Day 76 – I feel like I got hit by a bus

We are moving very slowly this morning but still convinced it was worth it.

We walked (very slowly) into Cumbaratza to do Marisol’s study. We had a great study with her, finishing the chapter on the sanctity of blood. We are gonna miss her study. After that we walked down to Silvia’s house and as I was writing a note her mom, America, walked by and said she was at her house so we followed her home. We visited with America and one of her other daughters, Tatiana, for a while and made arrangements to do Silvia’s study Friday at 3.

Ryan, Zully, Erik & I went back out in the afternoon at 3pm. Unfortunately, it’s exam time so all my studies were either busy/stressed, sick or not at home. But Erik found his study that he’s been doing the family book with and set up to come back tomorrow and start the Bible teach book. We couldn’t find Ryan so we took the bus back home (yes you read that right-we are growing up) with Zully & Diana.

It was relatively early still, but I was exhausted. I think I may be getting the cold Erik had last week.   I don’t think it helped that on my last call the baby who is super sick was coughing all over me (she’s only 6 months old). I made us some dinner.  We watched the video on creation first in English then in Spanish and by then I was ready for bed. By 9pm I was asleep, woke up at 10:30 for an hour and then back to bed for the night. Erik watched the “extras” in Spanish for what seemed like hours and then went to bed around midnight.

(Sorry, no pics, but if you looked at the albums from the horseback riding yesterday, I'm sure you're sick of pics)

Day 75 – Cowboys?...Maybe not

After another good night’s sleep we went down to another delicious breakfast: eggs (the best fried eggs Erik says he’s ever had), homemade bread, ham, coffee/tea, fruit and fresh juice.  We all filled up because after checking out we had scheduled a 4 hour horseback riding tour.  I know what you’re thinking but 4 seemed reasonable seeing as they offered 3 day tours. But then again, I’ve never been on a horse.

We got there a little before 10 and they suited us up with big rubber boots and cowboy hats. Boy did we look legit…or not.

Apparently, larger size feet are a problem and I thought my yellow boots looked ridiculous until I saw Shawn’s white ones. The guide seemed a little stressed that Erik had shorts on – we all found it entertaining. We all mounted up – Erik got the feisty one that didn’t want to put on the bridle but seemed to settle down.

They are really well-trained horses; the only thing is when one starts running they all follow suit and some like to be out in front (not mine thankfully-he had to stop every 10 feet to eat grass).  But I have to say when they start running it’s a rush and terrifying all at the same time. We headed out of town to go up the surrounding mountains. 4 MINUTES into the trip Erik was seriously questioning the decision of 4 hours but it was too late.

We got out of town, crossed a river and started heading up. The path was rocky and narrow but when it opened up and you could see the view, any pain quickly dissolved. It was spectacular!

We followed along the edge of the mountain (sometimes literally the edge) and crossed little streams until we reached our destination. We “parked” the horses and headed down the mountain (80 meters) to a waterfall. As soon as I “stumbled” off my horse with a little help I realized I could not walk normally and I was a little worried about the trip back.

The boys brought there suits and were undeterred by the water’s frigid temp. Erik compared it to when he jumped into Crater Lake-he could barely breathe.

I did notice beautiful blue sky being replaced by clouds and when the guide, Angel, said we better get going back I figured he had good reason.

Our guide, Angel - looks a bit more like a real cowboy

 I felt like as we started the very steep climb back up it was a race against time….and we were losing. By the time we were up and back on the horses it had started to sprinkle….and I was SORE (already!). I could only imagine after 2 more hours. We headed back and the sprinkle turned to a heavy rain at times. We got soaked. And the path got even muddier and a little scary at times when the horses had to go down the muddy, rocky, steep declines. Ryan was behind Erik and said he could see his horse slipping and sliding  at times. But fortunately, they are strong animals and used to this trip. By the time we got back to the edge of town and on a hard surface, Erik and I had mixed emotions. He was pretty sore and I had to pee. Shawn, Zully & Angel were ahead so our horses wanted to run but neither Erik nor I could endure that. We finally made it back, safe and sound….and SOAKED. But it was all worth it. We both think it was one of the best things we have ever done.  Vale la pena….but check back tomorrow.

