Ecuador Monologue

“Mija quieres cuy?” asked my grandma, which means, “Sweetie, do you want cuy?” Cuy is a South America Guinea Pig. My trip to Ecuador is one I’ll never forget. Don’t get me wrong, I was thrilled to have met my family; however, the majority of what I saw will haunt me forever.
Boarding the airplane that was going to take me across the country to one of the greatest densities of tourists visiting volcanoes in the world, I felt an array of mixed sensations. Mainly, I was impatient, yet anxious to know if I was what they expected? After all, I was only 16. Besides excited, I also felt deeply intrigued. My dad had always said, “You guys are lucky to have been born here, when you visit you will experience REAL poverty” I always marveled by what he really intended in

To begin with, I had no access to the Internet. That was hard because back home, I could easily look something up on my phone or laptop. My family there didn’t have a car, so that was another thing. Whenever we would go places we would take public transportation. It wasn’t bad at all, but it was hot and humid and waiting for the bus was terrible. I was hoping the bus would have air conditioning, but sadly it didn’t. While I was there I lived with my aunt for a month, who didn’t have hot water. Where we lived the temperature wasn’t ideal for you to desire a cold shower. Before going, I didn’t really appreciate warm water. I truly missed being able to shower in warm water without having to boil it every time. Then after that I moved into my grandparent’s house, which was out in the countryside. The first time I saw my grandma, she was cutting through a chicken’s neck; I couldn’t eat meat after that. I didn’t know they ate guinea pigs until I heard them while being slaughtered. I wanted to get out of there; I couldn’t bare it. I had to adapt to the way my grandparents’ lived. I experienced a totally different lifestyle to what I was accustomed