Back at Pitt, one of my friends was known for asking “What’s your rose, bud, thorn of the day?” (Shoutout Aiden Chinwalla in Spain Plus3 right now). To keep consistent with the rose theme today, I’m going to experiment with it – rose being the best part, thorn being the worst, and bud being something I’m looking forward too.
Today started with a rooster screaming outside our wooden door. Our first adventure was to Ecuaroscanada, a medium size rose hacienda. It was really interesting to compare the working conditions to the US. Ecuaroscanada dedicates a small garden of vegetables and some pigs to their workers’ lunches and mandates a stretch routine every few hours within their seven-hour shift. I also didn’t realize that Russia is the biggest rose importer during women’s day – I think the US should implement 🙂
After the roses, we went back for lunch and received some disappointing news: while we thought we would be staying at the retreat-like hotel for three nights, we would be leaving tonight. This was difficult to hear because it felt as though we were constantly moving around unable to really settle in, and this place had felt like the most comfortable place for me being surrounded by the animals and trees. This felt heavy as we listened to the principal of the community tell us how grateful he was for our monetary support and how he was sorry they weren’t able to update the rooms to our needs without enough funds. This was the thorn of my day.
Directly after returning from the community meetinghouse, we started a game of soccer with some Ecuadorian middle schoolers who had been staying in the same retreat center for a three-day field trip. It started raining, but the game continued. It was so much fun!! And trust me, I do not play soccer. One of our classmates was coined the “white gorilla” (he played goalie).
After soccer, a lot of the girls wanted to play volleyball with us! This was my rose!! Although they play with a soccer ball (OUCH!!) I absolutely loved adjusting to their different ways of playing. After dinner, we all headed to the new hotel. Quick plug for our bus driver Jaime who not only navigates a large bus up the side of mountains, but does it while driving stick shift!!
The hotel was breathtaking. Shirley, Lama, Meg and I lucked out with a suite with a balcony! The rooftop view was gorgeously placed above the city lights. Which brings me to my bud: seeing the flowers growing all over the hotel in the daylight!
