{"id":402,"date":"2018-05-17T18:33:42","date_gmt":"2018-05-17T18:33:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/foodwater\/?p=402"},"modified":"2018-05-17T18:33:42","modified_gmt":"2018-05-17T18:33:42","slug":"el-buen-vivir-kimy-grandi-soriano-on-her-time-abroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/foodwater\/2018\/05\/17\/el-buen-vivir-kimy-grandi-soriano-on-her-time-abroad\/","title":{"rendered":"El Buen Vivir: Kimy Grandi Soriano on her time abroad"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been back in the US for 5 months now but the nostalgia of Ecuador keeps hitting me like the relentless waves of a stormy sea. I\u2019m still processing everything that I experienced, and I\u2019m not sure when and if I\u2019ll stop processing. For some context, I lived in Ecuador for 4 months as part of a program that studies international “development”. I had a subconcentration in “medio ambiente”, or environment,\u00a0 and chose to take a path different than most other students when it came to choosing a location for our 6-week-long internships. I knew I wanted to study food sovereignty, and knew that if I wanted to study what\u00a0real <\/em>food sovereignty is, I needed to immerse myself in an indigenous kichwa community. So that’s what I did. I miss my host parents Manuelito and Laurita everyday. They taught me so much about their lives, their cosmovision, and agriculture as a way of life. Whether it was through this internship, through my classes, through field trips, or through daily lived experiences, I never stopped learning and growing. To help with this all, I’ve decided to organize a short series of beautiful moments from my amazing semester abroad. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Moment 1: The Lake<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Adventuring through the sacred lomas by Yaguarcocha, aka blood lagoon, with my host t\u00edo Raul and my friend turn family Madison Davis. Having Raulito share with us the history of\u00a0<\/span>\"\"his land, where his kichwa ancestors defeated and sacrificed the Inca conquistadores and threw their bodies into the lake (hence the name). Taking us on a walk to see the tolas where people were laid to rest many, many years ago. Finding old pieces of ceramic from\u00a0<\/span>said tolas. Having Raulito tell us about the\u00a0celebrations of Inti Raymi that take place on these hills, where people from comunidades all across Caranqui walk\/dance to this location to come together and celebrate. Realizing you have the best tour guide in all of Ecuador.<\/p>\n

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Moment 2: El mercado Amazonas<\/strong><\/p>\n

My host mam\u00e1 Laurita and I would occasionally come down from the community to buy some needed items from the local market. One day we were waiting for my host dad to come back, and it began to rain. A young woman in her puesto de pollos invited me to sit next to her to seek shelter. We began to talk and she asked me all about my life. <\/span>\"\"“Est\u00e1s estudiando en la universidad? Guau entonces eres muy inteligente.” “Pues, ojal\u00e1!” I responded to her. She asked me about the US, someone had told her that the buildings here are so tall that people never saw the sun. She asked me if that were true, I said no. She asked me about the clothes in America, insisting that they are of the highest quality. I questioned why she thought that, why she and so many other people have been brainwashed to believe that America is the best in everything and it alone is the standard to strive for. Her name is Yessica. She wakes up every morning at 4:30am to kill the chickens and bring them fresh to the market. I’ll always remember the kindness she showed me.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Moment 3: La Misi\u00f3n Scalabriniana <\/strong><\/p>\n

I had the opportunity to visit this wonderful place where a fellow bronco was doing her pasant\u00eda. Arel\u00ed, my beautiful, intelligent, radiant, and compassionate friend taught me so much (though still just the tip of the iceberg) including:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n