We changed into dry clothes, said goodbye to Angel & Vilcabamba and headed back. We made a quick stop in Loja for a bite to eat and some groceries and we were back home by 6:30.  Man, were we tired & sore. I can’t imagine what we’ll feel like tomorrow. We went to bed early and were sure we’d be sleeping like babies in no time……babies with. chafing thighs and a sore backside.

P.S. - We took hundreds of pics during this ride so for those of you who want to see more you can go to the album on Shutterfly. The address is: dailylifeinecuador.shutterfly.com and then you click on pictures and videos. I'm working on getting the videos uploaded still.

Day 74 – Major relaxation day.



I saw this bird outside our cabana this morning

We were quite late getting to breakfast and by the look on Ryan’s content face and expanding panza, we were going to be fortunate to find any food left. He can really eat but I thought it was a little over-the-top that he pulled his chair up to the buffet table. I guess the staff told him to take his fork and get out of the kitchen.  Fortunately, there was an abundance of very fresh food and we enjoyed the compañerismo.

View of the gardens. On the left is the restaurant.

We walked around the property and sat in the sun and soaked up the views for a long time and then went down to the pool and swam and burned. It’s kind of an eco-tourism place so the pool had no chlorine and I think the water just runs down the mountain and into the pool. We met a couple from the states. His sister is a Witness so we spoke with him for a long time about the bible and religion and other things. It was nice.

View of the gardens with the mountains of Vilcabamba in
the back. Those are clouds, not snow.

The pics don't do it justice

 Yes, you're reading that correctly. You didn't think we would pass that up did you?

Leah and I went and got a massage -75 minutes for $22! They had another treatment that lasts 1 hour 45 minutes for $28. The spa was very nice!

Entering the spa

Ryan relaxing in the hammock outside Shawn's room.
There's not a bad view anywhere here

We went into town to get some cash and a little snack at a hosteria with a Mexican restaurant. Then it was back to the room to get ready for dinner. We had made plans to get together with a couple from Alaska that is moving to Vilcabamba permanently; Brandy (picture from blog of SAD) and Heath. They brought a family with them that is visiting from Oregon, the Mora’s. They are considering buying property in Vilcabamba for retirement/ministry expansion. They are serving in a Spanish congregation and all are Regular Pioneers. They have a son, Erik (he must be sooooo cool, ya’ know?), who has been at Patterson bethel for the past 5 years. It was really nice getting to know everyone better. We really feel like our spiritual family is growing and growing. It is a real privilege. We ended up exchanging contact info and hopefully we will all get to go the Costa Rica Special Assembly in January 2013. It would be a great reunion.

Technical Difficulties!

We are having problems uploading photos, I think it's a problem with the Blogger website itself. Please bear with us-we hope to be up and running soon!

Day 73 – Bienvenidos a Vilcabamba!



This "not so little" guy was all over the bathroom this morning
I didn't want to find him in my bed when we got home
so we took him outside before we left.

9am – We are all off for 2 nights, 3 days in Vilcabamba. It’s about 2 hours away from here, past Loja. Supposedly it’s a dryer climate and a quaint town with quite a few “hippies”. We got some rooms at The Hosteria Izhcayluma (based on the recommendation of a sister in Loja).

We stopped at the Supermaxi in Loja for some snacks and then arrived in Vilcabamba around 11:30. It was a beautiful ride and I swear you could feel/see the climate changing. It seems less tropical with much dryer air, but still very beautiful. We checked in and then were off to town (2 km) to grab some lunch. We found a little place on the corner (called “la esquina”) off the main square where the park is. They had “almuerzos” (lunches) that ranged from $2-$3.50 for a bowl of soup (like repe), your choice of meat, rice, menestra or yucca & a glass of horchata. Erik ran next door and bought some avocados. Erik settled on seco de chivo (goat) and I had fish. It was all delicious and tons of food. All you foodies out there will be happy that the food photos are back.

