Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday (Dec 2-5) we took a trip with our friends the Morales who have been serving in our Centro de Servicio as service missionaries.
On Friday we left very early and went to Macas which is east and south of Quito. We passed this guy who is driving a truck that does not have a truck body. He is wrapped in black plastic (it has been raining) and that is his only protection on the highway.
This woman, in her native dress, was waiting at the bus stop.
We saw several volcanoes from the bus.
Our favorite spot in Macas was this "mirador". They have a nice park with two swimming pools. There is a tall tower with a marvelous view of the river and the mountains and the whole city. It is a lovely place for a family to go and relax and tire out the kids before bed. Here is Lewis with Elder and Sister Morales. They are a super wonderful couple.
One must pay attention while walking in Ecuador!
I saw here a coral colored tree like the purple jackaranda tree that grows in Camarillo and the brillant bright red-orange tree that grows in the Dominican Republic and also here in this part of Eduador. These trees get completely covered with flowers and are a beautiful sight.
Saturday morning we got on another bus and went to Puyo. My carsickness is a definite disadvantage. I'm glad I went on our trip, but I did not enjoy the bus rides on twisty mountain roads. After we arrived in Puyo we spent some time with the Bunkers, a full time missionary couple that live there and work with the branch. We then walked through their park along the river and climbed another mirador tower.
This is a statue representing the indigenous women that lived here before the Spaniards came to Ecuador.
It was so cool to see these bright yellow and black birds enter and leave these nests in a huge tree. We were nearly at their same level and had a bird's eye view of the river and the city and the mountains nearby.
We also visited a handicraft store. This city is famous for their balsa wood carvings that are painted. The best sellers are parrots of many sizes but they also do lots of other subjects as well. I had fun shopping in this store.
The store also sold these turtle stools and tables. Isn't that fun?
Sunday morning we found we had no hot water! We needed a shower, but I took a very quick one. They came and told us the hot water was fixed just as we were leaving for church. Remember to be grateful for hot water.
We had visited with the Branch President the evening before and he invited us to talk to the Young Single Adults during Sunday School. We had a tiny room stuffed full of wonderful young people. The chapel was also full of people and their Fast and Testimony meeting was a great experience.
Walking back from church, we passed these people roasting cui which is a delicacy in Ecuador. We passed the water park as well.
We packed up again and went to the bus station. There was not a bus leaving for several hours so we walked to a bus stop to await the next bus leaving for Tena. A pick up truck taxi came by and offered to take us for $40. It costs $20 for four people to ride the bus. We were worried that we might not have a seat so we offered $30 and he finally took it. He also picked up two military guys to ride in the back of the truck. It was raining pretty hard but they were happy for the ride, I guess, and only paid $2.50 each. This guy was very fast. We experienced a three hour bus ride in an hour and a half. It was a good thing that I was fasting. The tires screeched on most of the curves and I know he couldn't see around the curves as he was passing because I was sitting right behind him. The Lord blessed us. We made it to Tena alive.
I was not in very good shape when we got there and no one was at the hostel where we planned to stay. We thought it was hot in Macas and Puyo but they are about 3000 feet in altitude. It is very hot in Tena which is lower. Sister Morales and I stayed put with the luggage and the guys went to find another hotel. But they didn't want to pay the price of a nice hotel for foreigners. Finally the owners came back and we stayed there. I barely made it up the three flights of stairs. But we did eat soon and I was OK again. We always had grilled chicken with sides of white rice and lentils with a bowl of soup for dinner. I liked it. For breakfasts we had scrambled eggs, a big soft bun with a thick slice of cheese in it and juice. They have lots more fruits here than we have a home and the juices are often a combination of fruits. Most of them I like. They also served a coffee cup of warm milk. We turned that down but I missed out because Elder Morales asked for hot chocolate and then stirred it into his warm milk. Sister Morales drank hers plain. I only ate a very little because I was always facing a bus ride in the mornings.
Tena is also on a river and we walked along and enjoyed the water and the plants. We were finally able to contact the Branch President and he came to our hostel before his appointments at the chapel. We gave him the PEF materials and he took us with him to see the chapel. It is the second floor of a new building and is large and clean and inviting. The Branch President has a degree in Business Management and is obviously very involved in doing all he can for his members. The branch is growing. We missed the missionaries because it is transfer week and the one staying in Tena needed to travel to Puyo to stay with the senior missionaries until his new companion arrived.
This is President Fernandez and the people waiting to see him at the chapel.
Monday morning we went to breakfast at the restaurant of a friend of Elder Morales. They worked together many years ago mapping the best areas for oil exploration in the Orient of Ecuador. It was fun to watch them reminisce and share their lives. His friend and his wife have two daughters and have adopted two boys that needed a home. The girls are married and doing well. One is the city engineer for new construction. One of the sons is now living in Switzerland with his wife and they travel to Ecuador often. The other is 9 years old. After breakfast we went to Parque Amazonico which is on a small island in the middle of the river. I enjoyed it very much. There were animals to see, beautiful plants and another mirador to climb. What an amazing country this is.
We had to cross the river in this tippy canoe with no seats, you just squat and hang on.
This tapir just wanders around free apparently. He was obviously enjoying the greens this man was feeding him.
This is the big daddy peccary:
This is a small one. They were enjoying carrots:
A capybara. He is quite small. They are natives here in Ecuador.
This is a guatuza:
This is a cuchucho:
This goose looks like he could live on Sunflower Lane. When we tried to leave he didn't want us to pass. He bit me...fortunately just my pant leg.
A memorable trip. We were happy to return to cool Quito and be back in our apartment. It is fun to travel and even better to return home.
Here is Grandpa at our brunch in our apartment after Church on Christmas.
Elder Geldmacher and Elder Yost enjoying Idaho burritos and Ecuadorian sausages.
Sister Yost and Sister Thomas
My nacimiento inside my Christmas basket from Sister Geldmacher.
In our apartment
I bought this weaving when we went to Otavalo.
This is what our window box looked like at Christmas.
This family pictured below invited us for dinner on Friday night before Christmas. The couple on the left lived in Tenerife and we knew them during our mission there. Venicio was made the district president. They had been married 10 years and were unable to have any children. President Craig gave them a blessing of comfort and now they have three beautiful children. The older couple are Ignacia's parents visiting from Loja.
Below we are with our volunteers and service missionaries. Sister Sellon, Sister Chiza, Rosa and Sister and Elder Morales. They are absolutely wonderful and we had a fun lunch at a nearby restaurant to celebrate Christmas.
This is in the mission home with Elder and Sister Bunker who live in Puyo, Sister Thomas who is the mission secretary, President and Sister Ghent and Amparo who helps in the mission home. We were serving Christmas dinner to the young missionaries. President and Sister Ghent repeated this process five nights during the week before Christmas so all 200 missionaries had a special Christmas dinner and FHE.
We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas in Ecuador. It was almost as great as being with YOU, our family.
