I think at one point, we have all fallen victim to believing that someone who doesn’t have everything that we do in the United States is clearly suffering and needs to be helped out by us, the well-off Americans who are often capable of giving it to them. Many people, when asked to describe the lives of people living in Latin America would immediately go to the words poor or sad or dismal. Most people would never realize that many of their lives are described in the same way we would describe our own- joyous, exciting, adventurous or emotional. Despite their often clear material hardships, living in poverty does not equate with sadness or dejection. They may be poor in items, but they are often rich in culture, religion, family and happiness.
When I told my parents that I wanted to spend a month and a half living in rural Nicaragua, they thought I was crazy. When I told my friends about what I wanted to do, they questioned my sanity, asking why I would ever
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I fell in love with the laid-back, accepting culture, the beautiful landscape and my amazing host family. I cherished every moment I got to spend chasing small kids around the soccer field playing pato pato ganzo or fútbol. I learned so much about myself, about Nicaraguan culture and about how true happiness in life does not revolve around material possessions. The people in La Corona, Nicaragua often had little more than a house with sheets for walls, a bucket used to bathe themselves and enough rice and beans to make gallo pinto for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but they lived the happiest lives of anyone I’ve ever known. The prosperity of the Nicaraguans I spent six weeks living with revolved around family and culture and food and religion and togetherness. Their lives are complete without the need for fancy televisions or microwaves or air