Things they told us, things they didn't

When we first arrived in Playas, Roger, our host from Canada told us 3 rules:
1. Safety - don't walk out alone at night, especially on the beach.
2. Water - don't drink the water. Bottled water only.
3. Toilet paper - the plumbing does not handle it so put it in the garbage next to the toilet.

What we found out:
1. This is the hottest time of the year in Ecuador. Today it was 38 degrees and the clothes have been hanging on the line all day and are still not quite dry because of the humidity! The rainy season is a month late and everything is dry, even the cactus are dying. The sun is intense. We plaster ourselves with sunscreen (me and Lisa) and take umbrellas and water with us wherever we go. Lisa has been suffering from water anxiety and has 2 bottles strapped to her at all times. ha ha
2. The power here has different strengths at different times of the day. Sometimes the fan works pretty good, other times hardly moves.
3. The people are the best part of Ecuador. There are lots children and they are adorable! Everyone is very friendly and they say buenos dias to us when we are out and about.
4. Animals - all the animals roam free, dogs, cats, chickens, pigs. The pigs and the chickens get fed but the cats and dogs fend for themselves.
5. Garbage - is everywhere. Although they have started recycling plastic - better than nothing.





Our room in Playas.


Baby iguana outside our door - how cute!


We were invited to a delicious dinner after the meeting. This is Rolando and Rosemarie's B&B. We are thinking of coming back later on for a visit, maybe just before we return to Canada. The couple seated across from Greg are from Minnesota and have been in Playas for two months. He gave the public talk and they have only been in Spanish for about a year! They are going to tour and see other parts of Ecuador for their last two weeks here.

Almuerzo and market

Sunday is the busiest day of the week in Playas. Many people from Guayaquil come to the beach for the day. The restaurants and stores are busy and traffic is heavy.


Playas market


Adorable!


Pollo (chicken)


Carne (meat).


Almuerzo (lunch) is the main meal of the day in Ecuador. For $2 you get a bowl of soup or stew plus a plate of rice with fish or other type of meat and juice.

Money laundering in Ecuador

Living out of a suitcase, it's hard to keep track of everything. I washed my favorite shirt. Now my money smells fresh and clean - Greg.

Meeting new friends

We went to the meeting last night. The usual warm welcome and an invitation to go in service in el campo the next morning. Group met at 8:15 and 18 of us piled into a van/bus.

Photos of our day in service

Part of our group. Dianney is holding the umbrella.


Rosemarie drove all of us to the territory. She is from Colorado and has been in Ecuador for 7 years. She is holding her "contribution" :) She told us she and her husband have a B&B, 6 bedrooms with AIR CONDITIONING!! and a pool. If only we had known! We are invited over to their place after the meeting on Saturday. It will be hard to come back here to the sweltering heat with two small fans blowing hot air at us :)


Dianney's RV. We asked her how old she was and she didn't know so we asked did she know what year she was born and she said 1915 -- 95 years old!


Los ninos.


In the territory.



Dianney took me on her BS with these two women.


On our way to el campo

Lisa's morning

Lisa's blog - Well, It was sink or swim in spanish today. Ithink I'm still spitting up a little water.I was sent with the sister you see in the picture. She was very sweet & took me on two bible studies. It was hard because of course I don't speak spanish and of course she was talking to me in spanish. Blah,Blah Blah Blah ....... ..... and I didn't understand anything.--very frustrating! She thought I could understand more than I could. We were sitting at the kitchen table with the study and she motioned to say the prayer so we all bowed our head and silence ... at first I thought, are we all saying our own prayer? Then they both looked at me and I realized she wanted me to say the prayer! I just looked at her and the only thing I could say was "en inglais". So she said the prayer. She got me to read paragraphs in the Bible Teach book and also ask the questions. I am shaking my head right now. It was very bad as yesterday was the first time I tried to read anything out loud with Greg and Cheri when we did our meeting prep. Oh yeah, she also asked me to say the prayer again at the end but I understood her this time ... progress! (I said "no se" which means I don't know and she said the prayer). That was my day. Hope yours was interesting too.

Playas

We are spending the next five days here in Playas. It is certainly not a tourist destination. It is shocking by Cdn standards how people live here. They are very poor. It is very hot and humid this time of the year and we are feeling drained. We went for a walk on the beach yesterday. Had to sit under a shady tent and have a beer to cool off.

The place we are staying in is owned by a Canadian. It was quite musty when we first came but is getting better as we air it out. Internet is very slow and cannot post any videos. And it takes forever to post a picture. Hopefully it will work better in Cuenca and we will try to post a video of Playas from there.

We will be going to a meeting tonight. We met a brother next door to where we are staying and he will take us. Something to look forward to.

Playas - the beach ...

Beach in the distance




Beach at Playas

The night we almost spent at Bethel

We got into Guayaquil around midnight. Then on to customs and baggage pick-up. One of our pull strings on our backpack got stuck in the carousel so we had to cut it. It was like a free for all getting the luggage ... like people were in a panic to get their luggage.

When we got to the area where we were to be picked up we saw two brothers holding up signs with our names on it. Wow! We thought that was service. They had two vans there, one for us and one for the luggage. We were our way, driving out of the airport terminal and Greg was talking to the brother driving and found out they were from Bethel!. We had written a letter to the Bethel about 3 months ago asking if it would be possible to stay there a night and we received NO answer so we thought the letter got lost or that it was not possible. Anyway as we had already made arrangements with Br. Mena we went back, found him waiting for us too and went to his B&B.

We felt terrible that they had come for nothing, plus the fact that it would have been great to stay at Bethel. They gave us our itineraries of what it could have been :(

It is very hot in Guayaquil. In the morning Br. Mena drove us to Playas, about 90 km away to a place Greg booked online for us.

Guayaquil

Our room at Br. Mena's


Our other room ...


Being met at airport by Bethelites

Travel day

Toronto airport


Leaving in a snow storm.

Leaving Ottawa ... to Waterloo ...

Saying goodbye to Greg's grandmother.



Four months of "stuff"


Am I high maintenance??


Adios to our friends in Ottawa. We will miss you.



Our backyard. Enough snow for one year!