After lunch, we were stuffed and decided we better walk around town for a bit (although some seem to still have room for ice cream). We found a little chocolate store that was owned by a man from Belgium. His son was working and Erik asked him where he was from. He’s from Ghent, which is pretty close to Dad’s hometown of Munsterbilzen. We have been there before so it was neat to talk to him about chocolate, mussels, beer and French fries (the four basic food groups in Belgium). They made chocolates (of course) and prepackaged waffles (surprisingly yummy) and cookies etc.

We went back to the hosteria and explored a bit. It was awesome. All the rooms are hidden amongst the trees and plants. They have stone paths all throughout the property. The restaurant is open air and had very good food. The owners are German and they had a mixture of German, Italian and other foods. Breakfast was included each day and they had a buffet of fresh baked breads, jams, fresh squeezed fruit juices, good coffee/tea, fresh fruit salad, granola, and yogurt. They make your eggs or crepes to order. The food was excellent, the views were even better. Hopefully the photos will do it some justice.

The rooms were really nice, as well. We stayed in a cabana. It had a queen bed, a really nice bathroom with natural rock shower and a large deck off the front with a view of the mountains. It was mostly enclosed and has a table and benches and a hammock. It was a really nice place to do the text and read the bible. It isn’t difficult to appreciate Jehovah while looking at the natural beauty.

View from the deck of our room

We feel young-Ashleigh Heiberger Skype’d us and we talked to the whole family. They got their seldom-worked territory assignment and they’re going to West Virginia (3 little missionaries in training. Sorry Josh, you’re not so little).

After that we headed down for a glass of wine and a snack and enjoyed the view of the city and surrounding valley. It was raining and the sun setting, but it still looked pretty cool.

Andrea & Aron Ladoucuer

Then, the rest of the gang joined us for more snacking and then it was down the path for some pool, ping pong and darts. This just in from the “it’s a small world” department-Ryan noticed a brother and his wife from Canada eating at the restaurant. They came down with us and we all had a riot. The couple has been down here for 15 months. They have 18 years each in the full-time ministry and were really encouraging to talk to. Well, it was a busy day. We’re tired and you’re done reading, so, see ya’!

Day 72 – Guaguayme, San Juan & Guaguame Alto

As nice as yesterday was  is as terrible as today is. Seriously, we woke up to overcast, rainy skies. You can imagine what that does to congestion and sinus pressure.  But Erik was determined to go out. But on the way to the service group when it started pouring, he may have been second-guessing himself. By the time everyone got there and we met for service it was raining pretty hard-did I mention I lost my umbrella in service Wednesday?-argggh. But there was a large group of us huddled under the overhang of an empty house. The friends seemed undeterred by the rain (17 of us). So, Ryan made the groups and then he & Shawn took the sisters up first to the town, Guaguayme. I decided to leave my backpack in the car and only take my invitations so everything wouldn’t get soaked. But, of course, the one day I leave my camera in the car, I regret it. Lots of good photo ops, not to mention the rain stopped after about ½ hour and the sun came out. Unfortunately, I didn’t see Shawn or the car again for the next 2.5 hours. So, sorry but I have no pics. But it was a quaint little town, up the mountain, with a cute little central park (like they all have). When we finished there we walked to another very small “town”-a group of about 10 houses and then walked back. It was a beautiful walk and by now the sun was out;  no clouds and little breeze. It turned out to be a beautiful morning.

Ryan and Shawn went back to get the brothers and then they went up past us to Guaguame Alto to pass out invitations.

We got back around noonish and I tried a new recipe I had found for lentils and rice. It was an Indian recipe; I was just missing Greek yogurt and pine nuts but everyone agreed to let me try it. It turned out pretty good but definitely would be better with the missing ingredients.

We had a bigger chunk of time before the meeting because Erik had the talk in Yanzatza (about 35 minutes away in the opposite direction from Loja) and their meeting didn’t start until 7.  We sat outside and had Kauffee. The drive was really beautiful (of course right?) in a direction we hadn’t gone yet so it was all new. This was a pretty big congregation (attendance 120) with a ton of young people/kids. Erik knew that ahead of time so he gave the talk on “Looking at youths from Jehovah’s standpoint”. Quite a few after the meeting mentioned that they appreciated the talk.

