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!