A World Of Many Cultures

Resting In The Park

This period of time was an interesting one for me. I learnt a lot about people, cultures and how different the world is depending on where you are in it at the time, but equally how people, when it comes down to it - really aren't that different from one location to the next. For about 7 months I had been seeing an Ecuadorian girl called Diana. I knew relationships were different in this part of the world just by speaking to other friends (foreigners) who had had relationships with South Americans. The way most English people have a relationship is pretty different to those here in Ecuador and it comes down to a number of factors I believe. Firstly most Ecuadorian men or women will tell their partners they are in love with them after about 3 days of knowing them. For me this is a slight issue. I have had a friend here who was asked by her Ecuadorian boyfriend to marry her after a few weeks - the proposal took place in KFC. I have had another friend who, three hours after meeting a girl in a bar, broke down crying saying she loved him and was upset because she thought she was being used. Families here are also very important, to the point that if you have a girlfriend or boyfriend you will generally meet their family after your second or third time of meeting your potential partner. Most people in England that I know (including myself) will wait a considerable amount of time before introducing them to the Family. Then there are all the other cultural differences thrown into the mix and the language barrier to overcome. All in all, it is challenging having a relationship with someone from this part of the world, especially if you are not from it. Of course relationships are often challenging anyway and the points I am making are clearly generalities. There are some Ecuadorian men and women who do not fall into the brackets I have just laid out - Im just telling you this from personal experiences and those from friends.

All in all, the relationship I had with Diana was great and I learnt a lot about people from parts of the world that I am not familiar with. My Spanish greatly improved too as Diana didn't really speak English at all. The reason we ended things was because I had always said to Diana that I was likely going to be leaving Ecuador around the end of May (2011) - in a month and a half from now. It was never definate, it still isn't, but leaving around this time was always and still is - likely. At first things were fine because my end-date was quite some time away - but as time went on, Diana started to change. In the end it resulted in our break-up - because the thought of me leaving the country made it too dificult to stay with me at all. I have travelled the world for the last 3 years more or less and am used to going through this process with other women. But with those, we have stayed together until I, or she, departed. Leaving people generally is the biggest downfall about continually travelling but in past experiences it was always the departure that forced the break-up, not the thought of the departure. To me this was hard to get my head around. In the end we decided to go our seperate ways even though deep down she didn't want to, and I still don't know if I am actually leaving Ecuador yet anyway - it's a bizarre situation!!! Speaking to other friends about this though - they all told me similar stories of friends or themselves who had gone through the same situation, where leaving each other early was easier than waiting until departure day. I guess that despite all the cultural differences, speaking different languages and just being surrounded by a different world for all of your life - it doesn't really matter where you come from - deep down, with basic feelings, people are all the same, and to me - thats a comforting thought. For me though........ life moves on.