Ecuador

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