Eli and I received word on Wednesday morning that don Leuto Zambrano had passed away in Las Mercedes, Ecuador and LeRoy wanted us to come for the funeral. We were in José María Hernández, Colombia at the time for the midweek Bible study with doña Carmen. We didn't have the heart to cancel out on our lunch visit in Ipiales, since it had already been rescheduled at least twice already. After lunch, we got our things ready to travel and ended up leaving the home where we keep our extra things a little after 3 pm.
We took a taxi to the border at Rumichaca and then another taxi to the bus terminal in Tulcán. We thought we were in luck when they sold us the last two tickets on the bus that was leaving for Quito at that very moment. However, when we boarded the bus, we discovered that it was full, full, full. There were people standing in the aisle, and there was a whole lot of shouting going on. Apparently, what had happened was that the bus assistant had allowed people to get on without having purchased tickets, so there weren't actually seats for all of the people who had purchased tickets. The assistant was trying to get everybody without a ticket to get back off the bus to make room for those of us who had tickets. Those people, however, were in no frame of mind to give up their seats. He had told them they could board without a ticket! We stood in the aisle for a good long while waiting for everything to get resolved. A policeman even boarded to sort things out. For all the good that did! The bus left the terminal with everyone still shouting and carrying on. Finally, Eli decided to ask the driver to just reimburse us for our tickets so that we could find another bus. He did, though without the 20 cents terminal tax! We walked back to the terminal and eventually found another bus, which left for Quito around 4:30 pm.
I always allow six hours of travel between Tulcán and Quito, and this trip ended up being just about that. We arrived at the Carcelén bus terminal a little before 10:30 and hired a taxi to take us to the hostel that I had booked online as we traveled. It was near the airport, which both Eli and I thought would be nice the following morning, since we had a 6:00 am flight to Manta.
My phone had 1% battery left when we managed to locate our hostel using my GPS. There was a sign out on the road pointing down a grass embankment. Really?!? Our taxi driver finally consented to take us all the way to the hostel, and down the embankment we went. It looked like we were going to end up in the river, and then we saw an abandoned looking building off to our left. Really?!? It was quite spooky down there, but I got out and rang the bell. We didn't know if we should hope that someone would answer or that no one would. After a few minutes, a lady came to the door, and we told her we had a reservation for that night. She unlocked the door and let us in. As it turned out, the inside was much nicer than the outside! Eli and I got separate bedrooms with our own bathrooms for the total price of $24. We didn't have long to stay, but we did manage to get a few hours of sleep before our wake up call (knock on the door) at 4:00 am.
The taxi arrived to take us to the airport at 4:30. Our flight to Manta was uneventful, and don Ramón Mendoza was waiting for us at the other end to take us the rest of the way to Las Mercedes, two hours or so by car.
There were four brother workers waiting to greet us when we arrived at the convention grounds in Las Mercedes a little before 9:00. Breakfast was waiting for us in the home next door to the grounds, and the funeral service was to begin at 10:00. Eli, LeRoy and I would be speaking.
The funeral service as well as the service at the cemetery was very nice, despite the blazing heat. Afterward, all six of us workers had lunch in the home of one of the daughters of the deceased. Eli and I took a nap in the home of the convention grounds and then headed to the home of Léster and Narcisa for supper and the night. That's where I discovered how sunburnt I was! Amazing how good a cold shower can feel at the end of a hot, humid day in Manabí.
Friday, I spent the morning in the hammock. Talk about luxurious! LeRoy and Jordan joined us for lunch, and Eli and I left soon after for Portoviejo.
Pictures from my pre-lunch walk on Friday
Taken from the hammock:
We spent Friday night in Portoviejo and flew back to Quito on Saturday morning. We then traveled by bus back to Ipiales, arriving around 7:30. Fortunately, we only had two meetings the following day to get ready for!
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