This happened Tuesday the 25th of September. It started like any other day. We were working without the mixer again and Diego was leaving early because he was sick. He gave us the option of leaving early too if we managed to finish all of our work in time for the earlier bus. Needless to say we didn’t manage to finish our cement in time but we did finish a bit earlier than usual. We were actually worried about getting out in time for the later bus too so we rushed the clean-up and ended up at the end of the road waiting for the bus 40 minutes early.
Some of us thought it was a good idea to walk down the mountain instead of relaxing and waiting for the next bus. Although most of us didn’t think it was a good idea, nobody really objected at first so we started walking down. It wasn’t long before people started speaking up and we stopped, discussed a little more and to the dismay of the people who wanted to walk down, we turned around and headed to our bus stop in the cold misty air. Since we were going to be there so long I came up with the idea to ride the bus up the mountain when it came so we could just relax until it came back down. I don’t think anybody noticed that I was the one who came up with the idea, but somebody must have passively heard me, thought it was a good idea, and spread it around. Most of us were on board with it besides the people who wanted to walk down the mountain. So when to go up the mountain towards the town of Nono, 10 kilometers away we all rushed on board. We made it a point to ask whether or not the bus came back down before we got on and the bus staff told us it did. What they failed to mention through their snickers was that it came back at 5:30 pm and the bus we usually ride comes down at 4:30 pm, meaning this wasn’t the same bus like we assumed. It’s worth mentioning that our leaders were taking a day off this particular Tuesday, the person who had memorized all of the buses Carter was out sick, and our logistics person Phillip was also back at home doing logistics things. And so Ben, Jacob, Caleb, Elijah C, Joshua, Milena, Savana, Brittany, Cat, Shekinah, and I, 11 of us in all rode up the mountain towards Nono, unbeknownst to us that we were going to be stuck there until 5:30.
We all sat enjoying the foggy surroundings of the mountain and cliffs, until the driver started asking for more money than usual. Josh, our treasurer, wouldn’t give in but we eventually thought he might’ve been charging for a round trip so we decided to give him the money. The doubters in our group were telling us we made a mistake but I was hopeful that the plan would work. Towards the end of the ride a lady must’ve realized we were anticipating heading straight back down because she tried warning us in her language that the bus doesn’t come back down until 5:30. Eventually we arrived knowing fully the mistake we had made, and were forced to leave the bus with an hour before we could leave.
What we were met with was a quaint little ghost town shrouded in mist. The architecture and size of the town made me and apparently some others giddy with excitement and hopes of exploration but some of the others were apparently no so thrilled. Caleb who was entrusted with the team phone tried to call home to explain that we were going to be late. He had some trouble at first but eventually managed to figure it out and contact our leader Ally, and stated that we would be home around 7:40 for some reason, but didn’t explain the situation. So we all as a group started to walk around this town that others thought was eerie. Ben went up to a horse and almost got bit, I observed that they had stuff set up for tourists although nobody wanted to believe me. There was very few people out on the street and most of the shops were closed. Since it was Josh’s birthday we had planned on going out to eat(possibly guinea pig) but we really couldn’t anymore. We considered going to a restaurant there in Nono since we passed by a few, but most of them were closed and we really didn’t have time since the wait time at restaurants is usually pretty big here in Ecuador. We passed by a cow skull on the ground as we joked that we would all get killed off and the search party would be the main characters of a horror movie. We also passed by a sign for mini-golf which is funny considering how little of a town it is. Eventually Ben, Jacob, and I went down this path towards a road, and we could hear running water. At a couple of points I looked back and asked if it was alright for us to be going off on our own like this, particularly because some people were frustrated and stressed and I didn’t want to upset them anymore, but I also wasn’t going to let them ruin this experience for me. As Jacob, Ben and I ventured on Ben started to nope outta there, so we asked what was wrong to which he replied there was a cemetery there. Me and Jacob doubted him so we went back to check and sure enough there was a comically placed cemetery in our paths that actually stretched down for quite a while. We started to head back and as we climbed back up the hill Elijah asked us where Ben was and when Jacob and I turned around he was missing. We went back down the hill and found him messing with us.
After we went back up our team had split up into a couple of groups. One standing on the side of the road and the other talking to somebody. We eventually approached the group conversing with the local and after a little bit they invited us inside. We all went up into their house and met their family. They offered us bread and coffee, and not wanting to be rude I tried coffee for the first time. Milena trying her best did most of the translating was a big help and we conversed with this family for quite a while. Eventually they brought out tapestry their daughter had made and we all looked at them, among them were an almost finished last supper. Some of us bought some to show their thanks to the family but eventually time started to wear thin and we had to leave. When we informed the family of this they told us that they had someone outside watching the bus for us to make sure it didn’t leave without us. We made plans to meet with this family again on Sunday in between breakfast and lunch. Eventually we said goodbye to this generous family and we headed back down the mountain in the bus. They charged us a high price again but it didn’t matter because we were all invigorated by our experience with the family in Nono. Even the grumps came out happy. The fog was clearing up at this point so we got a beautiful view of the Ecuadorian highlands at sunset as we drove back down.
We took our normal route home, skipping the empanada stand, but stopped at the mall for dinner since we had planned on eating out and told Mabe and Fabi not to make us dinner. I managed to get a plate with the steak I had been craving, along with rice and a salad for just 5 dollars from a place called Mayflower in the food court and managed to get as full as I wanted to be for the first time in a while. After we all enjoyed our meals we left the mall around 7:00 with 45 minutes to still get back home. Everything was wrapping up nicely but the buses weren’t coming as often as they would during the day and so when Jacob saw a bus that said Terminal on it we all hopped on trusting his judgement. After a little while it became evident that this bus was not going the same way our bus usually goes. Josh asked the bus driver if this bus was going to Terminal Carcelen, then the bus driver stopped pointed us down this diagonal road and gave some directions with something about a “parque.” And so we all got off the bus and headed down the road and into the night. After a while we decided to all get a taxi, we needed three of them and accidentally put all of the panicky people in the same one. This particular taxi driver decided to scam the stupid American’s and drove in for 10 minutes in the wrong direction much to the paranoia of it’s passengers. Eventually we all managed to meet up and make it home late to tell our story.
