What does an embargo, guinnea pig, and my birthday have it in common?

MY TRIP TO ECUADOR SO FAR….

My feet straddling the equator

I went to bed at 12:30 A.M. early Thursday morning, and my alarm went off at 3:00 A.M. to get me up to get ready to leave. I live about an hour away from the airport and in order to get to the airport the suggested two hours before the flight, I needed to leave at 3:30 A.M.   Thankfully, I wasn’t the only one doing this. I had two other YWAMers, Cristal and Lucio, going with me to Ecuador, and another friend who volunteered to take us to the airport. So this is how the adventure started…. early.

This adventure has a name, it is called Mission Adventures. Mission Adventures is a program that YWAM runs that it’s goal is to train and bring youth groups, or any group, on short-term mission trips. This program gives youth an exciting opportunity to serve God, grow deeper in their relationship with Him, and also to experience what missions is. So, we came down to Ecuador five days before the team of 37 arrived.  So, let me continue the story….

Upon arrival at the ticketing agent Thursday morning, the agent looked at our luggage. We were bringing four Carvin speakers to use for our drama presentations, and we had just bought new plastic cases for them. Each of us also had our own personal bag. We were planning on paying for one extra bag. She then politely informed us, “Uhm, I’m sorry you can’t check any extra bags or take anything in boxes, crates, coolers, or plastic boxes.” We were shocked. We had no idea of any of this. She then explained from June 5th every year till the end of August, Ecuador puts an embargo on all flights coming into Ecuador that they cannot bring any boxes, only personal bags. So, because the airlines are prepared for people to not be aware of this embargo, like we were, they have overpriced duffel bags for sale at the ticketing counter. So, after taking a minute to think, we bought four, one for each of the speakers. But we were still one bag to many. So, Lucio and I started thinking about how maybe we might have to share a bag and leave one of ours behind. I then, asked the lady, if any of our bags could pass as a carry on, and she looked at our three and she said if I took some stuff out of mine so that it wouldn’t be as full mine could pass. Now just so you know, my bag is one of the larger style of backpacks, it is made to fit up to 70 lbs. It is a big bag. So I was surprised to find out that I could get it through as a carry on, but we figured out a solution to our problem and the only things we had to leave behind were the plastic crates the speakers were in and our friend who dropped us off would pick them up. YEAH!!

Now we are in Ecuador, we have been running around like crazy. We arrived at the Quito airport around 8:30, and probably around 9:30 we met up with our friends who would drive us the 2 1/2 hours to Ambato. We are safely and happily in Ecuador now. We arrive a little after midnight to the hotel where we will stay. It is about 30 minutes outside of Ambato. It is a beautiful place. It will be wonderful for the team. The next morning, we get up, watch the Mexico vs. South Africa soccer game, and then start running around looking at all the places we are going to bring the team, and then talking with all the people who are helping coordinate this trip, and that have some part in it. This took us late into the night. Saturday’s schedule is similar to that of Friday, running around. Buying some stuff for the trip, trying to arrange transportation for the team when they arrive on Tuesday, and finally end up on renting two buses two bring us from the airport in Quito to the Hotel Tuesday night. We ended our time of preparation by going up to the mountain village of Cachilbana, where we would be bring the team to do a VBS in the school. The pastor also informed us that one of us would preach, so guess which one of us that would be….. yep, you guessed right, me. So I preached that night about taking our place as beloved children of God, and that in order to be imitators of God, we must walk out of the place of being a beloved child. Which was kind of cool, because there was also a baby dedication that night. Now after the service comes the interesting part….

Ecuadorians are some of the most hospitible people I know, and since we were guests, we were invited to partake in celebration of the baby dedication. These people really though are extremely poor, and yet for this, they throw a feast for the church, and as guests, it is pretty much obligatory culturally that we attend. And I see the Pastor who is coordinating everything with us facial expressions as one of the brothers and pastor from the church whisper in his ear the invitation to come. Because he knows, that if we attend, we run the risk of eating things we won’t like, and worse, getting sick from the food, and poor hygiene of the people. But culturally, it would be offensive to say no. So we go, and the pastor tells me, we are invited to go, he gives me a face that says, “Well, here we go….”

So we arrive in this small dirt floor shack, where the whole church is huddled together, one for lack of space, and two for how cold it is. In this part of the Andes, once nightfall hits, the temperatures drop to the low 40′s. And so the brother sits us down, and as visiting missionaries and pastors, we are treated as the honored guests. We receive our food an hour before the rest, and we eat something different then all the rest. We eat the food that is considered the best delicacy in this region…. Guinea Pig. This is not the first time I have had guinea pig. No, but it is a dish that for me to like, needs to be cooked a certain way, and it was not. My friend, Lucio, had never tried guinea pig, and so he was excited when he started, but then at a certain point when the electricity went out, he quickly, without being seen, left his plate half full sitting on a table and went outside to talk with some more of the people.

It is a wierd feeling one has when someone gives you something so precious to them, and then you have 30 people watching you take it and eat it, to see if it is as precious to you as it is to them. I did my best to eat what I was given, but it was just the cooked skin of the belly of the guinea pig, not very appetizing.

By the time we were finished, it was late and we still had more planning of the trip to be done, and so Pastor Franklin, who is coordinating the trip for us, gave us the signal that we would leave, and we said our good-byes, and loaded up the car proceeded to leave to go back to the hotel. Then at the hotel we stayed up another two hours to finish going through the schedule and the planning process of the trip, and that didn’t end till nearly 1:00 A.M. We had church Sunday morning, and then after church we left for Quito. We took a bus two and half hours north, and had my friend pick us up, and we went and spent the night in downtown Quito, and then returned to his house to spend the night.

The next day was an important day for me. June 14th, 2010, I spent my birthday in Quito, Ecuador. I got to go to La Mitad del Mundo (the monument for the equator) and traverse all over Quito, and then ended it with a birthday dinner at the mother’s house of one of my friends. It was a good day, spent with good friends, and it was the first time that my girlfriend Cristal got to spend a birthday with me, because we are both normally away on trips over my birthday.  It was a very good day.

We then went to the Teleferico, which is a gondola that takes you up the Pinchincha mountain, and you reach an elevation of 4,100 meters. It was great, it took my breath away, literally, we hiked a little and it was really nice to come back to the cafe that is up there for a nice refreshing tea of coca, the perfect remedy for anything dealing with altitudes. We then met up with my friend after she got out of work, and at in downtown Quito, and then walked a little more, and then it was off to the airport to pick up the team.

So, everything up to this point has gone well. The team arrived safely, they are going through their acclimatizing stage, and then tomorrow starts the mad dash that we have for the next 14 days! Please pray for strength and health, as working in altitudes is very tiring on my body. Please pray also for the unity of us as we work with this team, they are a great team that comes prepared to do ministry, but they can also be demanding of our attention. Please also pray God’s work here is done. We have come, now we are just waiting to see what God going to do through us. Blessings!