They had these pics on there territory map.

This is the congregation that goes preaching in the canoe. Hopefully we’ll be able to arrange something with them for next week. Recently they’ve had quite a few brothers be assigned/move in so they have 5 elders now (Ryan is a little jealous).  We met a sister and her husband who are from Quebec but she has been in Ecuador 21 years (since she was 6). They have been serving along the coast but were just asked to move to this congregation a month ago.

After meeting we were starving & conveniently enough, the brother from Zamora who has the street cart with food, has a cousin in Yanzatza who also has a street cart with delicious food. The three guys at our table were joking in Spanish about being stuck with the gringos and talking about us, thinking we couldn’t understand. So we started speaking in Spanish and I heard them talking about us again.  I think it really surprised them. Turns out, they’re from Colombia and are working here in Ecuador. We got a chance to preach a little to the one guy and he asked about where and what times we had meetings.

Street cart with yummy food in the town center

We got home at about 10:00pm and Erik checked the final score from the Syracuse game-season over. Ricky dvr’d it but I don’t think he’ll care to watch it.

Day 71 – Erik is definitely sick.

I think it’s a really bad cold that’s moving down into his chest and making him tired. So we decided not to go with the group to preach in Piunza & Guadalupe (it would have been a long day and a lot of walking). Not to mention, the sun was out early today so by 9am it was scorching hot. But I made Quinoa for everyone before they left (not Zully’s favorite)

Walking to Cumbaratza - beautiful, blue skies!

I had lined up some studies for the morning. So we walked into Cumbaratza and back home, which was more than enough for Erik for today. He was wiped when we got home. But we did have a really good study with Silvia, America’s daughter. She was waiting for us with her books out and studied. Erik asked about the picture on the wall and she mentioned that it was her son that had died 3 years ago, he was 2.5 years old. He had gotten into some pesticide for the potatoes and was poisoned. At the time they lived in a pretty remote area (about 2.5 hours from a hospital) so he died in her arms and there was nothing she could do. How sad. She has another little boy now that’s a little over a year. He’s kind of a terror but fell asleep so we could study.

Little park in the middle of Cumbaratza. All the towns have them

We got home around noon and after lunch Erik was quickly fast asleep. It would have been a perfect pool day finally, but there was no way he had the energy for that so I settled for some reading and a beer in the back yard (and of course laundry!). We actually had clean, dry towels in just over an hour – you may not realize how exciting that is.

Shawn and Ryan got home around 4, because Ryan had to go fix a busted tire he got the day before. The roads here are pretty rough on cars, especially tires. The girls got home around 7 after their studies. They were pretty tired-that’s a long day.

I had made pasta with fresh tomatoes, garlic and olive oil. It’s ok as long as we ALL eat it. I was hoping the garlic would knock that cold out of Erik’s system.

Day 70 – The “Cuse” wins by 1 point-& I missed it!

This is a beautiful orchid next to Wilmer's house

We met at Wilmer’s house (pig & tilapia farm) to preach in Tunanza Alto. It was just like we remembered it-really muddy and really beautiful. We broke up in groups to cover the town by foot and then did the main road by car. We haven’t done door-to-door by car very often here, and it was actually a nice change of pace.

Those little specs up by the house are Shawn
and Ryan. The sisters worked down in town.



Rosa, Zully, Monica

We went to one house that was way up a hill, and fairly difficult to get to. At the beginning you have to cross a creek that flows really fast. Victor said that many years ago, two boys that lived in the house were crossing the bridge and the one fell in. He couldn’t swim, so his brother jumped in after him. They both ended up drowning. I don’t think the family still lived in the house, but we didn’t have a chance to say much, as the woman was not interested in speaking with us.

On the way back through Timbara, we did one of Leah’s studies, JoMyra, and returned to the house. I must admit, I was ready. This cold is kicking my tail.

We had a relaxing afternoon and prepared for the meeting and the parts we had. Leah had the second student talk (not so relaxing for her) and I had the book study and the part on preaching to businesses.

Scary huh? I let him take some pics with the camera
before the meeting.

