Saturday, October 17, 2009

The Journey Of A Thousand Miles Begins With One 10 Hour Bus Ride

About halfway between Quito and Cuenca on a bus -- five hours in and five to go -- with Leslie sound asleep next to me I have some time to reflect. The Andean Landscape passing us by is beautiful, sometimes completely new to us, other times wholly familiar. It occurs to me that the people we meet seem that way also. They live very different lives in most cases, but are also so much like us and the friends and family we left behind.



There's the friendly woman and her daughter who jumped up to help us at the bus station at 5:00 AM when we (possibly) looked just a bit confused to find the ticket counter closed. She told us of her husband who works as a chef in Connecticut and was thrilled to learn I was born there. Then there was the old man on the bus who, despite speaking no English and our shoddy Spanglish, was patient and friendly, eager and curious to know about our journey. And there have already been many more ... and we've been here less than 24 hours!




The thing about a trip like this is that it isn't like a vacation. We are keenly aware that this is the beginning of a new chapter rather than a temporary diversion. For a whole year how can it not be? The feeling is more akin to when you move to a new town. But there are also no cold feet,no trepidation. There is excitement, but it is muted. Not at all like the giddy anticipation felt throughout the plane that is palpable as the flight attendant announces that we have arrived in Cancun or some such place.




Soon we will start our Spanish lessons (much more necessary for me than for Leslie) and hopefully we will be able to better share experiences with those that we will share our lives over the next five months. And hopefully we will experience many people, places and things that are sometimes surprisingly wholly familiar and other times completely new.




4 comments:

  1. I went to work today and now I'm on the sofa. I think you're more on a vacation then you're willing to admit ;) Have a great birthday if I don't catch you on Skype.

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  2. Agree with Mark on the vacation thing. Four hours of Spanish classes a day is hard work, but it is not teaching 22 fourth graders :)
    It was so great to see you guys on Skype and see your pics. Ecuador looks amazing and I wish I could be there! How do you look at them on Picasso? Will you put a link here?
    Hope all is well and I expect to have our entire conversation next time en espanol. Estudia mucho! :)

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  3. I think you guys are kidding, but I want to be sure I am understood. I was more trying to convey what it feels like for us beginning the trip and how it a long term commitment rather than a short vacation. And while we plan to study, work and volunteer along the way, we certainly appreciate that we are very fortunate to be able to do something like this.

    As for EspaƱol... Leslie will be able to have a full conversation but that may be next week for me. ;)

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  4. And you're off. I see this journey in your lives not as a vacation, but a side road. A very long side road in your lives that is to be enjoyed, learned from, and at times very unpaved! Dianne

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