Today was our tourist day where we visited two local churches for services and than moved on to Mitad Del Mundo (the center of the world). The two church services were a lot of fun and a blessing to be a part of. There was LOTS of singing and clapping and a little jumping around but was a neat experience. We also took communion at the second church we visited where I nearly choked on the “wine” or what represented the blood of Christ for those who don’t know. We’re still not sure what type of alcohol it was but some thought it was Sherry (spelling?).
After the church services, we had a 30 minute drive to the other side of Quito to Mitad Del Mundo. The traffic, the fumes, and the bus driver combined to make me ill so I was extremely relieved when we got off the bus. The first thing I noticed upon exit was the faces of other Caucasians. We actually ran into a family from Iowa while we were there. There seemed to be a lot of German tourists as well.
We ate a place called Yavati’s where we all were served a beef dish I don’t know the name of but it wasn’t tremendously appetizing when you already felt ill. It made me crave Quizno’s of all places and things, I have no idea why! After we finished our meals, Paul brought us a traditional Ecuadorean dish called “Cuy”. For those of you who don’t know or own a pet hamster of some sort, Cuy is roast guinea pig. We all gave it a shot and although it was very stringy (and they didn’t remove the jaw or teeth) it wasn’t that bad. I can’t say it compares to any other meat I’ve had and I certainly wouldn’t eat it again, but it wasn’t horrible, as long as you didn’t look at it from the face on…or as long as you didn’t recall the two pet hamsters (Winston and JJ) that you had growing up!
We shopped for about an hour at all the little shops around the Equator monument. Most of the shops carried the same items but everything was CHEAP! I bought lots of things, more than I expected to get and spent less than $60. You are able to bargain for items but there is really no need when everything is less than $10. I bought a hammock and I don’t even have anything I can attach it to, it was handmade and $9!
The actual Equator monument is a huge obelisk type of granite structure with a large globe on the top and the Cardinal directions on each of its four sides. There is a sign (put there strictly for the tourists I’m sure) that is just in front of the East side of the monument that says “Equator – Latitude 0 Longitude 0″. There was also the North/South Hemisphere line that is drawn in red across the entire pavement of the monument. Lots of pictures in both those areas of course. What most people don’t know is that that red line and granite monument is geographically off by several hundred feet. The real Equator line is several hundred feet to the South but there is little fanfare surrounding that monument. It also costs an extra couple of bucks to see the “real” Equator monument.
An overall fun day, we returned to the dorm and had Domino’s pizza, attempted to re-pack to include our souvenirs and were de-briefed by Paul, Susan, and Mike from Extreme Response. Again, tears were shed as everyone shared the joys of the experience and what kind of work we saw God do here in Ecuador not only with the family we built the house for but with our team.
Now all we have left is to safely make it through customs in the Quito airport and hope they don’t find something they like in our carry-ons and remove them. I have packed all my souvenirs (but my hammock!) in my carry-on so as not to run the risk of something being broken. We have to make it through customs, security, and pay an exit fee to leave the country ($40.85) and we’re off to Miami.
Please expect a final blog when I get back into the office this week as well as photos fromt he trip.