Josue is about 3 ft tall so all the pics are at this angle.

When we got home I checked espn.com and saw that Syracuse managed to beat Wisconsin by 1 point; it might as well be 100 points, right? I skyped Ricky and Leah and he said it was a classic game. As we were talking, I discovered that if they faced the iPad to the tv-voila-basketball on-demand. Poor man’s basketball on-demand. I soon realized that the next game will be Saturday night-the ‘cuse schedule is following the meeting schedule-and I have a talk Saturday night in Yanzasa (sp?). He said he would dvr it and I will skype him. I sure hope Ellie doesn’t eat the iPad. Anyway, Ricky and I watched a little of the Cincinnati v Ohio State game “together” and then we signed off.



That's Ryan and I on the computer screen.



Ryan was kind enough to make omelets and toast so we drifted off to sleep, happy and full.

Day 69 – Sick day-but no diarrhea.

The clouds on the mountains around Namirez.
I'ts been really cloudy and rainy lately.

Well, we have spent more than two months here so far and haven’t gotten sick yet. That changed this week, but just a bad cold/flu. Victor Vivanco was sick too so they put us together, alone, and sent us up to Namirez alto. We spent all morning there and distributed a lot of invitations to the Memorial. We enjoyed our day in quarantine and got to know each other better. We actually got to visit a couple of schools and I was able to give some English lessons to one of the classes. It was fun and the teachers were very nice and laid back.

Papachinas after they're boiled. It's good to know these were a
vegetable because they looked like they had fur on them.

Of course, Leah is always amazed that my appetite seems to grow when I am sick, which worked out really well because hermanita Cajas invited us over for lunch. She and Leah worked together in the ministry in the morning and then returned to her house. They made papachinas with salsa de mani (peanut) and caldo de pollo (chicken soup)with yuca. It was really tasty (I am trying not to use “delicious” so much). Leah had a front row seat to the preparation of the chicken soup, and when she noticed the head, along with that weird red hat-thing chickens have, she decided to pass…all the better for the rest of us.

On the left are the papachinas peeled. They look like a potato
and have a similar texture but they are super slimey.

The papachinas are similar to potatoes but slimier. The peanut sauce was prepared with peanut butter, onions, achiote, salt, pepper, cumin and a bunch of other stuff-delightful. The caldo was really good-simple, salty, and not a chicken head in sight. Speaking of heads, Leah’s is a little sore. You see, everything in Cristinitas house is made for someone about 4 feet tall. Enough said.

As if she hadn’t been hospitable enough, the dear sister gave us a ton of juice oranges and tomatoes and a bunch of bananas as we left. Everything from her property-totally self-sufficient. Really, really awesome, huh?

We got home just as the others were leaving, so Leah jumped in with Ryan, Veronica and Zully and continued on to preach in the afternoon in Timbara and take care of her studies.  Shawn and I passed.

Leah with Veronica & Zully

Monica has her strawberry plants in these little containers
bordering her gardens. Look Fons-no weeds!

There is a road in Timbara that leads to a really pretty waterfall and that is where they spent the afternoon. Ryan has a study with a young woman named Monica and she always sends us home with fruit or vegetables; today it was a papaya & when they went back to see if Leah had left her umbrella there she gave them 6 pieces of piping hot choclo (corn on the cob). “Un trabajador merece su salario.”

Leah had two good studies that have been very regular-the studies, that is. I mean they have been studying regularly. I know what you are thinking. There will be no bowel movement comments posted to the blog page, okay?

Day 68 – Awakened by paranoia

Did someone tell Shawn we were going
bass fishing?

I woke up at 5:30am, or should I say the pouring rain woke me up. I felt the need to get up and “arrange” the room in case it started “dripping” inside-I could hear it already start in the dining room. It ended up being controllable, no big deal. But I couldn’t really fall back asleep for long after that. We got up in time to do Bible reading, text and have coffee/tea and breakfast (yogurt and fruit). We were meeting at the corner, and there were 11 of us (which is a good group for Tues).

Erik and I had studies lined up so we weren’t able to do the invitation work this morning. But we had some really good studies (and invited them to the memorial).

