WEDNESDAY
Miami was weird. I
was supposed to be spending just under thirteen hours in the airport, but it
ended up being fifteen by the time stupid American Airlines sorted themselves
out - as in, cancelling the flight and then trying to sort out another
one. They actually asked for volunteers
to surrender their tickets in exchange for overnight accommodation, a flight
the next day, and an $800 American Airlines credit. I immediately volunteered, as did a few
others, but at the last minute they randomly selected a few of us to catch the
flight.
Probably a good thing: I never want to fly with that airline
again, and an $800 credit might have ended up being just another $800 worth of
drama.
By the time the plane finally started to actually fly,
things were feeling very strange. I was
finally heading straight into Ecuador and my nerves were playing at a last
ditch effort to destroy me - at the same time, I felt unconcerned because I was
so tired and I slept for almost the whole four hour flight.
THURSDAY
The flight was originally supposed to get in at ten pm, but
it arrived closer to two am. It took
almost an hour after that to clear customs.
On the upside, there was certainly no waiting around for luggage on the
carousel - it was, instead, strewn out beside it and I found my bag easy to
find.
I was being picked up by Eryka, a local sister who at that
point was a friend of a friend who knew all the Australians that I do who have
been to Ecuador. As we left the air
conditioned comfort of the airport, I was hit by a wall of humidity and warmth
- at close to three am! She gave me a
heads up that all of the drivers in Ecuador are crazy, everyone has a death wish,
and that nobody pays attention to the traffic lights after midnight; doing so
only encourages thievery.
Bed was a welcome sight.
I wore only boxer shorts and threw off the sheet and blanket, but the
air was so thick it felt as though I still had them on.
I didn't wake up until eleven am, and when I did it was to
the sound of nearby roadworks and people driving slowly down the street selling
things over a megaphone. I went
downstairs and Eryka's mum, Nisa, made me orange juice that was squeezed from
huge, richly flavoured oranges (they tell me you can buy a bag of twenty five
for one dollar). She speaks little
English, but we tried conversing. She
sat next to me at the table and made a phone call. She spoke for a minute, then simply handed me
the phone. A man started talking and I
had to back track him to figure out who it was.
It turned out to be her son Josue.
My plan had been to go to betel to talk to them about where there's a need and where they
feel I should go, but it turns out that Josue had done that already on my
behalf. He told me that when he spoke to
the service committee there, they had recommended two different
congregations. He told me about one with
a big need near Quito, that only has two elders. I figured that sounded pretty important and
that I should go there. Then he told me
about another one that only has one elder.
Again I figured that sounded pretty serious and that I should maybe go
to that one.
Then he told me about an urgent need that had just arisen at
a congregation in Cuenca. The
congregation has one elder and two servants.
Apparently, though, the elder is about to move congregations because of
boundaries and one of the servants is going to be appointed congregation
coordinator (back to the seventies?).
Josue stressed that this congregation had a very urgent need and that
nobody had so far volunteered to go there.
He told me that he wanted to go to help out, but he'd only do it if I
was willing to as well. It's not like I
had any more deserving plans, and I remembered reading good things about
Cuenca. All in all, I couldn't think of
anything more exciting. He told me that
I'd have to get there the next day.
That'd mean my time in Guayaquil would be really cut short, but I wasn't
that disappointed because the two cities are only four hours away from each
other and visiting isn't difficult. Here
I was, I'd been in the country nine hours and awake for only one, and I already
had an enthralling assignment.
Eryka then took me down the street to the mall, which I was
half surprised to learn was pretty much the same as any mall anywhere in the
world, only with more South American people walking around.
We then had to go into a big office building, where we got
stopped as soon as we walked in. The man
spoke in fast Spanish and pointed to a prohibited items list. It turns out that in those buildings you
can't be wearing shorts or sandals, both of which I had on. Eryka told him that I didn't know that and
that I would be going in with her, and he didn't say much more. I was shocked that in a city with such
stifling heat, wearing appropriate clothing would be frowned upon. After we had run Eryka's errand, we went back
into the street and I noticed only then that all of the men were actually
wearing trousers and shoes. I was
completely shocked, but apparently that's just the way it is.
We went back home to pick up Eryka's mum, who was sitting at
the table. She got Eryka to translate
while she sat there and told me that I should feel like their casa is my casa, that she really appreciates me being here to help out, and
that she views me as another son. She's
absolutely wonderful.
We went to lunch and had a specific type of fish soup that I
can't remember the name of - a dish that the locals adore. It's not hard to tell why - it's a decent
sized bowl of incredible flavour that's served with a packet of chips made from
plantain slices. And it's $2.50. I spent a lot of the afternoon reading up on
all the useful information on Cuenca I have by means of the Lonely Planet
Ecuador book (thanks a million Steve and Kelly!).
