Part 2

some rather shaky home videos

Porto Lopez

 On Monday Claire, Amy and I got the bus (8 hours, 2 buses and crowds of people!) to Porto Lopez. It's called the "poor mans Galapagos". It's a teeny tiny town,seriously, they only have 2 main streets but it's really nice. We stayed in a good quality hostel. Hostel manager promised us internet and hot water (big luxury) of course there was no internet and the shower was tepid at best but...that's just the way it is over here.

         Tuesday was spent pottering around the beach and going out for meals. Eating out is a LONG business there. Quite often they don't have the food you ordered but they won't tell you straight away or a few times they didn't have in the drinks we ordered and they went out to the next door bar to buy you your drinks! Very laid back Ecuadorian lifestyle. We went for a lovely long walk along the beach. On the way back the fishing boats came in and were offloading their catch (foul fish smell!) They just throw out what they don't want so the beach was covered in dead mini jellyfish and octopuses. This meant "feeding time" so there were loads of tiny, bright red crabs scuttling around our feet and mahussive birds flying around. Looked like a scene from a horror film of Hitchcocks "Birds". 

     

   On Wednesday we decided to go whale watching. It was amazing!!!!! I know this sounds really stupid but humpback whales are HUGE! Their flippers are the size of me! When they first came for a freaky second it looked like a giant shark fin like out of "Jaws" or something.  They came extremely close; one even swam under the boat! One was so close that when it sprayed out water from its' blow-hole it soaked us.

Wednesday afternoon I went paragliding. Paragliding-me who gets scared standing on a chair! 

 Two very chilled out Ecuadorians came and squashed us into the back of their jeep. We went up to a cliff and faffed around and then the guy said we weren't high enough! We went back into the jeep and went higher up. Safety here is not exactly important so nobody gave us instructions etc. Our protection was a skateboarding helmet and the instructor wore a cycling helmet. My friend had a terrible take off-the wind blew her backwards and she nearly crashed into a tree and then the dogs got all excited and tried to bite her. I was almost more dignified. The instructor took us out in weight order so I was last to go and he had to weigh me down because I'm so small! They needed 2 big bags of water to stop me flying away. They weighed so much I couldn't actually stand and had to be helped along. Our only instructions were "run with force!" Huh?! They put me part way down the cliff and is still needed two people to hold me down. So weird-one moment you're on the ground and the next you're up in the sky!

 It's an amazing experience. Really quiet and peaceful and you're on a level with the birds. Could have done without the moment the instructor pointed out a whopping big shark in the sea below me but otherwise it was a fabulous time. Nothing quite like hurling yourself off a cliff!

  Since it was my birthday I got an extra long "fly" and we landed on a far off beach where my friends had written happy birthday to me in the sand. We went and posed for silly pictures in the sea and.... a huge wave sneaked up from behind and knocked me over. Fully dressed and in the sea! Splodged my way up back up the beach much to the amusement of the other people and had to sit on a back pack in the car-shame!

me VERY wet!

Naturally the evening was spent having cocktails on the beach.

  We were meant to travel back on Thursday but it was really sunny so Claire went and Amy and I stayed an extra night. In the afternoon we went back out on a trip and this time time we saw whales jumping out of the water! After the whales we went snorkelling-The snorkelling was an experience. The boat pulled up by some cliffs (not a sunny beach) and the crew just told us to jump off the boat. We jumped off and the sea was very deep and cold. After a minute or two the crew threw masks into the sea and we had to swim for it! No explanations, just work it out. I kinda pictured snorkelling happening in shallowish, clear water not cold dark water right next to rocks but who am I to criticise? My one complaint was there were no fish!!!!We dived, splashed and swam under water and nobody saw anything. This highly amused the people who had sensibly stayed on the boat and were watching us.

  I am sunburnt and half my clothes have fallen apart from water damage but it was an AMAZING trip and the most memorable birthday ever!!!!!!

A full,fun and very Ecuadorian day out

At 3am yesterday I was up, dressed, bag packed and Amy and I  had climbed up on the coach for our day trip out to Banos. Woohoo! Sunshine and a day spent at a spa town-what could be better? We found our seats, kicked off our flip-flops and got ready to have a sleep during the 6 hour journey there. Not quite cosy enough to sleep...getting chilly...colder...and colder. Amy and I had not realised we'd be travelling up the mountains and it was cold!! Everyone else on the bus had flasks of coffee, woolly hats, Alpaca wool jumpers, scarves and fleece blankets. We were in flip-flops, t shirts and I was in a short skirt; we were freezing! Amy put on her all her extra clothes and ended up in 3 tshirts and a cardigan and I wrapped myself up in a towel for warmth.

   Just before Banos we stopped off for a cable car trip across a valley. 

I use the words "cable car" very loosely. It was a wire basket with no roof or walls winched across by an ancient engine-all this in the pouring rain and fair winds! Needless to say we got soaked to the skin and if that wasn't "interesting" enough it was then decided to take a short nature walk. Learn from my mistake and never go for a walk up a muddy mountain in a white skirt and shoes! 

