“What do you miss most when you’re in Ecuador?”

This recent question was a bit difficult to answer, as we try to focus on what we have rather than on what we’re missing. But the question got us thinking about what we enjoy in each country. So, with a bow to The Sound of Music and in no particular order, these are a few of our favorite things.

In the U.S.:

• Grandkids (and their parents, of course); family time is very precious
• Oregon summer fruits and vegetables: peaches, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, Hermiston melons, sweet corn on the cob, and tomatoes just picked from the vine
• Oregon summer weather: sun which gently warms you, sixteen-hour days without a cloud in the sky, and long shadows before dusk (we have a mountain to the west in Quito so we don’t have long shadows and slow sunsets like Oregon in summer)
• Seeing old friends
• Bike and walking paths, whether Eugene’s wonderful riverbank system or Rails-to-Trails nearby
• Crater Lake (we hope to get there)
• Medical appointments in English (although we do most of our doctoring in Quito at much lower cost)
• Costco, Amazon, and thrift stores
• Jerry’s (where you can find almost anything hardware related)
• Root beer and Dr. Pepper (Jody), dill pickles and good ice cream (Scott, although not together!)

In Ecuador:

• Flavorful tropical fruits: white pineapples, oritos (stubby golden bananas), papayas, mangoes, and babaco, along with fresh juices (maracuyá, guanábana, naranjilla, and mora)
• Flowers blooming year round
• The incredible Andes: Quito is in a high Andean valley and from our dining room we see steep mountain slopes just three or four miles away (great hiking for Scott, great views for Jody)
• Working with an international group of Christians to further God’s kingdom
• The fun and challenge of speaking Spanish and learning about Ecuadorian culture
• New places to go and explore and adventures to be had
• Presidential elections which last one month, with no campaigning the last two days
• Our daily commute providing exercise: walking for Jody and unicycling for Scott
• Twelve-hour days year round (a treat in December and January)
• Good, low-cost medical care, albeit in Spanish
• A slower-paced life: not feeling like you need to rush around doing a lot of things
• Seeing the U.S. from a different perspective as is only possible when you don’t live there
• Not having a car: lots of buses and taxis, and a city with all our necessities within two miles of home