memorias de viaje

Its so easy to get caught up in the “doing” that we forget sometimes about just “being”. Tonight I watched a couple of guys in their element, playing music simply because they love it. There is something special about that.

As I was driving home, I thought of a moment from my own life where I felt a brief respite from DOING and just WAS.

I was in Ecuador, on a bus with some friends bound for Banos (a little town in La Sierra where tourists go to take mineral baths, drink and dance). We were excited, it was our first weekend in Ecuador and everyone felt adventurous. Upon leaving the bus station in Quito, the bus made several stops to fill up with passengers. By the time we left the city limits, people were standing in the aisles. About halfway to our destination, we picked up an old indigena couple. They silently made their way to the back of the bus and not having anywhere to stand, the two of them squeezed into a small luggage compartment at the very back of the bus, adjacent to where I was sitting.

I had brought my dinner onboard, a chicken sandwich from KFC of all places. The meal cost about $1.50. A few minutes after the couple situated themselves next to me, I felt a pang of hunger and took out my sandwich to eat it. As I was about to take the first bite, I saw out of the corner of my eye the old indigena looking at the sandwich. I turned towards her and asked her if she was hungry. She nodded without speaking. I asked if she wanted half of my sandwich. Another nod. Without hesitation, I tore my sandwich in two and gave the larger half to her. She then split her half with her husband (pressed in the corner next to her). I ate slowly, taking notice of how quickly the indigenas wolfed down what little I had to offer. They really were hungry.

About an hour later (some rural area north of Banos), the indigenas got up to leave. As they began making their way forward, the old woman put her hand on my shoulder and smiled at me.

I felt . . . I WAS great.