Recent Travel

We live in the "orient" which means the "east" of Ecuador. Ecuador is composed of three different areas (and cultures in some measure) The coast (1) is the western third of low lands lying along the Pacific Ocean. The center strip (2) running vertically through Ecuador is the Andes Mountain Range and the eastern third (3) is the "selva" or rain forest/jungle with most of the rivers serving as tributaries to the mighty Amazon River. It is the rainy season and apparently we are having even more rain than usual. Where we live the mountains are not mostly rock. They are so lush and green that there is lots of great soil that turns to mud and ends up as mud slides when it gets saturated.

This is a photo I took from a bus going over the Zamora River that runs through town. It is definitely higher and more rough than usual. See that little suspension bridge. We are not planning to give that a try.

On Tuesday morning, July 8 we and the four Elders who live here in Zamora headed out for the Zone Meeting in Loja. The bus left the terminal but was stopped not very far out of town. There was no passage because of a new mudslide on the highway. We waited for a long time with a long line of vehicles and people on the sidewalks hoping to catch buses. One companionship of elders walked up to the road block and talked with the police officers there. They said no one is getting through this morning. Possibly they will have the road cleared in the late afternoon. We went back to the chapel and had our own meeting.

On Thursday, July 10th, Lewis had 10 temple recommend interviews scheduled in Loja. The District was having a temple bus trip on Friday and Saturday. It is about 10 hours to the temple. Loja is a fairly large city but still a District. Our little branch in Zamora is part of the Loja District. The Mission presidency serves as the Stake Presidency in a District so Lewis has a quite a few things to do to help the district and he also handles Question 4 complexities in any baptism interviews. They have these excursions only a couple of times a year so it was important to the people that they have a chance to  get or renew their recommends and join the group. (Lewis said I should tell you how to pronounce Loja. Loja is pronounced "LO-ha". It is like Ojai, California...only different. It is like Kuna, ID (Q-na) which is pronounced like it was Spanish...sort of.)

We went to the bus terminal in the morning but there was no passage. They said the work crews were trying to clear some new mudslides and they hoped to have it clear in the afternoon. We were finally able to get a bus at 3:00. It is usually an hour and forty minutes to get to Loja from Zamora. It took us 2 1/2 hours because of the waits for the big earth moving equipment and for taking turns when only one lane was open. What a mess. We saw one little settlement where every house we could see had been flooded with mud and there was furniture all over trying to dry. What a horrible mess. These are not the rocky mountains. They are covered all over with green trees and bushes and foliage and there is a lot of very fertile and sandy soil. When it is saturated it gives way and everything on top goes sliding down the mountain. There have been several deaths as houses are carried down the cliffs. It is very obvious there have been recent mudslides when we see the big brown gashes of bare dirt when the rest of the mountain is covered in green. When the trees are upside down it is not good. There were even more waterfalls than usual.

The photo above I took from the bus. The big front loaders just push the debris over the cliff so the cars and trucks and buses can use the road. I'm glad my husband doesn't do that for a living. It is scary enough just using the road when they are finished. Everything is so wet that there is still water running over the edge of the cliff.

Finally we got to Loja and the right chapel. (They had to change the time because of our delays and then they changed the location without telling us or some of the people who were trying to find us.) At the chapel La Pradera we found some members and this amazingly beautiful sunset.

While Lewis was doing interviews I spent a long time talking with Sonia who was delightful. And I talked with Karen and her mother as well. Karen is receiving her first temple recommend because she has been called to the Brazil Manaus Mission and will go to the MTC in San Paulo. She might even arrive before Morgan leaves so I have sent photos to both Karen and Morgan so they can look for each other. They are both delighted to be serving in Brazil and looking forward to their missionary adventures.

Lewis was not finished until after 8:30PM and we didn't want to be on that road at night so we went to a little hotel that we stayed at before and planned to leave in the morning after we did a little shopping. They have a SuperMaxi in Loja as well as lots of other stores. Zamora is not a shopping destination. We bought a new frying pan, two baking sheets, a square baking pan and a couple of spices in town and headed for the bus station. We want to be able to use our new stove with an oven!

We soon found out that there was no way to get back to Zamora that day and the next was not certain either. I was supposed to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting and take care of the Primary. We also needed to be in Cuenca (4 1/2 hrs away in the other direction) at 8:00 on Monday morning for the Cuenca Zone Conference with President Torres. We were afraid that if we could get back to Zamora we might not be able to return and get to Cuenca. And neither one of us love spending time on the bus. So we decided to stay in Loja and travel to Cuenca on Sunday so we could be bright eyed and bushy tailed on Monday morning.

