south america | Humans of Newtown

‘When I was 15, a lady came to our school and spoke about exchange programs so I went and spent a year in Costa Rica. I did my year 10 in Costa Rica and learnt to speak Spanish and lived with a local family there. We lived in the mountains surrounded by coffee fields. Before I went, I didn’t speak Spanish or anything so I didn’t really know what was going on. It was a poor school – 3,000 students with just a couple of teachers and none of them would turn up. No one really cared.

‘There was one teacher; she was a biology teacher, and she really cared that I understood what was going on and that I actually learnt. She told me to go and buy some rope and some paint and she taught me to make a really thick rope – like macramé. She was teaching us about DNA so it looked like a DNA thing. So I made a really big one – she taught me how to make it – and she told me to paint this knot blue and this knot green and I did everything she said and at the end she was able to explain all the parts of the DNA. To this day, I still only know them in Spanish.

‘Then she told me to go buy some smaller string so I could make bracelets for my friends and family. This is the jewellery I make and sell now.’

‘I miss the openness of people in Ecuador – the warmth. They have less money but they have big hearts and big souls and are ready to take you in at any moment. Here it’s a bit colder. This is why I lived in Newtown for so long because it kind of reminded me of that open attitude that South America has.’

What advice would you give Australians about how to improve their lifestyle based on life in Ecuador?

‘Know your neighbour and look at people in the eyes. Give people real hugs. Feel them – don’t just do it because it’s a social courtesy to do it. And just relax a little bit. Stop thinking so much about money and travel as much as you can.’

Do you know your neighbours?

‘I try to but they won’t even look at me in the eyes so I can’t! They won’t even look at me so it’s really hard to even crack a smile.

‘If you just smile at one person they might be having a crappy day and might not smile back. You might feel a little bit sensitive about it but they feel the warmth and they’re probably more likely to smile at the next person they meet. It’s about making a difference in the world step by step. You don’t have to do huge amazing things.’