Impromptu Swim Party

As life happens, you are best served not scheduling your day to a T...or really not at all. Case in point. I was washing some under garments before I jetted off to work. As I´m walking outside to hang my clothes on the line I hear two little voices yelling my name. I turn around to see two sets of eyes looking at me. Oh it´s my host sister and her cousin! They hadn´t been over in over a year I feel. It´s always me who goes to visit them! So I run to open the gate and we are talking about our lives and what´s going on. Life is interesting and full of mystery when you´re 7 & 9, let me tell ya.








It was a SUPER sunny day (and it was only nine in the morning). As the follow me around hanging my clothes up on my line by my pool they couldn´t help but think, it´s sunny, you have a pool we should make something happen. After reading their squinty, sweaty expressions, I did the inevitable... I offered to let them come over "sometime" and swim. Well in Spanish, "sometime" actually means today at around 2:00 (well at least if you´re 7 or 9 and on your summer vacation). I knew I had A TON to do that day, but I thought, cool, I´ll try to leave work early and stop by your house to officially ask permission from their moms to come over. Well as always, the day goes on longer than one expects and I was still occupied later than I thought.


That didn´t even matter they were at my house when I got home ready to go. The only thing we folks were waiting on was for me to get into MY swimsuit! Now, I thought two girls were coming over, well I guess they thought it was a +1 party, because they had brought +1s and their +1s had invited +1s. Well if "the more the merrier" was the theme, I called up my neighbors, loves and friends to come over and we had a straight up Impromptu Swim Party on a random Tuesday afternoon. It was so much fun. I made popcorn, we had soda and the day was a huge unplanned success. Although I was Exhausted at the end of the day, it´s moments like those that I love where it doesn´t take planning or forethought, just being Present, open and willing to have a great time.

#26 - Saludos!

Saludos,

One thing I love about Ecuadorian customs is that you saludar, or greet people when you enter a room, a store or the general presence of people. It’s highly acceptable to walk into a party of 30 people and you personally kiss each one on the cheek or at least extend a handshake to each individual. That alone I think is Great manners and I love that connection on a human level.

Something I find humorous is how this affects meetings and “la hora Ecuatoriana” as the call it (i.e. not being obsessed with time and arriving within 30 minutes of that stated time is good enough). When people walk into meetings extremely late that are already in session, instead of slinking in quietly to the back, the usually shout out “BUENAS TARDES”, in order to, of course, not seem rude or mal educado (poorly educated) for entering a room without greeting the people.

That irony makes me giggle every time, because in the U.S. we would think it’s a) extremely rude to arrive late to a meeting b) make your presence known once you arrive, but here I’ve had the presenter stop to call someone out for entering the room and NOT greeting everyone. It’s so classic and I definitely prefer the Ecuadoran rules of Greetings/Saludos.

Aldea Kids Come To Sua!

We´d been throwing the idea around for awhile, but finally one of the Mom´s from the Aldea come over to my house and brought all of her kids! Actually, the original plan was they would come to Sua Beach and we would hang out there.





However, once we realized the fish that the kids were "cathing" were actually a result of a river of dead fish thrown out by the fisherman up the river, we became disgusted with the ocean and ended up going back to my house and swimming in the pool That turned out to be a way better time anyway. It was so special being able to have someone I work with over to the house and to have the kids know where I live and what my place is like, since I´m in their house every single day.



We made an impromptu lunch of tuna, tomatoes and rice and the Mom had the kids just sit in the floor since they were dripping wet. I said they could sit on the coach and chairs, but once she saw my furniture she decided she is going to want to buy them from me when I leave and she didn´t want "for the kids to mess up her new furniture". So These are some fun memories of the day. I´ll cherish them always!!