Some love letters to the places of my past and future
Dear South America,
My heart and soul missed you so much that I decided to come back after 6 months! Tu espíritu me hechizó. Yo me enamoré de tí — rápido y brusco. I got one taste of you and have been experiencing withdrawals ever since our last moments together. I’ve not been able to get you off my mind, and I’ve been yearning like crazy to get to know you better.
Dear Ecuador,
Thank you for giving me my first taste of this amazing continent — of its many cultures, languages, histories, peoples, music, and walks of life. You were my first love here, and for that you will always hold a special place in my heart. I miss you everyday, and will always carry with me the lessons that you graciously taught me. Thank you for letting me into your heart, and thank you for helping me grow into the best version of myself.
Dear San Clemente,
Ecuador was my first love, and you are the heart of it that I was able to call home. Never did I think that I was going to live in a community like yours, one so rich with indigenous Kichwa ancestral knowledge, one so full of life and love, one so deeply healing that I still feel your energy pumping through my blood. The greatest life lessons I learned were with you. You completely changed how I see the world and how I see myself. You exposed me to a worldview so intricate and beautiful, but you also exposed me to the harsh realities facing indigenous folx in Ecuador — the heartbreaking injustices that have and continue to be present in political, educational, and food systems to name a few. Though you let me in to familiarize myself with your agrocentric cosmovision, it was the brief exposure I had to educational disparities for your children that sparked an anger within me, a spark that ended up catching fire and leading me to the next chapter of my life.
Dear Bolivia,
You are that next chapter of my life. I love you and I haven’t even met you yet. When I think about being with you I get butterflies, the same butterflies I get when I’m on a red eye flight looking down at the city lights below me. That will be me in just a few days, as I’ll be eagerly on my way to you and your warm embrace. I have to admit that I’m nervous, a little scared. My own insecurities keep creeping back into my head. What if I’m not enough for you? Good enough? Intelligent enough? Loving enough? I want to be able to give you my all, and I hope that is enough. I think it’s important that we recognize the fact that I’m not going to change you — I wouldn’t want to if I could. I just want to learn from you, to get lost in you and as a result grow a little more. I want to be able to make at least but a small impact on you. Though our love story will be short, I know it will still be SO full of love. See you soon.
xoxo,
Kimy
