Las Sueñas no Cuesta Nada

I had a fantastic conversation with my madre yesterday. She invited me out for dinner, as usual, and we sat down and ate. First we were talking about the food and the tea (I drink a lot of tea here. It's a nightly thing. And I rather like it.). The tea we had last night was something that's great for diabetics called Stevia. Apparently it is a natural tea that lowers the sugar in your blood. It was really sweet, but a little bitter too.

Anyway, we were talking about the food and watching our Telenovela ¨Cobras y Lagartos¨ (translated: Cobras and Lizards. Un titulo buenisimo, for sure), when Marcia started to ask me about my playwriting. She'd taken interest before and asked me how I went about writing a play, and she asked me again last night. She also asked if I started with a bigger idea. Like, if it was about why the characters were doing the things they were doing. I went into an explaination about how a lot of things happened at once when writing a play. You may start witha theme, or the characters, or only the characters' voices, or a big idea, or whatever. But eventually all of that converges into a piece. And it just flows naturally. I was explaining this in my Spanish and she said that she understood (and I was proud of myself for getting that across in Spanish). Then she said she'd asked because she had dreams once (before she was married, ¨cuando era soltera¨) of putting the happenings of her life into a play. She explained that so many peopole are egotistic and think that things that happen to them only happen to them. And she said she felt like she had a lot to share and that a lot of people would be able to relate. She told me she just didn't know how to write a play, and that's why she was asking.

We continued talking about it and she went on to say that people don't appreicate enough the world around them. She said that at work she wanted to give a motivational speech to her coworkers about loving what they do and doing what they love. She explained to me that every day she goes to work and thanks God she has a job. She keeps cheery because she things that she can maybe brighten someones day by saying ¨te vayas muy bien¨ which is roughly translated to ¨I hope you have a good day.¨ She answers phones for a living and wishes everyone she talks to a good day. She told me that every day she wakes up and thanks God for being here doing what she's doing, and that she thinks that everyone should think that way and be thankful for it all.

When we were still talking about plays she kept saying ¨Sueñas no cuesta nada!¨ which means ¨Dreams don't cost anything.¨ She thinks that people need to dream and need to have the ¨voluntad¨ or will to do things. And she thinks that will make everyone live happier.

I added that everyday I tell myself how lucky I am to be here in Quito, where I can see the beautiful mountains and experience a beautiful culture. I told her I had tons of dreams, and though I don't know which will be reality, we agreed that I had a lot of time to make them real. It was just a really inspiring and really happy discussion. And I feel a real connection with Marcia right now.

I had spent the whole evening before I went to dinner writing out my goals and sayings to remember while I'm here. My ways to ¨be my own guru¨ (which is something I stole from a horoscope my mom sent me my first few weeks here). They include things like, ¨Open the curtains everday,¨ or ¨Live in the NOW. Stop worrying about the future or regretting the past.¨ Just things I need to remind myself of when I get down or homesick. And I'd written it all out all pretty. On the back, I wrote in Spanish that I needed to have the will, that dreams don't cost a thing, and to remember what Marcia said.

And it has made me feel better. And it will make me feel better over and over again for the next six months, I'm sure. I'm proud that Marcia is my madre. She's just so loving and so sweet, and she really wants me to be happy. I've learned a lot about her through our dinners together, and I love her dearly already.

Update on my Cuicocha trip will be up on Monday. Right now, I need to go hang with my Abuelita, Marcia's mom, who's here so she can vote in the elections tomorrow. If I haven't said it yet, Ecuador is rewriting it's constitution. And because of that, there are literally about 1000 people running for the constitutional assembly. It's really interesting. As a side note, voting in Ecuador is mandatory, and therefore they impose the ley seca, whcih forbids anyone from drinking for a the three days before and three days after the election. Even Americans can get thrown in jail for being found drunk. Therefore, this weekend is reasonably quiter for everyone. Although house parties still rage with the alcohol flowing. That's a whole other story.

So, more on Monday! Maybe some pictures too!