Hola amigos!
I apologize for my prolonged absence. The last several weeks have been hectic, but so good. I promise that at some point on the race I will write a blog about the city that I’m currently staying in. Our squad has made it safely to Lima, Peru. Praise Jesus!
Let me fill you in on my month in Ecuador… Ecuador was a sleeper country for me on this race. I knew very little about Ecuador before the race. One of my Spanish teachers was from there and I knew Ecuador meant equator in Spanish. That was it.
I know its early in the race, but Ecuador blew me away. Its high on the list of countries I want to revisit after the race.
As our debrief started to come to a close, Team Zeal felt called to stay in Banos for a little longer, so one evening the team went out to look for potential lodging for the following week.
As Josh and I walked through the town going from hostel to hostel asking about prices, we found that it would be a very expensive stay. The next four days were a celebration called Carnival where people come from all over to celebrate the last four days before lent. With everyone coming to town, hostel owners hiked their prices up.
As our search continued we came across a younger hostel owner. After inquiring about the hostel prices, we asked him where the nearest soccer field was. He told us about a plaza a little way up the hill. We had a half an hour left of the search before we had to regroup with the rest of the squad for dinner so we decided to make our way to this field.
We arrived at the plaza and saw a group of kids playing soccer. We had 20 minutes before dinner and we were itching to play. We walked up to the group and asked if we could play. The response was no. They were in the middle of game that they betted on and they were not going to let some Americans ruin it. As we started to walk away, I grabbed a couple dollars of my food money from my pocket and went back to the group. I proposed a 15-minute game, them vs. Josh and I. If they beat us, we pay 2 dollars and if we beat them they don’t have to pay us anything. They accepted. Josh and I weren’t dressed to play, but I kicked off the flip flops and rolled up the pants and the game was on.
Filthy feet, a blood blister and stubbed toe later, the timer sounded and the Americans were victorious. I held onto my food money and was able to eat later on. The game had given us an opportunity to get to know the kids in the community.
We played soccer with the locals and I was blown away by the skill of kids that were half my age. Their knowledge of the game, shots and passes were very impressive and it was awesome seeing them around the center of town and continuing those relationships.
In the following weeks we visited the plaza whenever we had the chance and energy to play. We were able to share the gospel and pray for some of the kids.
After the first game when Josh and I discovered the hidden gem of the plaza, we ran back to the hostel to meet up with the squad. We were going to a missionary family’s house for dinner and worship. We arrived at the hostel punctually at 5:30 and made our way to the Purdy’s home.
Soccer game during hostel search…
