Down there...

Life was far simpler. I had less things, I needed less things. I definitely spent less money - not only because things were cheaper but because I didn't need to buy as much. I rode public transport everywhere. I enjoyed life in a more simple way. I was able to travel and explore the country, but did so in a modest way. I could have lived differently, more luxuriously, and still I was living in a farrr better situation than almost the whole Ecuadorian population.

Think about it - unlike the rest of the world, we have a CHOICE to live more simply. I personally thirst for shunning the "stuff" and "things" in my life and accepting a more simple existence... but in the blink of an eye I could choose to have all this stuff back. But the majority of our human brethren don't make this CHOICE, they live in a certain way because it's their only life path.

I'm working hard to not lose the realizations I made in Ecuador about what is necessary in life. It's too easy to get sucked back into the mainstream expectations of how life "should" be lived here.