“Welcome to our 3rd world country”.

It has been almost two months since my arrival to Ecuador, and so far I have learned a lot about this country. Ecuador is rich in culture and with an amazing history. Till this day I wake up and say to myself “wow, I’m really in Ecuador”. I say this because I am really out of my comfort zone. This is my first experience living abroad. And, so far there are many things that I love about the country and there are many other things that I dislike.
As many of you may know, Ecuador is a 3rd world country, but I didn’t really know what a third world country would be like, till I got here. In the area that I live in, Samborondone, a city with in Guayaquil, many times you forget that you are in a 3rd world country because it is very commercialized. Its 2 big shopping malls, its expensive restaurants, and luxurious homes makes you feel like you’re in, I don’t know, Miami perhaps. Compared to all of the places I’ve visited in Ecuador, this is the place that lacks the most culture. It is much Americanized, and the people here love it.
It is said by many that the people that live in this area, live in a bubble. They live in a bubble because they don’t realize that in the outskirts of the city and around the country, live people in extreme poverty. Just this past Wednesday night, as I was on my way home from school on the bus, my friend jumped up and almost screamed because the school’s bus driver almost hit a little boy who was probably less than 8 years of age. As I look out the window, the little boy left running; he was not scared at all, it was as if it were something that happens to him on the regular. As I looked out the window, astonished by what my friend and I had just witnessed, an Ecuadorian student blurred out “welcome to our 3rd world country”.
It is really sad to learn that while the rich are getting richer the poor can barely afford a full meal to eat. Ecuador is a country full of potential, but because of its corrupted people it won’t and will not progress.

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