Simply Complicated

I’m learning that Peru, Spain & Mexico have alot in common: es simplemente complicado 

• las cucarachas (look it up) - they’re in the shower usually, awesome. 
• internet - here & in every other developing country, inconsistent & at times no bueno (but don’t get me wrong, i’m crazy grateful for wifi)
• nothing is easy - it took us 3 hours to run two errands - traffic was horrendous, parking was an issue, we got pretty darned lost, we almost got in an accident (or three) and the people here drive like they didn’t to drivers ed & don’t have driver’s licenses... oh wait, many of them don’t... notice the painted lane lines?  they totes don't matter.

• clean - the term “clean” is relative in places like this.  blowing your nose & having it be straight dirt AFTER your shower is totally clean, right?
• on time - means about 20-30 minutes late.  i mean, what’s the big deal... everybody’s doing it.  

But I’m also learning alot about what it would look like to simplify my life... to live the way most people in the world do.  To stop “needing” so much of what we’ve thought we were entitled to and to start living more simply in order to be able to provide more for those who only dream of things like hot water, internet, a mattress and a washing machine.  

I did some laundry here in Peru tonight and there’s a sweatshirt I never dry when I wash it - you know, one of those “it fits perfect & if I dried it I know it wouldn’t” sweatshirts? That one requested special permission not to be dried so I decided to hang it out on the clothes line.  As I was clipping the little clothespins, I had a glimpse of simple.  I turned around and went back into the little kitchen with no dishwasher and no garbage disposal and thought, “This actually is the life.  This is the better way to live.” 

You see, I think sometimes we think we have it good because we have every modern convenience and everything we could want easily accessible and readily available, but I actually think it harms us.  I think hanging up my sweatshirt, drying my dishes, losing my internet connection and showering with cucarachas has brought more life to me in the last week than my hot shower, my automatic coffee maker, my super speedy wireless distraction tool internet and my strip malls have done for me in the last 10 years.

I think less is more... stay tuned to hear why.