more beauty than hardship

3 years ago we visited Ecuador for the first time. Our week was spent in the slums helping a Compassion site, families living on $1 a day, and in the dumps where people and children called home. I fell in love with Ecuador and the people. There was beauty there but it was found in a cardboard house where a mother had found a rose in the garbage and put it in a vase. It was in the small child wrapping her arms around you and a man thanking you for giving him his first meal in days. While there last time, we visited a place called El Refugio, a adventure outdoor retreat center north of Quito. Those few hours there really impacted us, so much so that we spent our week there this time helping out.

This time it was so different. The slums were still there, the people living in dilapidated houses and working hard for so little. But what was so different this time for me was what stood out to me was the beauty of the country: the people, the land, the culture. What I saw this time was more beauty than hardship.