Day 4 in Ecuador

Our team with our baby, Jesus, and yes he's wearing a diaper.

After an early morning breakfast, we were given our teams for the day (I was with Nikki, Jess, and Tim) and our clues for the Amazing Race. The first task was to get to church using the bus. This was fairly easy since Dale and I had already been able to use the bus before. The church we went to this morning was called "La Luz". It was all in Spanish, so very hard to know what was going on, but it was also neat to be able to understand some parts of songs and parts of the sermon. Anna, the intern coordinator, gave us a summary of the sermon afterwards which was also very helpful.

Once the service finished, our next task was to go to a market and buy a watermelon. We were to carry this watermelon around all day and pretend that it was a baby in order to sympathize with parents. We ended up making a sling to hold it which actually helped a lot. Then we made our way to a park where we were supposed to take a picture of a couple of paintings before making our way to another marketplace where we were to buy an figurine made out of Tagua (vegetable ivory). We later regifted this figurine to a stranger, but I'll get to that later. At that market we were also supposed to buy an ice cream cone, give it to a stranger, and then ask to pray for them. We did all of this to a street vendor who seemed to really appreciate the gesture, which was nice to see.

We gave our figurine to this store owner. 

We then left the marketplace and took a taxi to a restaurant for lunch that sold shawarma, which is a middle eastern wrap that is very delicious. It was here that we regifted our figurine made out of Tagua to the chef and manager of the restaurant. He was very friendly as well and seemed surprised but pleased by this gift. 

Of course we had to get cotton candy at the park

The next set of tasks were all involved in Carolina park and required our team to take pictures at many different places in the park. This was my favorite part of the race today because the park was amazing. It was the biggest park I had ever seen and had so many unique qualities about it. The mountains were in perfect view in the background and Ecuadorians were seen playing soccer, basketball, volleyball, and even cricket all throughout the park (You'll be happy to know Coach Dreves and Eddy that there was even a track and great paths for running). There were also many different street vendors selling delicious food and unique homemade crafts. I wish you all could experience what I did today, but my words will have to suffice. 

Next we went to the Alliance Academy where we learned about kids in a preschool class there and had the opportunity to write them letters. Many of the kids had gone through a lot through the year, such as deaths in the family or hardships within families so it was great to be able to help them even a little bit with our letters. The next challenges were on the Alliance Academy field and involved some soccer, which is always fun. 

The view from the preschool teacher's apartment.

This leg of the race was soon over but we first had to go a supermarket to buy firewood for a fire we were having later in the night. Then we walked up a grueling hill to the finish which was at the preschool teacher's house. Here we shared stories of the day, cooked hot dogs and s'mores around the fire, and hung out. It was a great time of relaxing after a long day of walking probably about a total of 8-9 miles. 

Fire, the city, and the moon make a beautiful picture

Today was a great day, getting to see many unique things in Ecuador that I had never seen before. It also was nice to get to know the other interns more and bond through the many different activities we did today. Something else I am learning is how friendly Ecuadorians are. When in the park, we had to ask many different people where to go and all of them were so welcoming and kind which is awesome to see. 

The rest of this week will be filled with Amazing Race activities during the day and Cumbre Alta activities in the evening. I am excited to get to spend more time with the interns and the Cumbre Alta athletes. Keep praying that these relationships will continue to grow and that God will be at work throughout this week!

Dios Bendiga,

Nich