Transportation Time

[Note: This all was from June/July. But still the same ways we get around now.]

So a while ago, I believe we said we'd dedicate an entire post to transportation. Well, here it is...

First off, living in a place where you can't drive is a weird thing. I really do miss having the freedom of my car and just being able to grab the keys and go anywhere. For us, that's not an option. We can rely on public transportation, a taxi, or our own feet. Oh! There is another option! You must make friends with someone who has a car and use them for all they're worth. Just kidding! ;-)

I have never had to rely on a bus system so much. Who knew they actually followed a schedule?! I have learned that part especially when trying to get to service in the morning. I always groan when I see the bus I need pulling away. Punctuality is not a strength of mine!

It amazes me how many people they can pack on one bus! Near the end of the night, when the buses are fewer, people are hanging out the doors. Going back home for lunch is also always a crowded bus. It's a real skill to learn how to push your way through people when you need to get off, and also how to stand up without falling down when seats aren't available. Thankfully, even though I am a huge klutz, I haven't had any embarrassing falls on the bus.

Feet, Feet, and more feet!

It may not be the quickest, but the most reliable way to get somewhere is just by walking. I wish I could figure out how much we actually walk in one day...all I know is it is a lot!! I prefer walking to the buses, especially when the sun is out. I really wish we'd be able to walk places back home because it's definitely a great workout. Especially here in Cuenca, when you must travel the uneven pavement and multiple hills.

To get a taxi or bus to stop for you, you must flag them down. This is done by what Steph is demonstrating. It's funny though cause sometimes they just decide they don't want to stop for you. Especially the bus drivers if they're running behind. Oh well!

Taxis are quick to get around especially when you're late, but not always worth the cost. They love to give us the "gringa special." Thankfully Stephanie is very good at managing them, so they go back to the actual price. The best taxi ride was one where we got from el centro to our apartment in less than 3 minutes. I still don't know how he managed that, but it was amazing. Kaitlyn couldn't contain her excitement that we went so fast.  I wish I had a picture!

Some bus pictures




So that about sums up the ways we get around town. There are of course buses that we take to other cities that are quite different, but that's not a part of our daily life. Gettting around is easy, but still I would give anything to be behind the wheel of my car!

Estoy en el Ecuador! :-)

Hey everyone! After what felt like forever, but in reality was only 5 months, I am once again in Ecuador! It's a shorter trip this time, but I'm happy enough to be back.

This time around, my friend Sarah, also joined me. It's her first time in Ecuador, and even though the trip(first flight) started out rough, she's enjoying it now! :-)

We arrived in Ecuador this past Saturday night. Our lovely friends Johnny y Gaby picked us up from the airport along with some other local friends. It was a great welcome and it was so sweet of everyone.

Sarah and I stayed the night with Jonathan and Estefani(the couple I also stayed with my first time in Guayaquil). Although my Spanish is still muy terrible, I did feel accomplished that Estefani and I were able to carry on conversations. Especially considering that last time, I didn't even understand when she asked me what I would like for breakfast. Progress feels good!

We arrived in Cuenca on Sunday. We took it pretty easy for our first day, but Monday morning we were up and ready for service. We also went to my favorite market to get a few things for the house. Tuesday was about the same.

Today, Sarah and I came to Canar, a city about 1-2 hours north of Cuenca, to visit her friends Micah and Ashley. Hopefully there will be a blog post with pictures soon about our trip here. ;-) Also, Steph and I have been working on a few posts that we never finished last time, that we can hopefully put up. Yes, we know we're slackers. We are trying to change. Ha.

Hasta luego!

Chinese Assembly and Spanish & English Conventions

Hello again! Sorry it has been so long...I will be publishing a series of posts to catch you up with what has been going on (It's much harder when I'm the only one left!!)

In July and August we went to a series of assemblies and district conventions. First in July we had to travel to Santo Domingo (10 hours away from Cuenca) to attend the Sunday of the Circuit Assembly that was going to be translated into Chinese. (Our trip was actually a bit longer since Ariel, Amanda and I were coming from Peru). Santo Domingo is a jungle city so the weather was pretty hot and humid. 

