Ecuador Day 3: To be Six

The celebration of birthdays is a special event that I take issue with. I’m divided over it.

On the one hand, no one with half a heart would deny that birthdays are paramount to the experience of being a young child, that one special day in the whole year that doesn’t feel at all like the rest. A day when you are not overlooked but instead the sweet subject of affectionate attention. That can mean a lot to a kid. Especially to a child for who it is all too easy to be overlooked. Then, with all good intentions, celebrations are definitely in order. I would never deny it. Yet on the other hand, as we get older, pessimism sets in. The big questions of what and why are we celebrating enter the mind as breaths of air blown over lit candles exit the body. That we’ve survived another year?

I still celebrate my birthdays, though I say that there are more, greater things to celebrate; accomplishments in life that took more grit and greater effort than to simply be not a victim of a drug overdose. That is, you probably remember all the time you afforded in the libraries, studying late into the night and writing papers. But do you celebrate the accomplishment resulting directly from the culmination of all that work more than just that once? It’s ironic then that we let the anniversaries of those things pass without reflection, yet stand ready to blow out the candles for the commemoration of the passive birthday.

But, this is a six-year old birthday party, not a thirty six year old one. So don’t think I am so somber today.


The family surely can afford a nice holiday/birthday card, that's not the point. Our minds and our character have always aligned with the more creative side of life, and so we always chose the more heartfelt way of showing it.



Meet little Zoila, six years old today. My little sister loves pink, if you can not tell. She has a strong imagination and a healthy curiosity, loves to be the center of attention and wont hesitate to tell you just how exactly the rules to the games she wants to play are. 

On today, Zoila’s six birthday, there is only one thing to do - go to the main Ecuadorian zoo. And in Ecuador, nation of the Galapagos, going to the zoo is no small event, birthday celebration or not.

Dad came with us and walked in spite of the cane that he used to get about. Amazing in recovery terms since telling me that just a month ago he was unable to get up and walk to the window. Today for three hours and lots of visits to animal exhibits later, he says he is a bit sore but nothing that a little rest won’t heal.

The main sign post. Not much to say here, its forward and simple.

Of all the animals in the world, I am connected to bears more than any other. Even dogs - and you know how much I love dogs. If I were to never marry, I could still live out the rest of my days wondering the spaces in between spaces with a trusty canine companion and be happy. Bears however, is more respect than love. They are the perfect example of how I try and live my life. Strong but not forceful, capable of killing but only do so to eat, big as a house, yet comfy as a couch. An animal of contradiction, independent and mystic.  

If you know me, seen me in person, you might know that I have tattooed on my left shoulder a traditional depiction of Tezcatlipoca in his human form. Brother to the cultural Aztec hero Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca  is closely associated with the night sky, obsidian, the howling wind, and is known for the story of cutting off his own foot to use as bate to catch the giant mother turtle on who's back we now all live. Anyways, when he is not in his human form, he appears as this animal, the jaguar. All across the South Americas, jaguars are considered sacred animals and honored with the highest levels of respect. Known for their veracity, worries of days past would wear the jaguar's dead skin as an emblem into war.   

Right, so we can't talk about the Galapagos without mentioning two of its most famous, or at least the most closely associated, animals: the island finch, and the giant tortoises. Although the size of a large beach volley ball, these zoo tortoise are quite small in comparison to the largest on record. At maximum, they can grow to the size of small cars. And like all the animals in this zoo, which I find remarkably amazing, these animals are rescues too.   

If you didn’t know already, my father is Ecuadorian and his wife Mathi is French. Not an everyday pair as you can assume with me. Its rare then that we ran into another couple that day at the zoo, albeit in opposite. The husband is a French man and his wife Ecuadorian; she carried their three year old daughter in her arms and we talked at great length throughout the day, commenting on the changes happening in each country, and world politics.   

In Japan they eat bento boxes of onigiri and tea, in America we like to eat hotdogs at baseball games, and in Ecuador we eat choclo (corn) with tomato salad, fresco (cheese) with hot white sauce. 

Many people take issue with zoos. They say that animals ought to not be locked away for our enjoyment. And I can understand that argument, as I can any vegetarian’s argument for why we should not eat other animals. But as I said above, these are themes counter to the bright celebration of a young girl’s six year old birthday party; so I kept them to myself.

Zoila feeding a curious goat like an adult.


Me riding a giant saber-tooth tiger like a child.

We came home after the zoo and made plenty of preparation. Balloons were inflated and taped to doorways, streamers thrown over and between the wooden support beans angled in the corners of rooms, cake and cupcake batter were whipped, poured and baked, bows were fluffed and presents hidden, guitar’s and violins where tuned in preparation to play the happy birthday song and all its variations.

The party begins! From the left its Tio George, mama Celia, my dad on the guitar, Emily on the violin, Tony looking up in wonder, Zoila with the crown surprised at everything. Out of the picture is Mathi, Gabi, and I, as well as the family of five living just next door.

Remember those strawberries we bought just the other day at the market? Being put to good use here and since. Chocolate strawberry cake? Yes!

 So what do you gift a young six year old girl? I think this question is harder than anything I was ever asked in college. Luckily for me, the Gabster was on the case and already cased an awesome teddy bear pajama set - and it came in pink. Perfect.

Presents where opened, more music, more cake, more laughing. The kids, hyped on sugar and the excitement of new toys fought for no reason, cried, cheered up, and fought again. Eventually, after cake and juice and toys, the kids, one by one, in order of age, got tired and moved upstairs to brush their teeth. We adults stayed awake a bit while longer than the kids, as seems to be the case, to finish our coffee and enjoy the uninterrupted time taken to talk and reflect on the days. 

-A