Adventures in Ecuador

Going to
the equator-our first couple days in Ecuador were spent in Quito,
where we had the chance to be tourists and visit the equator. I can
now officially say that I have stood in two hemispheres at the same time. It was pretty cool-lots of weird science-y things like being
able to balance an egg on its head, water going straight down a
drain, and it being impossible to close your eyes and walk in a
straight line.

Valentine’s
Day-normally I could care less about Valentine’s Day, but this year
the girls on our team decided we wanted to make it a special day for
the guys on our team. So we planned to go to a river and swim, hike
to a beautiful waterfall, and have a campfire with smores that night.
Well, things started off ok-we went to the river and jumped off
the rope bridge that was 30 feet above into the rushing water
below-but that didn’t last very long due to the torrential downpour
that was causing the river to rise incredibly fast. The rain also
canceled the hike and the campfire that we planned, but we were able
to start a fire under a shack that was near the river. While a few
people were getting that ready, Kellen and I decided to go for a
little walk up the mountain. Just as we were turning around to come
back down because it was getting dark, Marcello, our 15 year old Ecuadorian teammate this month, came running up and yelling for us to
come with him to pick oranges at the top of the mountain. Not a bad
idea-besides the fact that by the time we made our way back down
the mountain, it was completely dark, still raining, and knee deep
mud the whole way down. At that point, we realized that all we could
do was laugh and accept the fact that there was no way we were making
it back down the mountain without being completely covered in mud.
So after slipping and sliding down the mountain for next half hour,
we finally made it back to our team, just in time to enjoy some
amazing smores:)

Worm
shish-kabobs-yes these really did happen. Apparently, myones,
giant grubs, are a delicious treat for the Quichua people, the
indigenous people group in the part of the country where we were.
One night, Jim-our translator/coordinator-brought home a bag of
them to share-how nice:) After grilling them for awhile, it was
our turn to eat them. I, however, took the opportunity to be the
team photographer and capture this special moment for everyone who
wanted to eat the grubs. Just trying to be a servant:)

 

The
Bat-Moth-so I think that it’s starting to be a theme that in each
country, we will encounter an insect that must be a mutant because
there is no way that it can possibly be so big without something
being genetically wrong. One night our team was hanging out in the
kitchen area of the house (which didn’t really have full walls all
around it), when all the sudden something comes flying through the
room. We all start freaking out as it’s flying at our heads, so we
run to another room. At that point, we thought it was a bird or a
bat. But no. As we glance out of our hiding place and see that it
has landed by the light, we see that it is a giant moth, with glowing
red eyes. Thankfully, Katie is fearless and ventured out to capture
the bat-moth so we could resume our night in peace. Killer beast
#2-captured and defeated. Can’t wait to see what we encounter in
Peru.

Trying
not to get arrested-every week, we try to take one day off as a day
of rest, and on one of those days this month, we took a bus to the
nearest town that had internet, which was about 30 minutes away.
After enjoying some good food and time on the internet, a couple of
us decided to try to find a path to the river that was on the edge of
the town. We finally found our way to the river and decided that
since it was hot, even though we didn’t have any bathing suits or
clothes to change into, we were going to go swimming in the river in
our regular clothes. It’s only a quick 30 minute bus ride back to
our house right? So after enjoying a refreshing swim in a beautiful
river, we made our way back to the bus dripping wet. We were on the
bus for literally 2 minutes, when we were stopped and everyone had to
get out and be checked by the military to make sure that no one was
trafficking drugs. The way they check this is to check your
passport/id. If you don’t have that with you, they assume that you
are up to no good and detain you until someone can get your passport
for you. Guess who didn’t have their passport with them. As I’m
standing there dripping wet, the military officer, who didn’t seem to
be in a very good mood, proceeded to tell me that I would have to be
detained at the police station until someone could provide my
passport for me. Spending the night at the police station was not
exactly the great end to the awesome day I had had up til that point.
Thankfully, another one of the military officers had pity on me and
convinced the guy who was trying to detain me that I wasn’t a drug
smuggler and he should let me go. I got on the bus as quickly as I
could before he changed his mind, and spent the next 30 minutes on
the bus ride back soaking wet and thanking God that I didn’t have to
spend the night in an Ecuadorian jail cell.