I never thought a foreign town with less than 1,000 people would make the biggest imprint on my heart.
I grew up in a town about the size of Puerto Lopez, Ecuador. Everyone knew everyone. All of my friends’ parents went to high school with my parents, I was in some relation with every single Mandl (mostly cousins), and most of them were in my grade. So when my team and I spent 10 days in Puerto Lopez, I was reminded how the small town life is truly a precious one to have.
Here are our stories:
Upon arriving to the city center (literally a street with multiple pop-up restaurants, all serving the same thing), we met Marcus, a tuk-tuk driver who just wanted to help. He tried to give us directions to where our AirBnB was…and then ended up following us in his tuk-tuk to make sure we got there – which was a good thing because we totally got lost, ha! Throughout the week, whenever Marcus would drive past us in his tuk-tuk or saw us in the street, he would honk or yell or do whatever he needed to do to say, “Hello”. It was always so fun and unexpected to see him so often – but that’s what happens in a small town.
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Our first night, we found THE best pizza place in South America. It was on the corner of a muddy street, only open in the evening, and run by a man named Valentine. That is, until he went on vacation the next day and left his son in charge: Carlos, age 12. I think we went to that pizza place every night (except maybe once…and we regret it). By the end of our stay, Carlos knew to expect us and exactly what we wanted on our pizza. He didn’t even have to ask. Everyone knows pizza is my main food group, and I can confidently say that Carlos makes the best pizza I have ever eaten – but you usually find those gems in a small town.
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There’s a little Pentecostal church in Puerto Lopez, and we found it! Sunday morning, we trekked through the mud and accidentally got there about 30 minutes early, haha. We introduced ourselves and asked if there was anything we could do to help them out before service. They asked us to set out the chairs, and then we got to play with a couple of the kids before other people arrived. It was a rainy day, so not a lot of people showed up.
There was a lot of singing. I think every person in the building had a song to sing…then they asked us to sing one, too. I’m sure they appreciated us trying our best, haha.
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The married couple that owns our AirBnB also own a touring company and were giving us a HUGE discount on lodging since we agreed to help them with their business throughout the week. As the days passed, our relationship with them grew. I wish I could expand on how we helped with their touring business – but I ended up getting a parasite and was out for 3 days. But even through that, the wife noticed and made me some tea to help me feel better! Man, they are the SWEETEST human beings. On our last day, they invited us into their side of the house for tea & this delicious cheese bread stuff. We took so many pictures, became friends on Facebook, and shared lots of hugs. Everyone ends up being some sort of extended family in a small town.
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Meet Marty.
We’ve never seen him wear pants and I’m sure he won’t see this because he hates technology, but some of my conversations were with this man. He’s vacationing from New York and has spent the past month in Ecuador as well. He was in Puerto Lopez a good 6 days before we got there. He told us which beaches were best, when to go to the pier to see the fisher boats come in, and everything he knows about birds (which is a lot). He also told us of his family situation, how it’s been flipped on its head recently, and how he’s just not the most fond of other religions. His wife left him when she converted to Jehovah’s Witness, and there’s definitely a root of bitterness there. But wait!! Our last time seeing him, he said, “I wish….my wife needs to meet you girls.” Intimate conversations in little pop-up restaurants off a dirty street, really only happens in small towns 🙂
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Puerto Lopez is right on the coast, and our AirBnB was about 2 or 3 blocks from the beach. Fisherman bring in their boats every morning around 6am. So many birds fly over head, down and around the boats, and way too close to me for comfort. Throughout the day, you can head to the beach and see at least one big group of people playing soccer, using sticks shoved into the sand for goals and disregarding any type of obstacle as a boundary, tide included.
One night, Kate bought a soccer ball and we went to the beach to see who we could get to play with us. When we arrived, there was a group of guys passing a soccer ball around, but not yet playing a game. They saw us walk up, ball in arm, and asked if we wanted to start a game. We mixed up the teams (thank the Lord…we would have been creamed otherwise) and started to play.
IT WAS SO FUN.
After playing a couple games, (okay, let’s be real..I stopped playing after 20 minutes and became cheerleader/photographer instead. I just stick to what I know, haha) we stood around and actually talked to the guys we were playing with. One of the guys, Daniel, realized that his mom goes to the church that we had been to. We showed him the pictures we took, and she was in them! We told them about Valentine’s pizza place, and he said his sister works at the other location (we didn’t even know that existed!!). Everyone knows everyone else in a small town.
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These stories are just examples of what we’re doing on our mission this year – going into communities, meeting the people, and showing them Jesus.
It’s the thing about small towns – you cant help but love them.
