Day 2 in Ecuador was a fun, but also impactful day. The first activity we did was travel to la mitad del mundo (the middle of the world). This was a cool experience. There was a small tutorial about the equator and sundial. We learned the earth actually spins the opposite way of what you would think (hard to explain without using visuals). We also learned that the word “north” actually means “left,” and that Ecuador is the only country on the equator to be able to determine the actual line of the equator because the use of the Andes Mountains as a reference point.
After seeing la mitad del mundo, we visited the Quitsato Museum. The museum was filled with paintings and sculptures of the famous Ecuadorian artist Oswaldo Guyasamin. His work depicts the pain and suffering of different hateful acts in Latin America and around the world. Almost all of his paintings are of people or animals. The one that stood out to me is called Rio de Sangre which translates to “River of Blood.” The people in the painting are skeleton-like and the colors behind them are red and black. The meaning behind this painting was to reference the Chilean dictatorship in which many children were taken from families and killed. I wrote a research paper a couple years ago about los desaparecidos (the disappearances), which is why this piece of work spoke to me. Guayasamin does a good job of capturing the suffering and pain, yet also the hope for a better world in his art.
At the museum, there was a quote on one of the walls that read “Yo llore porque no tenia zapatos hasta que vi un nino que no tenia pies,” which means “I cried because I had no shoes until I saw a child that had no feet.” This quote impacted me because it applies to the trip I am on now. The saying is a metaphor for people complaining about little problems, when there are people in the world with much larger problems. I know I am a culprit of this, as are many other people from the United States; hence the popular hashtag on twitter #firstworldproblems.
After day 2 I still don’t want to come home, so this is a good sign!
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