We had plenty of time to go to the Zone meeting on Saturday morning, take a walk at the "gated city entrance" that was built in 1999 and travel around Loja on the city buses.  The weather was great and we look forward to getting to know that city better as time goes on.

 

 

The two photos above are of the Zamora River. It is one of two rivers that run through the central part of the city. I presume it is the same river that flows through Zamora. It starts out nice and gentle here in the higher mountains and when all the rainfall is added it is a larger river where we live.

 

 

 

 

This is one of the areas further away from the center of town. We had fun just seeing where the bus would take us. Fortunately it also took us back to where we started from. 

 

We went to church at the Loja Branch on Sunday morning. The Branch president doesn't have a key to the front gate so no one got into the building until 8:00 when the missionaries showed up. We told them to make sure the president has a copy of their key. It was very sparse until about 8:20 and then quite a few people came, including the two presidency counselors. Lewis was asked to speak and he reminded the congregation about their opportunity from the Area Presidency to read the Book of Mormon this year and how it would help their family if they act on that counsel from their leaders. A young man did an excellent job explaining the law of chastity and the branch president spoke about how we need to live the 13th Article of Faith. Very good meeting. 

We got a bus at the terminal and went to Cuenca. It is a four and a half hour trip through the mountains. Very pretty views but not my favorite way to spend the day. When we finally got to Cuenca we planned to go to our usual place we stay. But - no one was there! They did not answer the phone or the door. They must be traveling. We found another place nearby and it was cheaper so we decided to stay there. We went to Pizza Hut and brought back two pizzas. It was a buy one, get one special. But we chose the wrong kind. I didn't like the meat on it. So I took it off and then it was good. We discovered in the morning that the man's promise of hot water did not include 6:00 in the morning. Drat! I had been in the same clothes since Thursday and now I couldn't (or at least didn't want to) take a shower and wash my hair. We got to our meeting nice and early (It doesn't take long to get ready when there are no choices.) still carrying all of the stuff we had bought. 

The meeting was very good. President Torres is a good teacher and the missionaries are so on top of things. They have set high standards and it looks like they are all meeting them. I left with Sister Torres and Sister Pincay about half way through the meeting to help in the kitchen. President Torres had a surprise for the missionaries. He had chartered a bus to take all of us an hour and a half away to the Ingapirca Archaeological Site. We ended up in the car with the Torres family and I think that made the twisty mountain roads a bit more tolerable. We had made sandwiches and packed lunches for each of the missionaries to eat on the way. The missionaries were very excited and had a great time being together and doing something out of the ordinary. 

It was a cold and rainy and windy day. President had purchased enough umbrellas for all the missionaries. It was a beautiful site and our guide was wonderful. She was a young woman who often referred to her father and grandfather. Apparently she has lived near here for all of her life and is very invested in this site and its work and has abundant appreciation for the cultures who built it. She said it was originally the Cañaris who lived here and built with rounded river rock stones. They used mortar made from  a local yellow rock that they would mash and work into mortar that is superior to the cement we use today. Later the Incas made a "friendy" conquest (in contrast to the very unfriendly Spanish one) and began working the stones to cut and grind them until they fit together and did not need mortar to remain in place. There are still good examples of how they hold up for centuries. She said the Incas were of the same culture that built Machu Pichu and they were always ranging further and further to increase their influence and control. She told us of their superior knowledge of astronomy and farming and architecture and construction. It was a good experience for us to learn a little bit about these ancient peoples.  At the end of our visit the missionaries gave her a Book of Mormon. I hope she reads it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had divided into two groups for the tour of the ruins. Afterwards we went inside their lodge and had a little meeting with some musical numbers with a violin and flute. It was excellent and the people who thought us a little strange at first warmed up considerably. They were also very happy to sell lots of stuff to the missionaries at the end. It took another hour and a half to get back to the chapel. Lewis had a presidency meeting with President Torres and President Pincay. 

We had learned of a "busette" company from President Pincay and we were lucky enough to arrive in time to get a 3 hour ride back to Loja in a SUV with five other passengers instead of taking a bus or paying for another night at a hotel. We were able to go back to the same hotel in Loja as before and took a bus the next day home to Zamora. We were both very glad to get home. I was so happy to be back with my computer! We changed clothes and planned on no more bus rides for, hopefully, a week or so.