This was the end of Kha-Mei's trip with us, but she got a nice treat. The Saturday before the assembly, most of the Cuenca Chinese group, and some brothers from Quito, Guayaquil and all the way from Columbia got permission to preach in a Chinese hydro-electric work camp. Since they could only preach at night when the workers were on break, they were preaching by flashlight/phone.  

Luis (Quito), Kha-Mei (NV) & Chinese brothers from Guayaquil and Austrailia

 

We arrived late that night...ready for my first ever Chinese assembly!!! It was a pretty interesting setup. Since there is only 1 Chinese congregation and a couple groups there weren't enought speakers to do all the talks. What the brothers and sisters (!!!) did was translate the Spanish talks into Chinese. We were all in the elder's room behind the stage with a big screen tv (but no Spanish sound). We didn't all fit in the room. Poor brothers outside got burnt :(

The assembly hall is a really nice open space. Lots of flowers everywhere and places to sit. There was a whole van full of brothers and sisters from Columbia that came down 20 hours in a bus to support this assembly. They were all really sweet!

 





We all had lunch at the cars. We made friends with the little kids giving them Amor cookies...I think the littlest girl took the most...smartie!!

 

a sister visting from Columbia

painted by the one and only Randy Fiske!!

At the end of July we went down to Guayaquil for the English District Convention. It's so nice for so many reasons!! It is an opportunity to see friends from all over the country and catch up. Also, it's nice to have 3 days of English and get all the new releases. :)

The following week was our Spanish District convention. Last year we had over 1200 on Sunday, so this year they split us into 3 instead of 2 weekends. The attendance was a lot less, but we were the last assembly and unfortunately there were not enough brothers to do the talks. They had to import many of our speakers either from Quito or Guayaquil. 

I was really excited because my Bible student Evelyn came Saturday and Sunday. She is 15 and all of her family comes to the meetings. They have been studying for a year and a half, but the brother that was studying with them wanted the kids to have their own studies, so he asked me to study with her. She's really sweet and she was able to get the new brochure to learn about the organization. 

I love convention season so much! All the info is so timely and shows how well Jehovah knows both us and exactly what we need! :D

 
 

5 Things to Watch Out For

 

My first couple weeks here in Cuenca I realized there were things that everyone should watch out for. Things that you don’t want to encounter and some things that can be dangerous. So I figured I would write a blog about all of them, well the most important ones. 

1. DOG POOP- Because dogs run around unattended to there is dog poop everywhere. All you have to do is ask Stephanie because one day in service she became a statistic of how many people step in poop while in Ecuador. 

 

2. CREEPY MEN!- They are everywhere!! Creeping from windows on the third floor of building, inside their businesses as you pass by, in cars driving by, in cabs you ride in, on buses. So literally everywhere you go there are creepy men. And they cat call by whistling, psst psst thing, or just saying weird things as they pass by. Advice just ignore even though it’s really hard. 

 

3. UNEVEN PAVEMENT- Watch your every move you make. Don’t know how the ground gets this way but there are random areas of broken up concrete everywhere. If you don’t watch it you WILL trip at least a few times a day. Cuidado!

4. POLES AND RANDOM WIRES- We have these poles that use to be regular sized poles I’m sure at one time or another but have been chopped down and someone decided “let’s just leave a mini pole, so people can trip over them.” And today in service I did just that expect I ran my foot into it very hard. I think I saw spot for a moment or two. And what did I do I laughed at the same time as saying what pain I was in. I love Ecuador sidewalks! We also have random wires that connect from the ground to the electric poles. So if you are watching the ground you may miss this until your head is already going into the wire, since it’s going diagonal towards the ground.

 

 

 

5. GARBAGE RACKS- Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are trash days, these are the most important days to watch out what’s coming toward you at eye level if your my height that is. So it’s a rack that comes down in order to put your trash down. I’m pretty sure someone with no brain invented this. Ariel has a problem on trash day with not keeping her eyes open. She has run into them multiple times on this trip…and learns nothing! Hahaha sorry Ariel.

