No Coma El Chancho! (Don't Eat the Pig!)

Well, it's been a while since I've posted. I've been pretty busy and have lots to talk about and pictures to share. As for pictures, you can see pictures from our 10 day trip by clicking on the title, "No Coma El Chancho! (Don't Eat the Pig!)" and by going to the following link (there are 2 albums of pictures, so make sure you check out both):

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022778&id=1308660525&l=cf266b0fb0

Also, the following link has pictures of the Ballet Jacchigua, which I'll talk more about later:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022910&id=1308660525&l=0b390cd900

Friday morning, we packed up "Optimus" with our luggage, piled in, and started the drive to Riobamba, our first stop in our 10 day trip. Riobamba is in the mountains to the south of Quito. We had a beautiful day for a drive. It was a clear day and you could see all of the snow topped mountains and volcanoes that are normally cloud covered. When driving south to Riobamba, you get very close to the foothills of Cotopoxi. Cotopoxi is a beautiful volcano and we stopped along the road to take some pictures. During our drive, we also stopped at a small place along the road to use the bathroom and to get ice cream, which is always a nice treat. We also stopped at a mall for lunch.

When we arrived in Riobamba, we checked into our hotel. Lucy is from Riobamba, so after we got settled, we drove around and Lucy gave us a tour of her city. We went to an open vegetable and fruit market. It was fun to see all of the different fruits and vegetables piled all over the place. It was a lot of fun and we bought some fruit to make juice with later and to snack on. We also went to a meat market where they had their freshly butchered meat hanging up for sale. They had everything from your normal cuts of meat, to chickens that still had their heads, to pig heads that still had the eye balls, to cow hooves, to pig tails. It was pretty interesting to see. I've decided that the real reason we go on these trips is so the NILI staff can eat at their favorite places because as we drove around, they kept pointing out where we were going to eat for various meals. For dinner we went to a pizza restaurant that had very good pizza.

Saturday, we woke up early, got breakfast at the hotel, and headed to Chimborazo. Chimborazo is the mountain, that if measured from the center of the earth and not sea level, is the highest mountain on Earth due to it's proximity to the Equator. I think it is also the highest volcano in the world. It was another beautiful day, which was great for our climb. We drove towards the mountain and eventually left pavement behind as we drove up a dirt road in the foothills of Chimborazo. While driving, we got to see wild alpaca and some other great sights, which I tried to take some pictures of. On Chimborazo, there are two refuges. One is located where the road ends. The other, I'm estimating is at least 1,000 ft higher up the mountain. So, we started our climb with pockets stuffed full of candy and some really hard substance that had vanilla in it and helps if you get light headed while climbing. My goal was to reach the snow, but unfortunately for me, the snow was well above the second refuge that day (they told us they've gone up before and there's been snow on the drive up), and I had to stop about three fourths of the way to the second refuge. Just walking a short distance at that altitude makes you very out of breath. The guys continued on after we stopped and eventually reached the snow (we got to rest in the Sprinter for an hour and a half before they got back). Even though I didn't reach my goal, I was able to enjoy the amazing beauty. It was so quiet and peaceful. With it being such a clear day, you could see other smaller mountains that were really far away. You could also see mist coming off the top of Chimborazo and clouds lower in elevation than we were. It was such a cool sight!

After our climb, it was time for lunch, which is always a good idea after hard work. We headed for the chancho market. Chancho is pig. In the market, there are stalls along all 4 walls with vendors all selling the exact same thing...chancho. And when I say chancho, picture an entire pig just laying on the counter waiting to be cut up and sold. When you go in, all the vendors try to get your attention and buy from them by yelling compliments like "Guapo!" which is handsom. Lucy went and bought us a leg which we took and then bought sides from another vendor. To eat the Chancho, Lucy put gloves on and broke it into pieces, which we then ate family style. We also got fresh fruit smoothies that were made from ice from Chimborazo. This ice all gets brought down the mountain by one old man, who every morning walks up the mountain, puts a block of ice on his back and walks back to Riobamba. Talk about physical work! Now, you may be wondering why the title of this post is "Don't Eat the Chancho." Well, it wasn't long after this that I started to not feel the best. At first I thought it was just from being tired after climbing Chimborazo, but it got worse throughout the day, and then I got sick overnight.

We went to Lucy's home church Saturday night for the youth service. After that, we went to get dinner on the street. We got the biggest burgers you've ever seen with the smallest burger patty. They were crazy! The piece of hamburger was flat and was probably only 3 inches in diameter, but there was so much other stuff on the burger. There was ham, bacon, egg, cheese, chancho cheese (we're still not sure what this is), french fries, ketchup, and mayonnaise. It tasted really good, though I think I'd like it better without the egg. It was so big, I wasn't able to finish mine (ok and partially because I was starting to not feel so good).

The next morning, I got up for church and was feeling better, so I ate breakfast and went. At breakfast, I found out Jen had been sick the night before, too. At church, I realized I probably should have just stayed at the hotel and rested because I got very tired, kind of dizzy, and started to not feel as well again. They took me back to the hotel during lunch, got me some Gatorade to rehydrate myself, and I slept.