I really loved this place already. I was wide eyed and just taking in everything
that I could. After a while I didn't
even notice the heat and I was just taken aback by the awesome old-style, worn
down stonewash architecture and the unfamiliar but delicious smells coming out
of anywhere that serves food.
I met Eryka's younger sister Samira and their papa Rinaldo when
we got back, they're very nice also. I
really wanted to have an early night, but Eryka told me I should push through
it to go out for one night in Guayaquil.
We and Samira went to a place along a major strip in the city for dinner
and had a really good time. We talked
about the upcoming English convention (which is pretty much the event of the
year for English speakers here), and the girls teased me endlessly about my
Spanish pronunciation and about how gullible I am when they tell me some far
out thing about Ecuador and I totally believe it. I loved it, and I'm learning now to tease
them back about their English as opposed to asking them to repeat themselves
when they say a wrong word.
We were out for a while, and when we got home I showed Eryka
photos from home of family and friends, which she really liked. We had a big and deep conversation until
about two am, at which point I really had to get to sleep.
FRIDAY
The next afternoon I caught what turned out to be a big,
comfortable, air conditioned van for the three hour trip to Cuenca. Apparently the roads had just been repaired -
that cut the trip down from the usual four hours. A big digital thermometer on the road as we
passed by the airport read thirty eight degrees. The drive up was fantastic, and I think
everyone who travels there can't help but go on and on about how amazing the
mountains are. They just are.
Josue picked me up and took me back to the house of Hiro and
Rose, a couple we're staying with for the moment. We ate hot dogs while he told me about the
situation with the congregation we were going to. Once again I wanted to have an early night, a
really early night; but then he
informed me that we were going to a party.
It sounded like fun.
A local girl, Carolina, picked us up to take us down there,
but we of course didn't get there without stopping for more cheap and delicious
food. We went to a Columbian eatery, where
the friendly waiter shakes your hand as he brings menus and you ring a bell on
your way out if you enjoyed the service.
I was shocked that the buildings in the city were as beautiful as I had
been led to believe. It was at night and
we were only passing through and so I didn't get to see much of it, but I'm
really excited to go on a proper walk through there when possible.
Parties here are very different to what I'm used to - they never bring alcohol to them, but there
was an abundance of 3L bottles of soft drink.
I didn't know that existed. It
was in a house and there were a lot of people there. After we'd been there for maybe twenty
minutes, someone walked up a few stairs and announced that the party had now
officially commenced, to which everyone shouted "Bravo!" and clapped.
Everybody was standing around talking, and Josue said that
we should start dancing to get it started.
I don't dance, but I was fully
aware before coming to Ecuador that you do
dance here. We and two girls went near
the music and started dancing (if nothing else, Ecuador is going to be one big
dance lesson for me). Almost
immediately, most of the other people started dancing too. The living room was so full of people dancing
that anyone else had to struggle to walk through.
Most of the young people here know a little English, but
they're shy about using it and so you have to coax it out of them. I met a lot of people at the party, and
between my terrible Spanish and their terrible English, we could have a bit of
a conversation.
We ended up getting back a bit after midnight, so that
wasn't too bad.
SATURDAY
We had to get up at six thirty the next morning, we had been
invited to have breakfast with one of the local elders and his wife before
witnessing. They're really nice, and I
can't remember the last time I ate such a big breakfast.
The hall is actually not a hall, but set up as one down the
bottom of an apartment block in a big rented space. It's set on a dirt road in the mountains, and
we were witnessing up the hill from there.
It was such a strange experience.
The views were fantastic, and the people were interesting - some of them
happily listened, while others didn't want to talk because of loyalty to the
catholic church (apparently everyone has a religion, even though most of the
religions here demand ten percent of your earnings - the people are told that
gets them into heaven).
Cuenca is situated at an elevation of two kilometres. I really didn't even notice this until
witnessing - the hills we were walking up were kind of steep, which wouldn't
have normally bothered me - but the altitude really hit me then. It wasn't too bad walking up the hills, but
as soon as I started walking and talking
as well, I didn't have enough breath to keep going until I stopped for a few
seconds. Everyone was really
accommodating of my severely limited Spanish, and I was able to have some very
short conversations with the people we were working along with.
It still hasn't sunk in that I'm actually in Ecuador. There will be photos soon.
I also realise that I've left a big gap, leaving out the events of Seattle. I will get around to it, but I knew if I didn't put up an Ecuador post as soon as possible, more things would happen and I never would
I also realise that I've left a big gap, leaving out the events of Seattle. I will get around to it, but I knew if I didn't put up an Ecuador post as soon as possible, more things would happen and I never would
