internet free zone

Lo siento amigos-as! I apologize for the long pause in communication. My last few days in Quito were spent sermon preparing and then the 'end of visit see everything' craze began. And since the family trip began we've had next to no internet access. So there´s my excuse. Now for catching up!

Last days in Quito:

By the end of my four weeks of studying, I was feeling ready to be done with school. So much more to learn, well really, practice, but I had had just about enough of the subjunctive case. En serio! On the last Friday of my time at the school, a group of us headed out to check out la Mitad del Mundo, or the middle of the world. That´s right - the equatorial line. Woo! It's actually turned out to be a pretty great trip. You take a bus out of Quito and suddenly you are at this massive touristic disneyland of the equator. They've got a huge monument built up with shops and the usual tourist trappy activities but the entertaining part is that 12 years ago, thanks to GPS, they confirmed that the line is in fact inaccurate and that the indigenous marker for the equator had been correct all along (duh. turns out indigenous knowledge is actually pretty brilliant....who could have known? insert sarcasm if that wasn't clear). So in addition to disney-equator, there is also a museum built along the 'real' line, not far away.

But the highlight of the trip was taking a tour up to the crater of the volcano nearby and learning about a small farming community that is based in the crater. People live in the volcano! The village houses about 40 families - the primary way in and out is a steep climb that takes half an hour going down, and an hour up. The school teacher commutes in from Quito via. this path every day in order to teach the 15 school children. It was a fascinating visit.

Saturday in Otavalo:

My last Saturday in Quito we headed out of town to the north to visit Otavalo, one of the largest Saturday artisan markets in all of South America. We had some great views on the way there, including my first, and probably only, full view of Cotopaxi (a volcano - one of the largest in the world I believe....closest point to the sun....). The market was great, especially the food section. I bought a lot of great stuff including a hammock (I'm very excited about this...), a sweater and a nice wall hanging.

Sunday at church:

Sunday I preached at Quito Mennonite - it was actually quite a lot of fun being translated but I think it definitely made for a boring time at points. 40 minutes in all! I enjoyed getting to know the church a little better and a few of the members will be at World Conference next week as well. Mom and I will also return to church this Sunday when we´re back in Quito.

Family time:

Monday I moved into a hotel in the old town and spent some time with friends until it was late enough to head to the airport to pick up my mother. It was a late night but everyone arrived safely and we headed into our time of traveling together as a family (my mother, sister, bro-in-law). We spent a day in Quito, then headed south towards the Quilotoa loop via the avenue of volcanoes. The views from the buses have been great but we didn´t get to see any of the peaks due to clouds. It's cloudy season here so that's a little disappointing.

We went to a market in a small town called Saquisili which was much more everyday than the one in Otavalo. Fewer tourists, more interesting foods, and second hand items. Unfortunately, the animal market was closed due to an illness in some animals - that animal market is supposed to be incredibly fascinating but what can you do! We JUST made the bus we needed to our next destination and we were off into the mountains.

We had a good time in the moutains - we did a 5 hour horseback ride...yikes!....a hike to the lake of Quilotoa volcano and then headed to the coast where we still are. On the coast we´ve been staying at a beautiful lodge right on the ocean and today we´re in Montañita, a surfing town, for some time in the waves. Yesterday was our best day so far - we went whale watching and saw some incredible humpback whales really close up. Yay for being here during mating season! We toured the Isla de la Plata and saw blue footed boobied (really interesting birds), fragatas mating, and other cool animals. We snorkeled a little and saw more whales!

I need to head out to the beach now but there´s a quick and dirty update. We head back to Quito tomorrow, and then we part ways - Mom and I head to Paraguay for World Conference.

Until my next internet access....take care!