When we rented our apartment in Quito, I failed to realize that it did not have an oven until after we had already signed the lease and moved in. I arrived home from an errand and Eric challenged me to discern what was missing. I had no idea, even when he presented a whole chicken ready to cook.
I learned to adjust, and cooked that chicken whole in a stewpot. Later we purchased a toaster oven, which worked to bake and cook almost everything, but in small quantities and sizes. When Maya needed cookies in batches of 100, I baked six at a time. For her violin birthday cake, I baked eight rounds and fashioned them into the shape of a full sized violin. It was marvelous. I realized that I could bake almost anything in my tiny toaster oven and did not want to give up the machine when I left Quito. I stored it with my friend Maria, and plan to pull it out of storage when we arrive in Quito.
Most importantly, I learned that I could manage with so little of what I was accustomed to, and that possibilities were limitless. At Yanayacu, where Eric set up a research site, the kitchen was huge, and there was a stove with an oven, but no refrigerator or storage available, and sometimes the pantry was bare, but we brought food in, and improvised when there was nothing to start with. Of course, whenever possible, I stayed at San Isidro, a bird sanctuary down the road, where the food was amazingly good.
In fact, our year in Ecuador was very much about living with less, an making do with little, and not having resources and managing anyway. We lived like the locals, and learned that we could do with so much less than we believe that we need. It was astonishing how quickly we readjusted to Baltimore and our world of plenty, our lives of excess. Now that I am packing up the house, I am astonished at how much we accumulated in just the two years since we moved back. We never unpacked the storage unit, and now we have an incredible amount of STUFF that replaced the STUFF we never unpacked.
I hope that I will relearn how to live with less.
I learned to adjust, and cooked that chicken whole in a stewpot. Later we purchased a toaster oven, which worked to bake and cook almost everything, but in small quantities and sizes. When Maya needed cookies in batches of 100, I baked six at a time. For her violin birthday cake, I baked eight rounds and fashioned them into the shape of a full sized violin. It was marvelous. I realized that I could bake almost anything in my tiny toaster oven and did not want to give up the machine when I left Quito. I stored it with my friend Maria, and plan to pull it out of storage when we arrive in Quito.
Most importantly, I learned that I could manage with so little of what I was accustomed to, and that possibilities were limitless. At Yanayacu, where Eric set up a research site, the kitchen was huge, and there was a stove with an oven, but no refrigerator or storage available, and sometimes the pantry was bare, but we brought food in, and improvised when there was nothing to start with. Of course, whenever possible, I stayed at San Isidro, a bird sanctuary down the road, where the food was amazingly good.
In fact, our year in Ecuador was very much about living with less, an making do with little, and not having resources and managing anyway. We lived like the locals, and learned that we could do with so much less than we believe that we need. It was astonishing how quickly we readjusted to Baltimore and our world of plenty, our lives of excess. Now that I am packing up the house, I am astonished at how much we accumulated in just the two years since we moved back. We never unpacked the storage unit, and now we have an incredible amount of STUFF that replaced the STUFF we never unpacked.
I hope that I will relearn how to live with less.
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