A taste of Ecuador: Remembering Jorge, my father-in-law

This short article is part of “Facelift Ecuador: Share Your Positive Story!“, an initiative to publish positive articles from CuencaHighLife readers to counter international media that often focuses on the negative and sometimes exaggerates it. If you would like to submit your story, click here.

By louisb333

Sunday the 20th was the funeral and burial of my wife’s father, Jorge. Having become a member of my wife’s family some 11 years ago, I have deep heart connections.  Despite not being Catholic, I am warmly welcomed in their church and in their homes.  Family is everything in Ecuador, and to experience intimately how they celebrate family is to truly know and appreciate the culture of this beautiful country.

Jorge, like most Ecuadorians, grew up in the campo.  His family has long been involved in agriculture, mostly as orchardists.  When visiting the home villages of my wife’s parents, San Vincente and Nunurco, it was like experiencing the history of their country.  Jorge’s mother, who herself passed away earlier this year at the age of 101, still lived in a simple adobe house.  Cooking was still being done over an open fire in the kitchen.  He is a photo taken of me on my first visit to San Vincente.  I remember being amazed that people still lived this simple life.

Eventually I would find my own personal paradise not far outside of Cuenca.  It was a deep pleasure that I had, now able to invite Jorge to begin farming much closer to where he lived in the city.  Whereas his regular visits with his mother, where he enjoyed making breads together, was a one-and-a-half-hour drive, our place in Jadan was an easy 20 minutes from his place in Totoracocha.  Over the past 6 years, Jorge has planted 100 of fruit trees.  We are just recently able to harvest peaches and plums, and in a few more years the apples will become plentiful.

In years past, my wife would make the drive out to San Vincente to share the apple harvests, bringing home huge bags of the fruit.  Never using chemicals, the fruit was not pretty to look at.  But after cutting away the bad parts, the apples were perfect for cooking.  My wife and daughter always enjoyed helping to prepare endless batches of apple crisp.  Now, with our own orchards to tend, we will remember Jorge’s passion for growing each year, keeping the memory of his weekly visits alive.

I always marveled at how Jorge kept his 1999 Datsun pickup running, and how much fun the children had riding in the back as Jorge’s pickup bounced up and down our bumpy mountain road.  I will assume some of Jorge’s passions, including raising cuy, the local favorite guinea pig.  My wife learned much from her dad over the years, so she will be a great help.  As we are already raising rabbits and pigs, the cuy will be a simple extension of our farm.

I have never cried harder than I did yesterday.  And I have never felt more free to let my tears flow.  I knew more than ever that my decision many years ago to move to this sweet country was the very best decision that I have made in my life.  Thank you Jorge, and thank you Ecuador!