Tena

We survived the long ride through the mountains! The roads were wet (in some areas), narrow, steep, and very curvy!! And the drivers were not afraid to drive fast..!

We got a little lost in Tena when trying to find our hotel.. We wound up on a gravel path that was definitely not the right place, to say the least! We made it out safely though!

After we got settled in our hotel, we walked around Tena a little bit with Kayla, the Volunteer coordinator. She showed us some places to eat and even an internet park which was really interesting! The city is very safe and even has a very peaceful vibe to it!

We ate a late lunch at a pizzeria (very Ecuadorian.. haha ;) ) which was very delicious!! Afterwards, we visited a fruit market! We found out we don't have to boil all of our fruits and vegetables! If it has a peel, we can eat it like normal. If it doesn't have one, we just have to soak it in a solution for a couple of minutes. The prices at the fruit market were great! We got 13 bananas for only $1!!!

We came back to the hotel and talked to Kayla about our projects for the rest of the week. Finally, we got to meet the children from Bless An Orphan!! We brought them a few small gifts, which actually turned out to be a great idea! They were a little shy at first, so the games/toys we brought helped to warm them up to us. They know a little bit of English, but for the most part we have been trying to talk to them in Spanish. They were all very sweet, and I have a feeling we're going to grow really close to them over the next two weeks!! :)

We finished the night with a small prayer and reflection service, and now we have some down time. I have a feeling most of us will be going to bed early tonight, since we didn't get much sleep last night and will be waking up early tomorrow!

We also found out it is winter here in Ecuador. And unfortunately the weather has been hotter lately than normal. Hopefully it cools down some while we're here! Our hotel does not have air conditioning, but it really isn't uncomfortable or anything, because there are fans in every room that help a lot! We also found out our hotel has a water filtration system, which is SOO convenient!!

Tomorrow we will be working on constructing a garden box, landscaping (we're going to be putting in a sandbox hopefully), laying a concrete slab for a storage shed we'll be building (and yes we will be mixing the concrete by hand (: ), and working to fix some drainage issues. It sounds like we will have a pretty full day ahead of us! :)

Here is a picture of us at the hotel in Quito before we left this morning!

¡Hasta mañana!

-Kaitlyn