Today was our tourist day where we visited two local churches for services and than moved on to Mitad Del Mundo (the center of the world). The two church services were a lot of fun and a blessing to be a part of. There was LOTS of singing and clapping and a little jumping around but was a neat experience. We also took communion at the second church we visited where I nearly choked on the “wine” or what represented the blood of Christ for those who don’t know. We’re still not sure what type of alcohol it was but some thought it was Sherry (spelling?).
After the church services, we had a 30 minute drive to the other side of Quito to Mitad Del Mundo. The traffic, the fumes, and the bus driver combined to make me ill so I was extremely relieved when we got off the bus. The first thing I noticed upon exit was the faces of other Caucasians. We actually ran into a family from Iowa while we were there. There seemed to be a lot of German tourists as well.
We ate a place called Yavati’s where we all were served a beef dish I don’t know the name of but it wasn’t tremendously appetizing when you already felt ill. It made me crave Quizno’s of all places and things, I have no idea why! After we finished our meals, Paul brought us a traditional Ecuadorean dish called “Cuy”. For those of you who don’t know or own a pet hamster of some sort, Cuy is roast guinea pig. We all gave it a shot and although it was very stringy (and they didn’t remove the jaw or teeth) it wasn’t that bad. I can’t say it compares to any other meat I’ve had and I certainly wouldn’t eat it again, but it wasn’t horrible, as long as you didn’t look at it from the face on…or as long as you didn’t recall the two pet hamsters (Winston and JJ) that you had growing up!
We shopped for about an hour at all the little shops around the Equator monument. Most of the shops carried the same items but everything was CHEAP! I bought lots of things, more than I expected to get and spent less than $60. You are able to bargain for items but there is really no need when everything is less than $10. I bought a hammock and I don’t even have anything I can attach it to, it was handmade and $9!
The actual Equator monument is a huge obelisk type of granite structure with a large globe on the top and the Cardinal directions on each of its four sides. There is a sign (put there strictly for the tourists I’m sure) that is just in front of the East side of the monument that says “Equator – Latitude 0 Longitude 0″. There was also the North/South Hemisphere line that is drawn in red across the entire pavement of the monument. Lots of pictures in both those areas of course. What most people don’t know is that that red line and granite monument is geographically off by several hundred feet. The real Equator line is several hundred feet to the South but there is little fanfare surrounding that monument. It also costs an extra couple of bucks to see the “real” Equator monument.
An overall fun day, we returned to the dorm and had Domino’s pizza, attempted to re-pack to include our souvenirs and were de-briefed by Paul, Susan, and Mike from Extreme Response. Again, tears were shed as everyone shared the joys of the experience and what kind of work we saw God do here in Ecuador not only with the family we built the house for but with our team.
Now all we have left is to safely make it through customs in the Quito airport and hope they don’t find something they like in our carry-ons and remove them. I have packed all my souvenirs (but my hammock!) in my carry-on so as not to run the risk of something being broken. We have to make it through customs, security, and pay an exit fee to leave the country ($40.85) and we’re off to Miami.
Please expect a final blog when I get back into the office this week as well as photos fromt he trip.

Well today was the big day for the team and Gloria and her family. We woke up early again today to get out to the work site to make sure we had everything done. The family was told not to come to the house until around noon so we had a few hours to finish a few things and clean up. The countertop in the kitchen was finished, the girls did a lot of the painting, the bathroom was finished and we did a LOT of cleaning. The house is cinderblock and mortar so the dust and chunks of concrete made up most of what we had to clean up. We also set up each of the three rooms. Grandma Maria and Gloria had their own rooms while the five girls shared a large back bedroom with bunk beds. Each bed had a colorful sheet set and comforter and each family member had their own shelf space and new sets of clothes. The girls also got new backpacks, school supplies, shoes (a commodity), and some other fun items like hair ties and toys.
As we were getting the house ready, Tiffany (my roommate on the trip) and I were outside the house when we heard gunshots. We heard them several times before we decided to investigate (smart right?). We walked around the corner of the house and saw a very long parade of people going through Gloria’s small town dressed in traditional costumes and following a brass band. We went to take some pictures and later asked what that was. It was a Saint moving parade. They literally moved a Saint statue from one place to another. We ran into Gloria while we were exploring the parade and she told us to follow her. We could finally see the front of the parade line and they were carrying a large wooden box with the Saint statue inside. It was interesting to be a part of although the townspeople were looking at us a bit funny for being in their parade.
Anyway, the time came for the family to see the house. Jose, the pastor in Quito blessed the house in Spanish and our group said a prayer in English. We then released the girls to see the rest of the house. Elizabet, the oldest of the girls at 15 was overwhelmed even before we showed her the house. Gloria and Grandma Maria thanked us and prayed that God’s blessings would be returned to us ten times over. It was all very moving and there were lots of happy tears.
I do believe Gloria’s favorite part of the house was the nearly fully furnished kitchen. Some of the men had to teach Gloria how to use the stove and what exactly to do with the refrigerator as she had not used those before. Ecuadoreans do not refrigerate their milk or eggs. The girls  were beside themselves at their room. They immediately began climbing all over their beds and jumping on their new mattresses. Elizabet of course was crying profusely which made everyone else cry.
We ate a quick dinner with the family and said our goodbyes. It was difficult as we’d grown to love this family and especially the little girls. They are happy, sweet girls and full of energy. I will miss them.
After the house, we had some time to go visit Old Quito where many of their small shops, churches and the Presidential Palace are. You can tell it is the old part of the city as the streets were incredibly narrow and as bad as traffic is anyway, it was quite an experience. We stopped first at Quito’s most famous church, the National Basilica, built in the 1400′s if I’m not mistaken. It was beautiful of course. We saw several other churches that looked much the same but on a smaller scale. All the churches we visited had the same life-like, full-size replica of Jesus Christ in a posture of pain and suffering as he is dying on the cross. It was all very dramatic and as I said, life-like and kind of creepy. But the churches of course were beautiful although we didn’t get to see a whole lot of each of them as it was Mass time in the city.
Dinner was at the Quito mall. Very modern with stores like Diesel, Tommy Hilfiger, and Fossil. There were also a lot of other stores that I had never heard of but everything was hugely overpriced and I didn’t buy a thing. However I did go into one store and saw a cosmetic case that was cute. I said to the lady “Quando cuesta?” (how much is this?) and she told me it was four dollars. I looked around a bit longer and when I took it up to the register, she told me my total was ten dollars. Long story short, Susan from Extreme Response said that was what she called the gringo tax! Food is extremely cheap but clothes, shoes and handbags are expensive here.
Tomorrow is our touristy day. We will visit Mitad Del Mundo (the equator) and do some shopping at the markets up there. We will also visit several church services in the area.
When I return to the states, I will try to upload some photos of the trip so you can see what I’ve been talking about during these days.

