Since being stationed in the town of Mindo for my service portion of SST, I’ve noticed a big cultural difference between U.S. Mennonites and Ecuadorian “Mindo-nites” – pun intended 🙂 approaches to life. There’s a palpable sense of serenity and…
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Festivities of Pujilí
Jul 20 2025
During my first week in my service placement town of Pujilí, I attended 4 different parades. The first one was on my second day here! I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but I knew that we were going to a parade type event. The longest parade I’ve ever been to lasted an hour, and that was one that I marched in the States. But in Pujili, it lasted five hours, and that wasn’t even the longest one I attended!
The second one we happened to be walking past and my host mom wanted to see what it was for and watch a little bit. It was dark out, and getting colder so we only stayed for 20 minutes. The third one was an event for the church and I attended the majority of this event with a family that I had met at lunch earlier that day in the church.
The fourth parade was definitely the longest parade I’ve ever attended. We were there for 7 hours, and it wasn’t even over! We went back again the next morning for another 2 hours! It was a beautiful parade, and I’m glad I got to experience that part of Pujilí’s culture. If there’s anything I’ve noticed from my time here, this town is very artistic. Not only do all the schools in town participate in the parade(s), there are murals all over town. I’ve found this area really beautiful, and don’t think I could put into words the beauty of Pujilí’s culture.
What Mindo Taught Me to See
A Day in the Life: Working on a Flower Farm
For my service, I work in Cayambe with an organization called FACE. Under FACE there are other organizations; Casa Hogar, Sumak, Centro Medico Emmanuel, and Forever Flowers. They work together to help break the cycle of abuse and neglect in…