In Peru, I stayed at a lodge on the Yarapa River in the Amazon Basin. We traveled everywhere by boat and saw small villages of approximately 100 people. Seeing the way some of the people lived made me both jealous of the simplicity of their life and so grateful for the technology and convenience life in the United State provides (which while making life easier, often makes it far less simple).

Everyday I watched women washing clothes by hand, one garment at a time, in the river. Instead of mowing the lawn, men cut the grass with machetes. Road workers swept up debris with a straw broom. At night, I checked my bed for scorpions and tarantulas and before putting on a pair of shoes I turned them upside down and banged on them.

I can’t help but wonder, would you rather have a simple life or an easy life?