Buenos noches!

Day three has seen a lot accomplished on the house we came here to build. As of today (day three of work) the outside walls are up and most of the inside walls. Ricardo (our Ecuadorean contractor) came to put in the windows and two front doors. The house is coming along nicely. Gloria and her girls are so excited. When the frame of the house was finished she told Paul, our Extreme Response guide, that it was beautiful. The little girls apparently are so most excited about the shower. Little do Gloria, Maria and the girls know that not only are we building the house, we are fully furnishing it with appliances, beds and mattresses, furniture, dishes and other supplies. Gloria is only expecting the house itself. “Extreme Home Makeover”. We are looking very forward to that.

Other than working on the house, we have not had a whole lot of time out in the city. We have had dinner out twice and homemade dinner once. Our second meal was at the dorm where the housekeeper and her sister made us all an incredible dish. They had a beef item that had marinated for two days and was grilled for two hours. I don’t know the spanish name of it but the literal translation was “prime cut beef”. There was also an au gratin potato like dish called “yapanachos”. If you cover the beef with “aji” it is wonderful. Aji is like a thin salsa but made from a tree tomato and a spice called aji. I had been concerned about how the food here was going to treat me but it has all been wonderful. We did have chinese food tonight which tasted no different than American Chinese food.

There are some interesting things about Ecuador that should be noted. Number one: Do not drink the water, brush your teeth with the water or even get the water in your mouth while showering. I have no idea what the consequences are but since there are signs posted in bathrooms not to come in contact with the water, I will adhere to the advice. Also, toilet paper must not be thrown into the toilet. It must be thrown into the trash cans. Not pleasant but necessary. I only know this next one since we’re doing construction but homeowners must pay property taxes on finished homes. To get around this, people building homes leave several inches of rebar sticking out the corners of their houses so that the home is considered unfinished. Driving in Quito is interesting (terrifying). Red lights are more like guidelines, lane lines are non-existent and if you are not assertive in your driving, you will remained parked in your driveway forever. Horns are constantly honking and it seems as if accidents should be happening every ten seconds. We have managed to avoid accidents but there have been several times where we’ve flinched at how close we’ve come to getting sideswiped. It’s interesting.

The work is hard but the finished business will be worth the effort, aches and pains. We’re halfway through construction and I, at least, am quite proud of us as a team on the progress we’ve made. We can’t wait to show the family.

Until next time…