To my mothers

The purpose of this post is to acknowledge the strong women who have helped me through my journey in Ecuador.

I have only seventeen days left in Ecuador and it's about time I thank all my mothers who have taken me under their wings, fed me hot meals cooked with love, hugged me without restraint and given me shelter during the most difficult times.

The women I've met and bonded with here in Ecuador are the strongest people I've met in my 37 years. I think of these women as my mothers. I now have Ecuadorian, Canadian and American (from the US) mothers who have helped me through the tough times, celebrated with me through the awesome times and experienced the twists and turns presented by daily life in South America.

Men are great. I love my dad, my uncles, my brother, my boyfriend, my friends who are boys :) and all of the rest of you guys out there, but to be honest, the strongest people I have been lucky to meet are women and a lot of them are here in Ecuador. You have to admit, it takes guts to just move here and then you have to figure out how to survive in a society that's still very machista.

My life changed a lot when I came here and I'm about to make the next biggest change in my life when I return to the US in two and a half weeks. I'll be unemployed, homeless and without a car but ready to start student teaching in August with a fire inside me, inspired in part by the amazing women I've had the fortune to meet during these last ten months. Thank you to all of you.