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!

Ode to Allison

In honor of Allison returning home today(YAY!!), we're posting our own little tribute to her! It's been a long 5 weeks without her, and we're super excited to have her back.
The first day we arrived, Allison went out of her way to make us feel at home. She instantly felt like one of us(obviously this was not the case with Stephanie, since they've known each other their whole lives). We had many a crazy adventure. Here are some pictures and stories from those times that we haven't blogged about!

Roses from Allison when we arrived. SO SWEET!

In May, Allison and Tania(a sister from out hall) decided to take us to an orchard farm and to Chordileg(a little town known for its silver). The orchard farm was pretty amazing. Orchards are very delicate plants so when they plant them, they put them in a glass bottle and hermetically seal them for almost 2 years. They finally get planted in their own soil, but they still have to be cared for very carefully. The orchard farm had a TON of different varities and it was so neat to see all the beautiful flowers that Jehovah has created.

The faces of both Ashley and Allison crack me up!

When we visited Chordileg, Steph and Ashley decided to step up and be brave. They both got their second holes pierced. It was amazingly only $5! I was a little jealous considering I had spent over $30 back home, shortly before we came down here. It was hilarious all of us being shoved into a little store watching and taking pictures as they sat there.

Something we realized in Chordileg about Allison is that she is an amazing bargainer! She has this way about her, where people just agree to things. We used this knowledge later for our own advantage. Mwahahahaha! We went to one of the markets in Cuenca. We made friends with this one merchant who has a "secret room" as we call it. It's in a building above the market and had everything!! Using Allison's powers, we ended up getting good deals from him. You rock Allison!!


Along the way(who can ever remember dates), the Lopez family held a despedida for Allison. This was one of our first few parties, and Kaitlyn and I definitely did not have dancing down(not saying we do now!). Allison always helped us out. ;-)


Allison, all we can say is thanks for being your awesome self and we're so glad you're coming back.


PS. On a personal note, I love you forever for bringing me my chocolate pretzels. You have no idea how much I want those right now. :-)

Cuenca Canopy

When we arrived in Cuenca, we made a list of things we had to do while we were here (remember the task napkin?). One thing was go zip lining at Cuenca Canopy. I had been dreading it since I saw it on our list, mainly because I’m a chicken, I don’t like heights and because oddly enough, I don’t want to DIE!

Unfortunately the dreaded day arrived. We met at Jeff and Jenny’s house, where we ate lunch and then off we went to catch the bus. One bus came and it passed us despite the fact that we were standing at a bus stop with a sign. So we walked farther up the road to the next stop and waited for the next bus. When it came, we couldn’t believe how packed it was. But we were troopers and stuffed ourselves onto the bus in true Ecuadorian style. WOW, I’ve never been so close to strangers before. We made it out to Ricaurte where there was a taxi stand. Because there were six of us, we had to get two cabs. The cabbies wanted to charge us $6 per car to get to Cuenca Canopy, but Stephanie stuck to her guns that it should only be $5 and IT WORKED! We took this crazy road which consisted of very deep holes at very fast speeds. 

When we walked up to the window to pay, I really wanted to back out, but I guess at that point it was a little too late. So they suited us up in all this heavy stuff and gave us helmets and off to the first one we went. Like I said earlier I’m SCARED of heights! And to me the first one was up high and I had to walk up these stairs that didn’t look all that safe or sturdy. But I made it to the top and it was my turn. Stephmom and Jeff were standing at the bottom watching me. The guy hooked me up to the line and told me to sit……and off I was. SCREAMING!! Even though I was only about 20 feet off the ground. (It was more like 10)

The next lines got progressively higher each time. After about 3 or so I got use to it, but it was still scary. Eventually I could relax enough not to break down the whole time. The last few were extremely high but they were really fun, except the bug flying into my face. Too close to my mouth for comfort. 

 
We finished the last one and had to hike back to the top and it was a killer. We all took a little rest after reaching the top. Then back to walking to the front desk. We took off all the gear (which made us all feel 10 lbs. lighter) got our bags and headed to the restaurant area to get water and relax for a few before heading on the long hike back.

 
This hike wasn’t bad because Jeff was behind me which means he was REALLY slow. It was just a very long hike. So once we got to the top we rewarded ourselves with either ice-cream or a popsicle. Me, Stephanie, and Jeff all got a frutilla popsicle. Ariel and Jenny got ice-cream and Ashley decided not to get anything (Topsy, bleh!). After waiting a very long time, our bus finally came. It took us to the end of its route and we had to catch another one which dropped us off close to Jeff and Jenny’s. We headed back to their house to get our stuff and head home. 

After all my fears of heights and not wanting to zip line, I can now say that it was really fun and I’m so glad I did it! But I’m still scared of heights :)  - Kaitlyn