I'm baaaaaccckkkk! (aka Ecuador part 1)

Well, I'm back and somewhat recovered from my amazing experience!  I'm still exhausted and catching up on much needed sleep and processing everything.  I thought I'd post each day separately, mostly because as it is each post will be epically long and I can't imagine anyone would make it through one ridiculously long post.  I'll be lucky if you stick with me each day. 

So, here goes night 1 and day 1

I arrived at the airport on Saturday, not knowing how much my perspective on things would change in a little more than a week.  I was anxious, as I had never been out of the country before, and excited.  I met up with my fellow Mission Education Group members and we headed down to await takeoff.  We had a layover in Atlanta so here is the group waiting for the long plane ride to Quito, Ecuador!

Melissa, Pastor Lori, Sue, and Melody (I'm taking the picture and I'm not sure where Hildie is!)

We finally made it on the plane and after a 5 hour flight, we arrived!  As I mentioned above, I have never been out of the country, so going through customs was an interesting experience.  My luggage mananged to make it there and we were out the door.  There were so many people waiting right outside of the airport, but luckily we had vans waiting to take us to the Hotel Dan for night one. 

Ah, the Hotel Dan.  While I'm sure it was lovely in its heyday, it looked pretty tired now.  In fact, I'm pretty sure that no one in our group slept much that night.  I roomed with Pastor Lori and Melissa and we had quite a giggle fit upon seeing our room.  Threadbare sheets, thin lumpy mattresses, stained carpet, no hot water, and a bathroom with windows and no blinds.  Yikes.  I chose to sleep as still as I could and take a baby wipe bath the next day. 

Lobby of the Hotel Dan

Hotel Dan room

After a restless night's sleep, we attended church at Advent St. Nicholas.  Pastor Lori was asked to give the sermon and Hildie, Sue, and I did readings.  It was a lovely service and afterward we went out back behind the church and had coffee hour.  After coffee we gathered with some of the members of the church (many of whom are expatriots and English speakers) for a round table discussion.  We were introduced and talked about why we came to Ecuador and learned about how ASN's members came to Ecuador. 



Walking into the Advent St. Nicholas church

Once we were done sharing at church, we went back to the Hotel Dan, packed up our stuff, and headed to our new hotel, the Hostal Charles Darwin.  Much better!  There were two groups of people that traveled to Ecuador-our Education Mission trip and a Habitat group.  The Habitat group had the pleasure of staying at Hotel Dan for one more night before traveling to Cotopaxi and the Habitat work site.  Lucky them! 

We quickly changed clothes and then went to lunch at an Ecuadorian restaurant.  Not being a very adventurous eater, I stuck with a vegetable stir fry.  I did try an empanada that someone at our table ordered.  The food was good, but unfortunately, I had no appetite the entire trip (not to mention I felt sick to my stomach each time I did eat!).

We then went to the Teleferiqo.  It is a gondola lift or tram that travels up the side of a mountain and provides an awesome view of Quito and the Andes mountains.  I am terrified of heights so this was a BIG deal for me.  I was sweating the entire van ride to the Teleferiqo and then practically shaking the whole way up.  It wasn't quite as bad as I thought, but still scary.  I had a death grip on my seat and I am very thankful that my fellow riders-Melissa, June, Christian, and Erick didn't make too much fun of me!

The terror that was welcoming me! :)

Death car, I mean, tram car that took us to the top and back down.

Our group complete with June, our fearless leader, and Erick, our translator for the week

Me near the top of the mountain-can you believe that view?!

Me, Christian, Erick, and Melissa

View from the top of the Teleferiqo

Little church that was nestled at the top fo the Teleferiqo

Needless to say, I did survive!  We went back to the Charles Darwin and Helen and Gene Braun came to tell us about Ecuador.  The Brauns came as missionaries over 50 years ago to Ecuador and never left!  They told us about the history of Ecuador and then we went to eat dinner afterward. 

See what I mean?!  That was just day 1!  Thanks to anyone that bothered to read all of this and hope you'll stick with me for the rest of the trip!