It was 1 o'clock on July 19, 2017 in a rodeo at “provincia de los ríos” in Ecuador. At this type of party in Ecuador, people could go and sell their merchandise if the owner of the hacienda lets them. My cousin, Giovany always lets people sell their stuff. I was sitting on the porch of the house when a man came up to me and showed me a couple of hats.This hat had a horse in front of it and it was rounded and it was stitched, with a brown and white color. I fell in love with one of them and asked my uncle to buy it for me. He said yes. I like this hat a lot of because all cousin had one and i wanted to be part of the culture.This hat was a symbol that you was from an agricultural family. It everybody who had this type of hat was respected for it hard work and dedication to working with animals and planting. I took the hat in honored and started to wear it. I danced with a lot of girls in the party with the hat on my head.This story is just the beginning of my journey with my rodeo hat!

– Bryan Medina

Relationship:  Grandchild of im/migrant Grandchild of im/migrant