Us, the people who do not see, see more, says Maria Cecilia Santos, 47 years old. “The darkness now became light, now I see better and I see more,” she says, in the blue room of the San Francisco University of Quito (USFQ), where she presented her book Una vida sin límites. She has lived the last 18 years in complete blindness.

Cessi, as her family knows her, was born in Los Angeles, United States, and grew up in Guayaquil, always linked to the world of the arts; graduated as a plastic artist at the San Francisco University of Quito and specialized in Westchester Community College of New York.

Her life passed between canvases, sculptures, paintings until July 24, 1984, she decided to go to lunch with her lover. That day, María Cecilia dressed in white. “I remember getting in the car, it was blue,” she says, “I do not remember that anymore.”

In the next two months her memory stayed at zero, she did not remember her name, age, or her face. “After complaining to God, because criticism always comes, the complaint of why God did that to me, why it had to be me, if I admired so much life, colors … Well, then came the acceptance thanks to God helped me, God gave me the strength, the understanding to be able to endure this great suffering, “she says.

When asked if at any time she feels in darkness, in the dark, she responds: Yes. But for me light is not physical, it is well-being, happiness, peace. I’m in the dark, but I do not live in the dark. I am in the dark, but I feel that I am more enlightened than before, I have more light than before, even though I do not see anything, my darkness is not an absence of light. I’m just not afraid of the dark.

And on why she decided to write a book, she says: “It took 18 years after losing my vision to convince me that I had to write, but it was really because many people who listened to my motivation talks told me that I should write my book, but I never thought I could do it, because I’m not a writer. ” “In 2013 I went to the hospital with my dad and he told amazing things to the neurologist, and I said: wow, this story is awesome, I have to know more. Then the memories began to arrive, “she laughs. (I)