So here are my top five things to watch out for if you ever decide to visit. Just keep them in mind or write them down so you can always remember them  :)

~Kaitlyn

Death in Cajas - Part III: Actual Homicide © 2012 BW

E-L C-A-J-A-S for those of you who can't read human letters

I'm not quite sure how, in less than 3 months in Ecuador, I have been to El Cajas National Park 3 times. I personally believe that that is getting excessive! :) However, we had the girls up from Puerto Lopez and they wanted to go. Since our trip was going to be all of us girls, we convinced Kaitlyn that she had to go too, even though she had sworn off ever hiking again. So I asked Robo-John to lead our motley crew once again.

In preparation for the cold temperatures that we experienced last time, we took the girls into the the world of "the secret room behind the market" to get hats, gloves, sweaters, etc. We also made arrangements to borrow or purchase more gum boots since these were the must have item last trip.

We arranged to meet John at the terminal at noon, but Kaitlyn and Kelly still needed to pick up the boots that they were going to borrow. So I took them to the James's, while Ariel took Mechaela and Veronica to the terminal to meet John. We all met up right as the bus we wanted was getting ready to leave. After confirming that the bus passed through El Cajas we all loaded on and I found a nice open window for Kaitlyn who was feeling a little sick. A minute later, they called all of us off the bus. (They were hoping to fit more people on that were going all the way to Guayaquil and therefore paying a full fare.) A few minutes later we all got back on, but Kaitlyn's nice window seat was gone. :(

On the bus we were in the company of some interesting people. Behind Kaitlyn and me there were two younger guys, one of whom stared at Kaitlyn with his mouth gaping open for the entire ride. Next to us was a man who seemed to be drunk. He kept on spitting on the floor and passing out. At one point he even took his shirt off (it was a warm day, but nobody wanted to see that!).

We finally arrived at the same visitor's center where we ended our last trek. It was cold as expected so we all took turns bundling up and using the restroom. Mechaela found an unhappy surprise in her backpack. A banana had been squashed in the bottom and there was a pool of banana juice/goo on all her stuff. Not too happy about that. :(

We also had to register as "guests" and pose for a few photos before we got on our way.

Fortunately the day was much warmer than our last experience in Cajas. Also, I think John learned his lesson well and took us on the "easy" and "short" hike for only about 4 hours. I kept my promise and stayed by Kaitlyn's side the whole time. (I also was the designated videographer...too bad they didn't show me how to work the camera before hand...)

I will say that Kaitlyn did much better than I think even she expected. We made it pretty far before John had to come back and pull her up the hill. (She could have done it thought!) Her biggest complaint was that it was after 3 and we still hadn't eaten lunch. (I was pretty hungry too!) It seemed early on that John was on the top of the list of potential victims... you don't withhold a girls pb&j! She was much better after her power nap. ;)

We all needed energy to get through the Princess Bride forest once again. And for some reason we were all extra clumsy. I think we all fell or almost fell at least once during the hike. Poor Mechaela went face first into some mud. You never knew which direction the scream would come from next. Fortunately no one was hurt. But it did feel like we were living an episode of America's Funniest Home Videos.

But despite us all surviving the hike...Death in Cajas must live up to it's name. The fatality last time was my camera (it will not take pictures, probably due to the exposure to the cold). This time the fatality was our poor guide John. Thanks for all your hard work! :)

Answer: It was Kaitlyn in El Cajas with John's gloves!

I hope this entry does not discourage anyone from wanting to visit El Cajas National Park. It is a beautiful place to see and meditate on the wonders of creation. One request though....please don't make ME go with you! ;) (at least not for another couple weeks)

Adios Ashley, Goodbye Guapondelig

Ashley and Adolfo leaving with Ben

Adios Ashley

After two months in Ecuador, Ashley said her farewells and got on a bus. Fortunately she had REAL friends who were willing to travel with her to Guayaquil (good job Aaron and Ben...you're better than us girls).