   Once we finally made it to Banos we went to the thermal pools. Bright yellow sulphuric water mmm nice! The pouring rain and cold temperatures dampened our enthusiasm a bit but as long as you kept your whole body under the water it was fine. A wonderful moment when we were told that swimming hats were obligatory and Amy had to buy a hat and it turned out to be a shower cap!!! I was very nice and hardly sniggered at all (honest!) but we were both surprised to see everyone else else in the pool wearing shower caps too :)

    Later on we visited a zoo. The conditions the animals were in were not good but sadly here that is what you come to expect. We saw a HUGE condor only 2 feet away which was great and my happiest moment in years when I came up close to the best animal in the whole world- a Capybara! They are like giant, fluffy guinea-pigs. To see one in its' native country was wonderful. The zoo was an interesting experience even without the animals. The paths are not paved but are just natural rock and since you are halfway up a mountain you are basically rock climbing to get to each cage. It is not health&safety, wheelchair friendly, pram accessible or child safe-it is Ecuadorian! 

    After the zoo was the snake house; where the keeper got out a boa constrictor for some "fresh air"! The snake had a slither along a wall while we edged nervously past.  Yet another "Ecuador moment" when we turned a corner in the snake house to find a tropical bird section (why?) and caught sight of UK pheasants. That's right; over here Pigeons and pheasants are exotic, foreign species!

     Our random but fun day ended by a quick stop off at a small town to buy clothes. I invested $5 in a pair of pyjama bottoms to wear under my skirt since I was shivering by this time. During our trouser hunt the bus drove off and left us hunting the streets for it. While searching, we passed a restaurant cooking guinea-pigs! My Ecuador experience is now officially complete!!

  Just another six hour bus trip back to complete the day, was an interesting experience to travel later and later into the night and yet have it grow hotter. A full,fun and very Ecuadorian day out.

oops! sorry

After months of moaning about my blog I finally checked my settings (yes I know I should have done this ages ago!) Turns out I had high security which blocked everyone! Sorry!! I can assure it wasn't personal and would love to hear your comments etc. Hopefully it's all sorted now :)

relaxation this ain't!

Yesterday I went to Laura Flores to start "ministering". The Bible study classes have been delayed until next month (nothing here ever goes to plan!) so instead we did a booklet and I gave massages to the women. The aim was a nice simple massage to relax the ladies but, of course, this was not how it worked out. I was into a tiny, concrete and humid room with no lights or windows. The women had to lie on school desks and all I had to cover them up was an old dusty curtain! As if this elegant  setting wasn't enough dogs off the street kept wandering in and trying to join in! The  added bonus was their "special" aroma.


    Solitude and personal space don't  really exist here so all through the afternoon children would wander in and watch.Or random people would walk in off the street while I was massaging someone and ask for instructions so I would unexpectedly find myself leading an unplanned workshop.


     Afterwards we visited a sick girl, Veronica, and in spite of her mother and 3 other women I was designated to pray (scary.) She is just 16 and has a 3 month old baby. She must have only just turned 15 when she became pregnant and the boyfriend has abandoned her and the baby. As I looked at Veronica and tried to pray I felt so helpless.


   I hate knowing that I'll see more suffering and poverty if I continue to work in LF and yet I'm thrilled to be able to visit and do what little I can. 

cockroaches and front crawl

Had a new experience tonight. Amy (new other CMS mission partner) and I went swimming tonight, to be exact we started swimming classes. To start with we have to walk there. In an effort to be a safe community somebody has put up a fence blocking us off from the sports centre which is literally 30 seconds away across the street. In order to avoid walking several blocks Amy and I took a short-cut across a ditch-Amy who is lovely and tall managed it elegantly and easily...I did not! Just after this we both started itching and realised some of the plants we went through must have been poisonous or stinging-great start!


    We paid up our fees and settled down to wait our turn in the pool and have a quick gossip. We were just settling down when we were called over by the attendant. Thinking we must have registered for the wrong day or something we hurried over a bit worried, can you guess what he wanted???? We had to do warm up exercises! Who on earth does a work out before a supposedly pleasant and relaxing swim?! Giggling away we ran laps (slowly) touched our toes, did squats and jumps and tried to look athletic.


   Turned out we needed swimming caps which obviously we didn't have. Amy has short hair so she luckily got away with it tonight but I had to borrow an old one covered in mould. If anyone has wondered if I am managing to keep a modest, sober and serious role here then do not worry. Us two in our old costumes, glowing white skin, no make-up on and my mouldy hat, we radiated respectability!!!!!!!!!!!!!


  The actual swimming bit was ok mostly. Slight hitch when Amy had a cockroach crawl over her when listening to instructions but apart from that I think we carried ourselves off with dignity. I've not swum seriously in ages, my asthma is dodgy here plus I'm recovering from a respiratory illness-after half an hour of coughing, gasping and clinging to the sides for a rest, the nice teacher suggested that maybe I work on my breathing..now what a good idea!


   We avoided the stinging plants and took another short-cut home-this time through a drain! All my plans for a hot shower and pot of tea have been destroyed-we've run out of gas! I am now here, fresh from my "refreshing"  cold shower and comforting myself with the thought that tomorrow I get to do all this again!