Christmas reflections on Ecuador thus far
It’s a little hard being away from home on Christmas. I’m not religious, and don’t even have any annual traditions or rituals that I’m missing out on, but popular custom is to place a lot of emphasis on this day above others as a day to rest, relax, be with family, bathe in the familiarity of those you love. It’s an odd and somewhat alienating kind of pressure, this Christmas Pressure, but it’s palpable. Perhaps if I weren’t in a Catholic country where Christmas has an even stronger (and more deeply religious) meaning than at home, I might be able to lean back in a hammock sipping a cocktail and pretend it was just another normal day on the road. But alas, I’m in Ecuador. If I can’t be with the ones I love observing traditions that mean little to me except in their absence, I might as well reflect a bit. They use the US Dollar here, which is both extremely convenient for me and also somewhat confusing and disheartening for Ecuadorians, from what I gather. Because they cannot pri