Ecuador Loves America (and New York)

 

this is the first in a series of blogs about our travelling last week in Ecuador:

Last week Mary and I had a wonderful breakfast at Cafe Mosaico, overlooking the city of Quito. We had a very great American breakfast of french toast and pancakes. While there we saw a little boy running around with a New York Yankees hat on. I'm not sure where he was from, and he didn't even seem to know who the Yankees were. But as we travelled around I saw many people in the cities and small towns wearing that famous NY logo on their hats. (I will admit we did sit next to one guy wearing a Boston Red Sox Hat.) I feel the hat signifies the city of New York, which for many of the people here is a sign of America's greatness. I would agree. (Although Boston is more fun to live in.)

This fondness of America seems to have re-ignited with the election of Obama. People all around Ecuador talked about Obama and my language school had the newspaper signifying his election hanging in the hall. We spoke with a rural truck driver in the mountains who was so excited about Obama. He seemed inspired that a man with colored skin could be elected to the most powerful position in the world.

One more observation that America can learn from: Breastfeeding here is the norm. You hardly see a bottle in any kids mouth. (and there are tons of kids). Women breast feed on the bus, while walking, while carrying things, while make a sale from their store. It's amazing. We even saw a boy, approximately 20 months, pull down his mom's shirt for a snack on the bus. It's good for health, and I wish America would follow Ecuador in this sense.