather from a lack of purpose. 

I loved visiting Ecuador.  We went back again in 1976.  On that visit, we also went to Popayan, Colombia to visit Mercedes, our third exchange student.  The trips and scenery were magnificent.  I remember a lot more about Ecuador, but part of that is going a couple of times and spending ore time there.