My new field contains the city of Guayaquil as well as points north and west. I tried a new trick using Google maps, so we'll see if it worked. Here's a link to the map I created, highlighting most of the places where we visit. Some are apparently not even large enough to be worthy of Google maps, but you'll get the idea.
There are four Sunday morning meetings in this field - two in Guayaquil proper, one near Catazacón (near Quinsaloma on the map) and one in Camarón (near Echeandía on the map). We manage to be in all of the four meetings once every two weeks. On the weekend that we are in Guayaquil, Marsha and I split up between the two fellowship meetings and reunite at the gospel meeting immediately following. The other Sunday, we are in the Catazacón meeting in the morning, also followed by a gospel meeting, and then travel to Camarón for a Sunday afternoon fellowship meeting. It keeps us hopping but seems to work out rather well.
Here's a little information about Guayaquil as copied directly from wikipedia:
Guayaquil, officially Santiago de Guayaquil (English: St. James of Guayaquil) , is the largest and the most populous city in Ecuador, with around 2.69 million people in the metropolitan area, as well as the nation's main port. The city is the capital of the Ecuadorian province of Guayas and the seat of the namesake canton.
Guayaquil is located on the western bank of the Guayas River, which flows into the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Guayaquil.
And here are a couple more fun facts about the city:
Guayaquil was founded by the Spanish on July 25, 1538, though it had existed as a native village prior to that date. The complete name given to the city at this time was the Spanish equivalent of Most Noble and Most Loyal City of St. James of Guayaquil.
The city is divided into 72 sectors. The names of these sectors are a "must know" for getting around the city by taxi.
The average yearly temperature high is 87.4˚F. The average low is 71.6˚F. (That obviously happens in the middle of the night!)
Typical Guayaquil cuisine includes mostly seafood dishes such as encebollado (fish soup) and ceviche (cold soup with citrus juice base containing some kind of seafood).
Famous guayaquileños include Jenny Estrada, Benjamin Urrutia, María Capovilla, Pedro Jorge Vera and Pancho Segura. (No, I've never heard of any of them either!)
And what about the rest of our field? As you could see from the map, we spend part of our time right on the coast, so we try to bear up under that heavy burden! :-) The towns that we visit in the north part of our field are on the edge of more mountainous country and are decidedly cooler. That's also where the majority of the tiny "you can't see us, but we can still bite you enough times that you will definitely notice us" bug population hangs out!
So, after that whirlwind tour, you know about as much about my field as I do. Feel free to come down and show me around some time!
LOVE the map idea! It works and it's a thrill to see those places
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