When I woke up, I felt much better, so I decided to go on our afternoon drive. We went to an area that was affected by a volcano eruption about 5 years ago. There was a small town on the volcano that was destroyed. Samaritan's Purse got permission from the local priest to help rebuild. The rebuilt the town in a different place. Now, the people from the town sleep in the houses built by Samaritan's Purse, because they feel it is a safer place than where their town originally was, but they still go back to their original town during the day.

Monday, was our first ministry day. We went to help the church at the District Center. When we got there, there were 2 giant piles in front of the church. One was a pile of dirt, the other a pile of grass. Our first job was to plant the grass. Now, in the states, this wouldn't be too hard. Spread the dirt around and then lay out the sod. Well, here, it's done a little different. The main difference is that instead of having nicely cut pieces of sod, they basically just took a bulldozer, took the top layer off of a field of grass, put it in a dump truck, and dumped it in a pile. So, the grass was all clumped together and buried in dirt. It was like digging for treasure to find a clump of grass in the pile. Eventually, we realized, we weren't going to have enough grass to cover the entire area. So, we made it look as best we could by spreading the rest of the dirt around evenly.

After lunch, we started working on making tables for the kids' classrooms at the church. We started off by sanding down the table tops so the kids don't get splinters. Some people also cut the metal that was going to be used for the legs to length and then welded them together. When we got done sanding, another load of grass arrived, so we helped spread the rest of the grass over the area that didn't have any yet. After this, we headed back to the hotel after a long days work. It felt great to shower. I had been completely covered in dust and dirt because the District Center and the area around it is very dusty and then we also played in the dirt for quite a while.

Tuesday, we went back to the District Center to finish our tables. We put them all together by drilling holes in the tops and the legs and then attaching the tops to the legs using grommets. Then, we painted them with a spray gun. Jill, helped draw a precious moments picture on a wall of a classroom. When the pastor saw her work, he asked her to decorate the cross in the front of their sanctuary. We went to a nearby internet cafe to print off some ideas for a design. Then, Jill got to work drawing up a plan and then she got started on her project.

In the afternoon, a bunch of kids came to the church. Jen, Kevin, and I led them in some songs with fun motions. Jen split the kids up into 3 groups, with Kevin, Harrison, and I each leading a group. We each had a Bible story to tell the kids and then the kids got to act out the stories. It was so much fun. After we were done with the kids, the church wanted to do something for us. They had a big thank-you planned for all the hard work NILI had done. They had the kids sing songs, people pray for us, and they gave us each a doll as a gift. It was amazing to see some hard work mean so much to people.

Wednesday, was our last day in Riobamba. Jill went back to the church to finish the cross. Kevin and I went with Jen to a Nazarene School. There, we went into different classrooms and helped them learn some English. With the youngest kids (2nd and 3rd grade), we sang a song about animals in Spanish and helped them learn the names of the animals in English. With some of the older kids (4th and 6th grade), we sang a song in both Spanish and English. With the oldest kids (7th or 8th grade), we asked them questions like "What is your name?" and "Where are you from?" and they got to answer. It was a lot of fun. Afterwards, we went and met with the principal. As we were going in, Kim told us that they might give us a snack and it's not optional. Well, we got a little more than a snack. We ended up with lunch, and that lunch was...Chancho! I was oh so happy to see the one thing that I really never wanted to see again. But, because I had to be polite, I ate it, hoping I wouldn't get sick again. So much for hoping.

After our wonderful lunch, we picked Jill up and left Riobamba Guayaquil. Guayaquil is a coastal city and is the largest city in Ecuador. Again, we had a beautiful day for a drive. As we left the mountains, it was fun to watch the plants slowly change from mountain plants to coastal plants. In Guayaquil, we stayed at the District Center. We arrived right before Wednesday night church got out, so we hurried and got into our rooms before it ended so we didn't have to wade through people to get in.

The next morning, Kevin wasn't feeling well, so he slept while we got breakfast. We went to breakfast at a place that serves all of the typical breakfast foods of the coast. The coast, the mountains, and the jungle all have very distinct cultures, so it only makes sense to try coastal food when you're in the coast. While we were at breakfast, I started to feel sick. After breakfast, we went to the Iguana Park. It's a little park in Guayaquil that has iguanas just roaming around. They're everywhere! There are also some turtles in a pond and pigeons, like there are in any city. After this, I went back to the District Center to sleep because I was feeling horrible. Kevin was feeling better so he went to the Boardwalk with everyone. That night, I went to the mall for a little while with everyone because I was feeling a little better and I wanted to get out, while Kevin stayed back to rest.

