Salutations amigos,
We are currently in Banos, Ecuador. For the Spanish speakers in the building, the name Banos translates to baths due to the waterfalls and hot springs in the area, not bathrooms as I originally thought…
In Medellin, Colombia I was asked to step into a Logistics Coordinator role for the squad with Vanessa from Team Selah. I have been hesitant to tell people about this position because if our squad ended up in any country other than Ecuador, I’d probably have a lot of people coming after me. Now since the team is safely in Ecuador I’m a lot more comfortable in letting the cat out of the bag…
At my most recent internship before the race, I did some work for the head of the logistics team. I learned from the best. Although his sayings and lines don’t work that well down here, Excel and google sheets are international so thanks Mike…
Vanessa and I were tasked with researching and planning squad travel and lodging for our 15 squad members, 4 squad leaders and 1 squad mentor from Colombia to Ecuador.
Vanessa graciously took booking hostels so transportation from Colombia to Ecuador fell into my court. Turns out coordinating transportation for 20 individuals traveling across 320 miles of mountainous terrain has a lot of moving parts. As I researched buses from Pasto, Colombia to the Ecuadorian border, I found out most buses stopped at Ipiales, a city right before the Ecuadorian border.
As a result of stopping before the border we would have to take a taxi to the actual border crossing. Normally, it wouldn’t be a huge deal, but having to find taxis for 20 individuals with their large backpacks presented a logistical nightmare.
Below was the projected transportation plans for the first travel day.
| Taxis from Hostel in Pasto to the Pasto bus station. |
| Bus from Pasto to Ipiales. |
| Taxis from Ipiales to Rumichaca Bridge at Ecuadorian / Colombian Border. |
| Vans from Ecuadorian border to bus station in Tulcan. |
| Bus from Tulcan to Quito. |
| Taxis from Quito bus station to Hostel. |
None of the above could be booked beforehand so everything had be done the day before or the day of. I put the trip in God’s hands and prayed for traveling mercies and that all the pieces would fall into place.
Our team arrived a day early to Pasto to buy the bus tickets. Josh, Alex and I made our way to the bus station. As we were walking, I was taking into account the distance and seeing if walking to the station was a feasible option in hopes to eliminate having to call a small fleet of taxis to take us there. However due to the distance and potential safety risks, much to my dismay I dismissed it as an option.
As we continued our walk Josh and I saw multiple dump trucks and stake body trucks and jokingly said to each other, let’s hire one of these guys to take us to the bus station. Part of me was serious though…
We arrived at the bus station and giant line was there to greet us. We hopped in line and started the several hour wait. Shout out to Josh and Alex for their patience and help.
As we inched up in the line, I started talking to a man named Dario. He was from Ipiales and was traveling home for the weekend. We talked about the United States, different cities and I asked him about travel from Colombia to Ecuador. I told him, the projected plan, and he said it sounded good. I asked him if he knew of any companies or people that could drive a group of 20 and their bags from a hostel to the bus station. He told me to ask if the bus driver could come to the hostel to pick us up, and to also ask if he could take us straight to the border. A thought that never even crossed my mind changed the game right there.
It was finally our turn, and I told the gentleman working the booth our situation and asked him about the possibility of the bus driver coming to pick us up. He called the bus driver, and the bus driver agreed to pick us up at the hostel and drop us off at the Rumichaca bridge. All for a very good price.
The next morning the bus showed up to the hostel and took us directly to the border. Because of Dario’s suggestion we were able to knock three of the transportation changes down to one. Dario’s advice eliminated having to call taxis from the hostel to the station and taxis from Ipiales to the Rumichaca bridge.
I was blown away seeing how God provided for our needs, and how He placed Dario in my path.
In Christ,
Jesse Martinez
