This is not for everyone

This isn't for everyone. Remember Frodo's
attachment to his house? Attached as he
was he still managed to rise to circumstance
for the adventure that awaited him. Well,
it was a story. In this world people are
divided into those who hold tightly to
the certainties they have struggled to
attain and those, at the other extreme, who
like Frodo, turn away from the familiar and
walk into the unknown.

All things imagined and beyond imagining
lay shrouded in the mists of the unknown.
The most compelling and the most horrible
side by side in darkness...until we arrive
and encounter them. Then they become resolved
and illuminated and we navigate around or
toward them. That challenge beccens some.
Others will descend into a funk if the least
of the objects in their home is moved from
its ordained place.

I guess I am with the wondering group. I like
learning everyday a little more of the language
and culture. But even so I'm judged a conservative
on the gringo trail. The young travelers seem to
charge into the unknown. Nature's design I guess.
Otherwise nothing new would be discovered. We old
people do tend to reinvent the wheel. We are
reassured by its round regularity and predictable
rotation. The new is not for everyone.

A friend researching this idea of moving and
Embracing change was taken aback by references
to earthquakes and spiders the size of dinner
plates and razor wire on walls. If you change
the spiders to active volcanos you would be
describing a couple of Ecuador's wonders. To
be fair to the country, there may be spiders
in the east, in the Ecuadorian Amazon, at least
the size of cup saucers . Plenty big enough for
my imagination.

Yes I told her, there is all this and more.
She was looking at Central America but its also
true for Ecuador. But these things are not what
drives gringos away. What ends the quest for so
many is the different mindset of the people here.
Things like time, distance and direction for
example are often vague concepts in these cultures.
This is relative to the North American's mind.
There are fewer absolutes. Northerners who thought
they wanted a slower pace discover they can't
stand one. The silence they've achieved for the
first time in their lives Screams at them louder
than the city traffic they left behind. Mix in the
variations in individual personality and one size
does not fit all. Fortunately, Ecuador is one of
the most diverse countries in the world. somewhere
there is a climate, topology and society for me.
I have started my search here between volcanos
high up in the mountains of Ecuador.