I can't believe we have only been in Ecuador for a week and a half!! It seems like we've already been here a month. Well so far there has been a lot of travel. An hour flight from Orlando, FL to Miami, FL, followed by a 5 min shuttle to a 45min train to another 5 min shuttle which took Kayla, Alysa, and myself to the Miami airport. There 
we boarded a 4 hour flight to Ecuador. After 3 days of worship, fellowship, and cultural instruction, my team and I then boarded a bus we hoped would take us to Portoviejo (none of us speak Spanish, but we're getting pretty good at charades!). After 8 hours and one confusing rest stop, we finally arrived and met up with our mission contact, Percy. A brief rest, then one day later we were on the road again, this time all 7 of us piled in the back of a pick up truck (with our luggage too) for an hour drive to Manta.
In Manta, we worked at a children's home called "Por Amour (for love)," painting one of their buildings. Unfortunately, it was raining for the better part of the 2 days we were there and some of the paint washed off, but we had a great time, especially when the kids got home from school and came 
over to help us paint and ask us questions we attempted to answer in our broken spanish (P.S. I have a new appreciation for the tv show, 'Go, Diego, Go'!!). On Thursday, Percy picked us up, again in a truck, only this time the truck already had 6 people in it. So, an additional 7 people and baggage later and we were one clown short of, well… a clown car. Another hour drive took us down to Porto Cayo on the coast. We spent the next 2 days going door to door speaking to the community, inviting them to a church service were I gave a testimony in spanish (don't get excited. it was only 2 sentences, but people seemed to appreciate it all the same) and 
building the foundation of a new church building. We had an awesome night of sleeping on the beach (although Sean got eaten alive by some mysterious mosquito type bug. We're watching for Maleria signs, but so far he's still alive) and we all returned to Portoviejo on Saturday slightly "sunkissed," as Sean put it. "Lobster red" is probably more accurate.
Yesterday, my family, Alexis and Jahira took me to the market. It was a pretty cool experience and I was amazed at how cheap everything was. Watermelon (Sandia) was only 50 cents!! I freaked a little when we walked through the meat area though… slabs of beef and whole chickens staring me in the face. Not quite used that that yet.
Afterwards, Alexis dropped me off on his motorcycle (definitely a fan of the bike!), where I met up with the team. We filled up a ginormous tub with water and proceeded to drive it out to the garbage dump to provide 3 families with fresh water. It was heartbreaking to see where they were living… in these wooden shacks overlooking the dump. The smell was atrocious, the children half dressed and barefoot as they ran to collect dirty containers to fill with water. We attempted to wash the jugs out, but within minutes of them being filled there was a film of bugs and dirt coating the top layer of water. I felt useless. I think it was the first time it really hit me that perhaps our help was just not good enough.
In the evening, Percy brought us to the Church to speak to the youth group and we sang "Yes, Lord" with a dance interlude provided by Nathan. Then today we attended service at 10am, and afterwards, we watched Percy play in the church league soccer game. Sorry… FOOTBALL!!
So, what's in store for tomorrow? MORE TRAVEL!! We leave at 5am to go up to El Carmen where we will pick up Jamos' team and then continue further north (forget the name of the town… eek) to help put a roof on a church. We should return to Portoviejo on Friday.
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Breakfast: Same as dinner last night… Fish (picado), rice (arroz), and beans (??), with the addition of some bananas.
News Update: Our young friend from the Church, Elvis, is trying to set Evan up with his sister.
Housing: Ginny has now stayed in 3 different houses during our 3 days in Portoviejo.
Drinks: Sean is on a mission to try the local drinks everywhere we go. In Quito, we had Malta (bleh), some weird pink drink (tasted like sugar water), Fioravanti (bright pink, strawberry flavored soda, not bad). And in Portoviejo, Inca Cola (bright yellow and tastes like creamsicle. I'm not a fan).
Shopping List: muy mucho Aloe Vera!!!
