#143 Ama la vida = love life

One of the many things I like about the Latin Culture is the emphasis on living life and enjoy it. Many countries have different slogans or motto, in Ecuador it’s “Ama la vida” which means “love life”, I remember in Costa Rica it was “Pura Vida” which’s “pure life or live life or living.
I very much like that way of thinking and no wonder that some of the happiest people in the world are in Latin America, this is not only my own point of view, it has been noted by many surveys that has been done around the world. The music, the sun, the water and of course the people make this way of living a reality. Latinos tend to take life less seriously than a lot of other places around the world. As I mentioned in previous posts, you hear music all the time just by walking the streets or taking the bus. The music is the type of music that makes you want to dance, happy music that changes your mood.

Every day I reflect on life especially that I have a lot of time traveling. About a week ago, I traveled for few days along the west coast of Ecuador. As usual many of the budget accommodation I stayed at don’t have hot water partly because the warm weather. Although I am more used to taking shower in cold water compared to when I started my trip in 2011, but I started to think about how comfortable our life is. Probably this is one of the least inconveniences in someone’s life, but why it should be like that, why these little things make us upset, what happened to our expectations. How our ancestors were able to live, or probably our ancestors would ask how we are able to live with all these luxuries. Even what considered to be a luxury in the old days is now considered a necessity. We are leaving less events of our lives for the unexpected, everything we wanted to be well planned when many times spontaneous events add beauty and experience to our lives.

Whenever I think about the slogan Ama la vida – “Love Life” I say it’s true, when you think about life away from the many of today’s society’s expectations being politics, material things, and other invented ways that media and governments try to impose on us to make us less tolerant to one another, and in constant search for the next thing, when you can ignore or minimize these interruptions into your life you find life is very enjoyable. Your mind become less and less dependent on thinking about the future and you start to think and live in the present.
I feel since I’ve started this trip I’ve been experiencing a transformation on a spiritual level. It’s a long process and I think it will take a long time but I am glad I embarked on this journey.