Today marks nine months since I arrived in Ecuador. I can hardly believe how the time has flown! I'm happily anticipating the next nine months.
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Monday, October 12, 2015
The End of Sunday
After our two meetings on Sunday morning, lunch and a Bible study in the afternoon, Jill and I boarded a Portoviejo-bound bus in Lascano. "When does this bus leave?" we inquired of the driver as we got on at 4:10. "In ten minutes." So, we finally pulled out of Lascano around 4:35 and crept down the mountain road, dropping off and picking up packages and passengers all along the way. Arriving in Olmedo somewhere in the vicinity of 5:30, I jokingly remarked to Jill, "Well, I'm sure we'll have to be out of here by 6:00 anyway." The joke in this was that hopefully we would be long departed from Olmedo at 6:00. The joke, as it turned out, was on us. 6:00 was indeed the magic hour, and our driver was in no hurry. Since Sunday was the last day of school vacation, there were many many people wanting to make their way to Portoviejo. Since this was the last bus of the day, there were many many people wanting to make their way to Portoviejo on this particular bus. The good news was that Jill and I at least had seats. At one stop in the (seemingly) middle of nowhere, twenty-two people got on the bus. In addition to being exceedingly cautious, our bus driver was incredibly accommodating. When several passengers were desirous of cheese (why, I do not know), he obligingly stopped at a road-side cheese vender and waited for the cheese purchasers to purchase their cheese. In one little town, we were met with a religious procession, further delaying our progress. Fortunately, there was no movie playing, and the music volume was tolerable. There was a nice breeze as long as the bus was actually moving, and while the seats could not be described as comfortable, we each had one. We were delighted to finally arrive at our bach around 8:30.
Beautiful sunsets seem to be a rarity here, so the Sunday evening sky had us reaching for our cameras. This isn't the best picture, but it's the best one we have.
The religious procession:
Sunday Smiles
Javier, Doris, Hendrik & Aarón
Very back: Bolívar, Hendrik
Back: Soraya, Esteven, Emilia, Doris, Javier, María Agustina, Ramón
Middle: Aarón
Seated: Mélida, María Luísa, Leuto, Livia
Front: Isaac, Rebeca
*Everyone is related, except for Sra. Mélida. I won't complicate matters by trying to explain how. :-)
Viviana, Ruth, Elí, Lynelle, Rojano
A busy Saturday
It was quite luxurious to spend both Friday and Saturday nights in the same home. We went NOWHERE on Saturday. That left plenty of time for reading our Bibles, talking, laughing, eating, playing games and swimming in the river. Almost like a vacation!
Milk cans
Cooked tomate del árbol for dessert
(tree tomato)
Wood stove
Out back
A different version of marbles
Sorry... no pictures of swimming in the river. It was wonderful!
Two men and a pig
It's too bad you can't really tell from these pictures what is happening. The man getting onto the back of the motorcycle has a pig in a bag. The pig is not exceedingly happy about the prospect of a motorcycle ride. (Video would have conveyed this better.) In the end, the man prevailed, and all three cycled on down the road.
A couple of my Ecuadorian grandparents
We hadn't stayed with don Leuto & Sra. María Luísa this year because we had understood that it was too much for them. They were happy for our visits but kept insisting that we would come and stay. We decided to accept their offer during this trip to Las Mercedes and spent Thursday night with our dear honorary grandparents. We were all delighted.
Can you tell what it is?
The black spot right above my bed...
Yes, I definitely used my toldo that night! Bats are not on my list of favorite creatures.
The house
The shower
(In the bigger pictures of the house, it's the little shack in the back and on the left.)
One view from inside the shower
Noni fruit
And we can't forget the cat, thanks to whom, there are no mice in the house.
Do you think we could train him to catch bats???
Manabí Variety
Bamboo, yucca and bananas all in a row
Oh, wait! Don't leave out the mangos in front!