Friday morning, I was feeling a little better. We went to the same place for breakfast and then we headed to Salinas, a little town on the beach. I slept the 2 hours there because I was feeling pretty badly again. When we got there, we looked for a hotel. Kim and Jen got tired of looking and decided to take a break by going to the beach for a little bit. I stayed in the Sprinter and slept cause I didn't want to move. When we did get a hotel in the afternoon, I just slept for a while. Kim, Jen, and Lucy went and got me some Pedialyte, some Sprite, and some warm Jello. After drinking these things, I started to feel much better. I still stayed at the hotel to rest for a while, but was feeling a lot better by dinner time, so I went and ate a little bit.

Saturday, we went to the beach. I didn't really have an appetite, but I was feeling much better. We rented a tent with some chairs so we had some shade. I swam some. Kevin and I decided to swim out to the buoy. We didn't realize it, but there was a pelican sitting on the buoy and it didn't like it when Kevin touched the buoy. It spread it's wings and wouldn't stop watching us. We also rented some jet skis for a bit and had fun riding those around. We decided to leave when the tide had come in so far that we couldn't back up anymore because there was a wall behind us with the street above it. We went to a small market in the afternoon. On our way back to the hotel from the market, we walked along the beach. There was a man painting little painting right there, so we stopped to watch. I took a mirror, and painted a sky and some water with his fingers. Then, he painted some birds, buildings, and a boat with a brush. Then, he put a piece of glass over that and painted the rest of the water, a beach, a tree, and some people. He then covered this with another piece of glass. It was really cool to watch him do and it has some amazing details, so I bought my first souvenir!

Sunday, we got up and made the 9 hour drive back to Quito to end our trip. I slept a lot of the way because I was still very tired from being sick. It wasn't until Monday night that I finally started to get my appetite back. Monday, after our trip, we didn't have any classes which was very nice. I was just able to relax.

The last of the NILI professional arrived this week. The Benedict's arrived Monday night with their 2 children. They are here to learn Spanish before the more to Shell, which is in the jungle, as missionaries for 2 years. Kristen, who I know from when I went to Mexico City 3 years ago, got here Tuesday. Finally, Kevin and I will have some other people in our Spanish class! Dan Benedict and Kristen are both going to be joining us.

Yesterday, Kevin and I went to El Condado (the mall) because we needed to buy some things for a project in Spanish. While we were there we had fun going to some other stores. I came home with some food from MegaMaxi and some candy from a candy shop along with the paper and markers I needed for my project.

Last night, we went to the Ballet Jacchigua. They do many folk dances from around Ecuador. It was really cool to see. Their costumes were very colorful and beautiful. I loved the music. There were 4 men who all played instruments and sang.

Tomorrow, is our last day of the first block of classes. Kevin and I have our final, but then we're done! It's crazy to think that I'll have been here for 5 weeks tomorrow, which is a third of the total time I'm here. This first third has been amazing and I'm really looking forward to the rest of my time here!

Now, for some random things I've noticed, especially on our trip:
-When people take their livestock to pasture, they don't just let them wander through a certain field, they tie them to a certain spot in the field.
-They utilize all of the space that can possibly be farmed, including all the way up to the top of mountains that are very steep.
-A 2 lane road (1 lane each direction), can quickly become 4 lanes when enough people want to pass each other.
-People are not intimidated by bigger vehicles. A car will pass a truck or bus that is going to slow even if there is a large truck or bus coming the other direction.
-Signs are not always as they seem. On our way to Guayaquil, there was a sign that in English means something like "Interstate Traffic That Way" which would usually been, go that way to quickly bypass the town or city. In this instance, it meant, hour long detour around a small town along twisty, turny roads. (Personally, I think the people of the town just like to laugh at people take that route)
-When on twisty, turny roads, go slowly around turns. You never know when there might be a cow resting in the center.
-Guayaquil is as different from Quito as everyone says it is. People are louder and out later at night. Traffic is crazier for two reasons: 1, there's more of it; 2, the people drive crazier (though not as crazy as in Mexico City if I remember right). Food and climate are different.
-At the beach, buoys that you would think mean "swim past here at your own risk" for swimmers and "don't come past here" for boats really are just guidelines. Many of the smaller boats, especially the ones that sell rides, will go through areas that people swim in and even come to the shore where people are swimming. Ecuador kind of makes me think of "Pirates of the Carribean" with the pirate code being just guidelines that the pirates don't actually have to follow.
-At the beach, people try to sell you anything and everything. Jewelry, woven baskets, flip flops, blow up water toys, whale watch rides, food, drinks, candy, coconuts, live small lobsters or big shrimp (I forget which, but what is someone going to do with live food on the beach?!).
-If you let one person talk to you about what they are selling, everyone who is selling stuff will flock to you.
-I don't think Ecuadorians know exactly what raisins are. First of all, the Mappus' bought a tub of rum nut raisin ice cream and there were maybe 3 raisins in it. Second, there was some breakfast food in Guayaquil that was supposed to have raisins in it, but instead it had once giant raisin that was more like a prune. Third, I bought a box of Raisin Bran cereal and it had like 5 raisins in it and the box even says that raisins are 15% of the ingredients. Anyway, I have seen boxes of raisins in the store and I assume those are actual raisins, but who knows.
-Don't eat the chancho!