National Museum of Ecuador

So today I feel much better. Giovanni is going to take me back to the others in the area of Las Damas near Alluriquin tomorrow. I am excited to finally get to work on our project and hopefully make some progress in the next week. Today was probably the nicest day we have had here in Quito. The sun was out and it was great (May is the unofficial end of the rainy season). So, I got out and explored Quito a little more. I went to the National Museum of Ecuador, regarded as the finest in the country. They have a great archaeology room containing artifacts from the past peoples of Ecuador including the Incas. There is also an impressive ¨gold room¨ full of precolumbian metal works of gold, silver, and copper. On the second and third floors there is nice collection of Colonial and Contemporary religious and folk art. All for only 1 dollar!! It was nice to get out and explore the city a little more. Hope all is well back in Ohio. Look for another update soon. Until then...Adios.

La Pradera....Las Damas and Diaherrea

So we arrived at La Paradera and everyone was really nice to us. (The picture I took during our 45 minutes hike down to La Pradera) We each had a separate host family and quickly learned everyone´s names. After a few short days, we felt like part of the community. The was a center of town I guess you could call it where everyone gathered after 3 or so and played Vollyeball (wildly popular in Ecuador and know as Volly) and soccer. The kids loved the frisbee I brought for them and I managed to explian how to pancake a disc when catching it despite the language barrier. The food was good...chicken and rice...chicken and rice and then soup.....chicken and rice and then some fried plantans too. Despite our repeated efforts to exlpain that we did not need three plates of food at every meal everyone was eager to stuff us with food. The only problem was that there was no realy project for us to work on in La Pradera. The people there were very kind, but we had come under the impression that we would help perfect the distillation of ethanol from sugar cane. The people showed us how they ground up the sugar cane into a juice to eaither drink of use as feed for the pigs. So, after four or five days in La Pradera, Br. Giovanni arrived unexpectadely and gave us ten minutes to pack everything and said we were leaving for another area where they were working on distilling aclohol. He said the people of La Pradera had been promising him for months that they would have the distillation process ready for us and they never did. This is about the time that started getting sick. Lets just say diaherra is no fun. So, Giovanni took us to another area near Alluriquin and there we have a family to stay with and help with their distillation process. I was there for a little over a day and got more sick and Br. Giovanni came back to get me and bring me to Quito where I have been resting and getting better for a few days now. Near our new area there are a number of other families spread out along a really steep dirt road from Allurquin who we can work with as well. There is interenet access in Alluriquin so I hope to update the blog more regularly when I return. Untill then I am trying to get better....Hast Luego....Adios

Exploring Quito and then gone for awhile

Hey Everyone. So today we pretty much had the day to explore the Quito area. We spent most of the morning walking to crowded streets of Quito´s historic ´´Old Town´´ with a number of inviting plazas and historic large cathedrals. The highlight of the day had to be the climb to the top of Quito´s tallest cathedral, Basilica del Voto Nacional. The climb up the winding stairs and steep ladders offered a spectacular view of the city from the top. We spent some time walking the city to the newer and more commercialized ´´New Town´´ area. It was crowded and more commercialized but offered a lot of excitment and energy. We returned to the mission for some fried tree tomatoes in honey(which were great!) followed shortly by a dinner of homeade soup and bread. On the downside, we found out that there are no towns near our village of La Pradera with internet access. So unfortunately I will not be able to update the blog for awhile. We leave tomorrow for the Otonga Reserve (read post below for more info) to stay the night and continue on to the village of La Pradera where we will be doing our work. We also found out that it will be an hour and half walk to the nearest town where we can hopefully pick up a bus that comes once or twice a day back to the highway towards Quito and larger towns (with Internet). My next posts will probably not be for awhile, but I will do my best. It will be an adventure for sure. I am very excited to reach our village! Hope to keep you all updated. Until then....Adios

Banana Flambee in Ecuador!

Well we made it safely to Ecuador after a long layover in Atlanta. On the plus side we got to see some of Atlanta during our 6 hour layover. Upon our late arrival to Ecuador Br. Giovanni picked us up and brought us to the mission residents in Quito. We were in for a treat. Br. Giovanni made us his famous special banana Flambee, fried bananas cooked with suger and rum and then topped with vanilla ice cream. This was followed by tea made from holly leaves. We talked for awhile and hit the sack as we were all exhausted. Unfortunatley it was cold, rainy and dark. so we did not really see much of Quito last night.

Leaving Tomorrow

Hey everyone. Just wanted to make a post on the eve of the trip. I am really excited for tomorrow. Nate and I have arrived at the Hilgefort residence in Dublin, OH and are all packed and ready for our 8:30 AM flight tomorrow morning. Thanks again for all of your support and prayers. I hope to update the blog again shortly after our arrival in Quito, Ecuador tomorrow evening at 8:49 PM. Wish us luck!