The Dub Squad figuring out their way around Quito, Ecuador.
Meal Time Adventures:
“Does anyone else think this meat tastes like mashed bouncy balls?”
“What animal is this from?”
“Does anyone else realize that we’re eating pasta with diced potatoes on top of rice with a side of bread?” (thank you world race budget)
“How are everyone’s bowel movements doing?” (said at every meal)
“Heavenly Father, we pray that you would literally bless this food to our bodies, help us not get sick, and please help us remember which bottle of water is the clean one. In Your name, Amen.”
Living on the Equator and 10,000 or so miles above sea level presents its challenges. Not only is it significantly more difficult to walk uphill, and keep hydrated, but your nose is extra stuffy and there’s a briskness in the air that causes an occasional shiver. Not gonna lie, I do love this place, but I’ve realized the challenge of living here for the kids. It may sound trite at first, but these children have the most chapped cheeks and little faces I’ve ever seen. Since their noses are always runny, they wipe their noses to the sides, leaving snot on their cheeks, that irritates their skin and then gets chapped by the wind. At first I didn’t think it bothered them, but our girls have 
decided on multiple occasions to wash these darling faces and put neosporin on the chapped areas. When I ask the kids if they want this (which usually goes something like, “Quiere….medicina… para su…………face? – i know, i know, you’re super impressed that i’m practically our translator this month) and each time the childrens faces light up and they love it! they ask for neosporin for their sisters, cousins, you name it. We’ve only been able to do it a few times, and the kids are already starting to look a little better. Not only this, but it has bridged a gap (because of the language barrier) where we can sit with the kids and talk with them and get to know them. Kinda an unexpected ministry, but awesome nonetheless. I so wish that when we leave, we could leave a bunch of neosporin with these kiddos. If you want to catch that vision too, you can make it happen by giving a couple bucks to my dad, and he can put the money in my bank account, and we can get these kids some medicina para their faces. Pretty cool, eh? Speaking of their faces, check out these cuties.
Similarly (okay, not really similarly at all), we got to pretend we’re on LOST for an afternoon and visited the Cascada de Peguche (an awesome waterfall). Not only did some of us get our swim on, but there was a little bit of a mud fight, as well as some sweet hiking, cave exploration, escaping vampire bats, and other really cool adventures. It was probably my favorite part of the race so far. It was about a three mile walk from where we’re living (which, again, is a lot harder at high altitude), but on the way back we bought some strawberries right from the field. Good times 🙂