But before she headed off, we had to make the most of her last days here. On the Sunday before she left, we had an extra special meeting. The Chinese group overseer, Ivan, was out of town visiting his family, so as you can see below Marcelo (who has only been in Chinese for a little over a year) conducted the Watchtower Study. He did an excellent job! Ashley took the opportunity to take pictures with the Chinese group and some of girls that she befriended this visit. They were very sad to see her go, and continue to ask about her even now when I see them. (you have fans!)

We also made special plans to go over the Lopez's for lunch. We had a pretty big group. Ceci was going to teach us how to make ENCEBOLLADAS (a type of fish stew with plantains) but we arrived a little late, so we only got to eat it! 

 

As usual, we played Angie's favorite game...Monopolio Deal! And she suffered a huge giggle fit. We literally have her on film laughing for over a minute. 

 Everyone (besides vain me) made a pact to wear their glasses to Ashley's last meeting so of course we needed some photos! 

 

Then the photo shoot continued on the stairs. A nice group shot...why did it take so long? Angie...

Then Angel showed off his amazing cooking skills and taught us how to make empanadas! Delicious!

After we left the Lopez's we headed over to the James' house where the boys were having a "boys' afternoon" playing some computer game.

It gave Ashley a chance to say goodbye to the Kennedys and the boys exposed us to some New Zealand culture. 

We decided to make an early night of it though. Ashley still had a lot of packing to do. When we got home we put in a movie and got to work. Part of the difficulty was that Ashley decided to not use her last carry-on bag because it was too large by Lan Airlines standards. So she was trying to cram everything into one less bag. We stayed up most of the night trying to achieve this. But come the next morning she was still doing some last minute things, so we left a little late to meet the boys. When we arrived at the bus station there was barely time to get them out the door and on to the bus. Adios Ashley...we miss you lots!

Goodbye Guapondelig

The same week that we bid farewell to Ashley there were big changes happening here in Cuenca. Starting in Guayaquil the branch was restructuring all of the congregations. The goal is that the Kingdom Halls that are here be used more efficiently. So many congregations boundaries changed and all publishers were encouraged to attend the congregation in which territory they lived unless there were extenuating circumstances. Starting the first week of July the same restructuring happened in Cuenca. So our former congregation Guapondelig no longer exists. The new congregation's name is Canaribamba and it is a mixture of the old Guapondelig and the old Canaribamba. Many of our publishers were split into two other congregations Paraiso and Central. It was very sad to lose so many familiar faces, but these changes are really to help the brothers care for the friends in the most organized way possible. So they are a demonstration of Jehovah's love for us. I was very excited to finally live in the territory! 

To say goodbye, the Sunday after the last meeting as Guapondelig, the brothers organized a picnic outing to a local "Mini Golf." We all were assigned to bring food to have picnic and then play golf, etc after. Our assignment was potato salad...ick. Not my favorite for any of you that know me. But it did all get eaten so I thankfully did not have to take any home! :) Since many do not have cars, we rented some school buses to take us out there.

Some even brought their four-legged friends to join in on the fun.

It was a beautiful day, with the sun shining...but with the wind some were a little cold. I let Kevin borrow my scarf. Don't you hate it when someone looks better in your clothes! And then the little thief took it home....

We made up a team to play mini golf...us girls with Kha-Mei (a new friend visiting from Nevada). She was so cool and it felt like we had known her forever. She had come to visit until the Chinese assembly mid-July.

This picture was taken waiting outside the bathroom...

Although it may seem like they were reenacting the sermon on the mount, they are actually playing a very engrossing card game. :)

When it started to get dark the Habitantes started up a concert for us to enjoy. Then, in true Ecuadorian fashion, we started to dance. 

We were a little worried when Santiago told us that the buses were NOT coming back for us. Fortunately we had a couple offers for rides home. In the end, we went with a couple from out of town...so I had to direct them to the house. That was a true test, since I had not paid attention to how we got there, but we made it eventually. :) Endings are never fun...but they sure tried hard to make this one the exception!