Packing

Today we leave.

We spent the better part of the last month packing up our house. It is not a large house, and I don't fancy myself a thing person, but I guess I am. There was plenty to pack. I have had to soothe myself on more than a few occasions with the notion that packing is a mindfulness practice; we literally touched every dish, book, cup, every bottle under the bathroom sink, every pair of underwear in the house. We are five people -- that is a LOT of underwear. 

I am happy to report that all of our things are now tucked neatly away in our basement-- enjoying their own year-long sabbatical.

At the same time we were packing up the house, we were also packing our luggage.

What, exactly, does a family of five bring on a year-long adventure to a tiny village in Ecuador? What do we need? What do we want? What will be useful? What will bring comfort? What might we share?

What follows is an incomplete list:
Clothes and shoes of course.
A few kitchen items: vegetable peeler, muffin tin, a steamer basket, cutting board, two sharp knives. 
Swimsuits, towels, floaties
Legos (to play with and to share)
A water purifier and filter for our house
Art supplies: markers, colored pencils, scissors, paper
Comfort food: 2 Costco sized jars of peanut butter, a bag of tea, some spices, a bag of goldfish
Homeschooling materials (math workbooks are heavy!)
Lots of games: most of which have been un-boxed and repackaged in more portable wear (much to my chagrin)
A solar shower (luxury item)
Kindle readers x4
Gifts

I pride myself on being a light packer. Sadly, this is not one of those light packing moments.

Our goal had been five suitcases. We have six. I won't hide my disappointment, but to be fair the sixth bag is actually a suitcase that is entirely full of books-- 50 pounds of books-- all in Spanish, which I have been collecting for the last year. There are very few books where we are going, and I have fond memories of reading a lot with the children of La Josefina oh so many years ago. Plus, we want our kids to have books.

And so, wish us luck, as we lug our 300 pounds of luggage 5,194 miles to Quito, and then a few taxi rides, bus transfers, and pick up trucks down the mountains to our final destination, La Josefina. May we be strong. May we be patient. May we be grateful for what we have chosen to bring and what we have chosen to leave behind. And may we meet again soon. In Ecuador, they don't use the Spanish word adios because they interpret it as "goodbye forever". It's a superstitious thing. Instead they use hasta luego (until later) or chao (a greeting that means both hello and goodbye). 

And so we bid you chao.

Comments

  1. JennaRuthJuly 7, 2022 at 3:42 PM

    So glad you were able to go with your original plan! I've been where in the world you would end up this week, so thank you for the updates. I'm excited to hear about your continued adventures.

    ReplyDelete

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