With Marisol we started chapter 13 on Life. We had a good visit with Silvia and set her study up for Friday. She’s been going through a lot with her husband and hasn’t been around. We ended the morning with Mercy’s study, starting chapter 2 on the Bible.

Some of the friends crossed over in the Quebrada and worked up the mountain so this is a video of what we missed.

We got home around 1pm, made a quick lunch and went back out at 2:30 to study with our neighbor, Sabina.  She did really well and her 2 little girls are very sweet, but Wilmer, who is 2.5 is a terror. He starts to scream/cry as soon as we get there and he sees the “yellow” book which makes it hard for her to concentrate. But Sabina seems to be able to block out the distraction.

When we got home, our housemates were still at the pool (we were too tired to go and Erik is starting to not feel good). But we sat outside and did some studying.

They had eaten patacones at the pool but we were starving so we made red cabbage and rice with a salad (typical: onions, tomatoes, cilantro, lime juice) and avocados.

We watched a movie and it was time for bed.

Day 67 – Ok, so I may have seasonal depression

Or at least I’ve noticed how the weather affects me drastically.  When I woke up this morning I was pleasantly surprised that the sky looked different: I was sure we were gonna have sun today! I had washed a load of clothes last night banking on sun today. Voila-in 30 minutes everything was dry.

Ryan made us breakfast: Eggs, onions, peppers and cheese in tortillas. It was scrumptious. Hmm…we do seem to eat a lot of eggs here (it’s a cheap source of protein). I guess we’ll have to check our cholesterol when we get home. 

Erik cleaned the bathroom and floors (I’m not the only one affected by the weather). For lunch, we ate the potato/beet salad we made last night. FYI: it’s just as good the next day.

It was raining by noon. For dinner, we roasted a chicken with potatoes, carrots and onions roasted in the pan with the juices…yummy! I made rice, of course (when in Rome).

We worked out, worked on my talk for Thursday and did family worship. Pretty standard for Monday. Oh, and I cleaned our shoes – they were pretty muddy.

We skyped the Krafts. They have a new assignment: WA-2, which is in Bellingham, WA and includes the San Juan Islands. It is north of Seattle, WA and near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Then, we skyped Sandra and Leobardo. We got to bed late but it was worth catching up with everyone.

Day 66 – Chamico & San Vicente…

…Is where we preached for the 2^nd day of the campaign. The good news is we had 19 out today. The bad news is that half the group ran out of territory half way through the morning. But the sun was out and it was a beautiful day. We met at Rosa de Reyes’ house.

La Saquea

I worked with Damaris and we went with the Vivancos, Veronica & Rosa to work la Saquea area. We found a sweet lemon tree, which I’ve never tried before, so Victor got some down for us.

We waited for Shawn, who had walked up to San Vicente with Samuel. We sat and visited with the Romero family.

We headed over to Conchai to visit Santiago and his parents, Noemi y Jorge. (Last week we couldn’t go because of the assembly). Unfortunately, they had uninvited guests and couldn’t study but we at least invited the family to the memorial. She has to bring her daughter to Quito this week for surgery to remove a malignant tumor from her leg and she isn’t sure when she’ll be back. But she gave us her phone number so that in the future we can call first. On the way back to the car we saw Santiago. He’s a really nice kid and we talked for a bit.

Looking up at the blue sky at Noemi's house

Crossing the bridge, on the way in to Conchai, we walked with a couple and gave them an invitation. Turns out, Ryan used to visit them so they took the mags too.

We were happy we finished in time to make it to the market in Zamora for some fruit and veggie bargain shopping. We ran into the Romeros there but they were all done. It was hot under the tarps and the cords to hold them up are placed strategically so if you’re not paying attention you will choke yourself. It’s as if nobody here is over 5 feet tall. We got our loot: bargain of the day, 7 big mangos for $2.00. We were on our way home to enjoy the rest of the day as the sun was quickly fading behind clouds. Oh well, I was still determined to enjoy my ice cold beer, which we did as we made dinner: pasta with homemade meatballs and sauce. We also made the potato and beet salad. Hey, there’s always tomorrow.