Sitting in a small, brightly painted room of a hostal in Quito, Ecuador, I feel a deep wave of depression coming over me. Moreover, I am lonely and still have two weeks remaining of my Ecuador "vacation." I need to mentally and emotionally prepare myself. I need an outlet. I spent the last week in a small coastal pueblo called Estero de Platano. I stayed with a very sweet family of nine who lives in a seaside shack on stilts. I am travelling with a Spanish instructor from Quito, and two additional relatives of the family also seem to stay there frequently, so the total household size during the week was usually 13. They make their living as fisherman, artisans, and by cultivating cacao, maize, and plantains on small plots of land in the surrounding colinas
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