things i recommend doing on your last full day in ecaudor:
- hike up a volcano in skinny jeans and high top converse
- kayak in a volcano crater
- deciding not to ride the horses up the volcano, they are extremely overworked with no breaks in between treks up and down the hill hauling people. and the owners of the horses dont give them the slightest second to rest before they are hitting their butts to keep moving.
- try your first and probably only bite of guinea pig
- getting everything packed so you dont have to do it monday morning
noteworthy things to share!!
- i couldn’t decide this morning whether i should take some car sick medicine before the 3.5 hr car ride to the volcano because i only had 3 left. basically-one for today, one for the flight to georgia and one for the flight back to MSP. i was nervous that i would end up needing another one at some point so i didn’t want to take one. i finally decided to just take it and i’d figure it out later…no more than a second after i swallowed the pill, i looked in the container and there was STILL 3 left. the Lord really said “okay-i’ll provide more..no worries”.
- about halfway up the volcano i looked at abby and told her how i was actually glad that we were last in the group. i’ve learned that even after living in ecuador for 3 months it’s unlikely that you’re gonna feel in shape. and its okay!!! it teaches you to swallow your pride cause you’re literally hiking at 12,000 feet elevation in the middle of the day at the equator. its not supposed to be easy.
- on the hike back up, abby and i took a short cut up a trail. we got to the point where we had to climb over the small cobblestone fence on the side of the main path. usually wouldn’t be a big deal, but having fallen on my wrist earlier in the hike, a lack of water for both of us, exhaustion from the altitude – it was looking a little harder than it should have. almost out of nowhere, a older ecuadorian man came over and in perfect english said “give me your hand”. and pulled us both up over the wall with little to no effort. out of nowhere he had the strength to do that. abby told me that she had been praying for God to send something to help us get over the wall. God you’re REALLY poppin’ off today. thanks for sending an angel.
- even if it means having hard goodbyes, twice, pour your heart into your relationships. the interns from el refugio got to come with us today and it was so so fun. the bus ride, hiking, eating lunch, the bus ride back, all of it. the goodbyes were just as hard, (okay just kidding-they were harder) than the first time. however, it’s so worth it to have these friendships rather than to “just have known them” at one point in my life.
- luis is gonna tell you that the perimeter hike at el refugio is harder than the hike up the volcano…im not sure about that. we’ll evaluate how my body feels tomorrow.
- last year when i took the road trip out to arizona with two of my friends, there was a point where we were talking about the beauty surrounding colorado, utah, and arizona. we were trying to decide if we would get sick of the mountains/scenery if we lived there. seeing it day after day, would we get “used to it”? or would we be continually astonished by the beauty of Gods creation. well…i have my answer. i’ve lived in one of the absolute most breathtaking places i’ve ever seen in my life, and i have yet to be sick of it. i’m constantly amazed at all the Lord has created. and i have a feeling that it’s not going away anytime soon.
tomorrow is our last day in ecuador…we fly out in the evening and will land in georgia early in the morning on tuesday. from there we will have debrief and hang out for the last few days we get together. see ya soon united states!
xoxo,
julita
