Wednesday

Today started off a little slower than normal! We didn't leave the hotel until about 9:00 this morning, but it was okay! We needed a little extra rest considering how much we have been doing the past few days.

Mrs. Witges noticed 2 bug bites on her legs the other night; they started getting worse, and we are almost thinking they could be from brown recluse spiders. She's going to keep an eye on them though. Hopefully it is nothing serious, because she would probably have to go all the way to Quito to receive good medical care.

At the orphanage, everyone split up again to do projects. My dad, Mr. Hart, and Jeremy worked on the drainage issue yet again today. I think they finally have a plan of what they are going to do to fix it! Almost everyone else went outside to help make concrete and lay it down. This was a VERY tedious project. At one point during the day, it sarted pouring down rain!! So they had no choice but to stop for awhile, because the concrete was too mushy to lay. Even by the end of the day, they were only able to get about 3/4 of the concrete laid. One thing that helped tremendously was that a man who Bless An Orphan (the organization we're working with) hired to do work around the orphanage helped us a ton with laying the concrete, because he had done it before! He stopped working on what he had to get done just so that we would have help!

Inside, Olivia and I washed dishes, swept, and mopped. Then we helped organize other things and helped Mrs. Dickinson take care of the youngest one at the orphanage. Around this time, a couple of the moms and Molly went to the grocery store to pick up some food for us to have for the next few days. When they returned, Olivia, Molly, and I helped make lunch.

After lunch, Olivia and I decided to tag along to pick the kids up from school! They kids are very fortunate to go to what is said to be the best school in Tena. Even being the best one, it doesn't compare to the schools in the US. School hours here are much different than ours. The kids go to school around 6 or 6:30 in the morning and get out of school at 1 in the afternoon. They also eat lunch at home. Most students seemed to wear uniforms. The uniforms seemed to be a little different from each other, depending on what grade the kids are in.

When we got home, we fed the kids lunch; even this is a task. For example, one of the orphans insisted on eating her lunch (pot roast with noodles) with her hands and without her fork. We told her over and over "no manos," but she was stubborn. ;) After lunch, we usually help the kids with their homework. This too is quite a challenge. The kids either get distracted or are perfectionists about their handwriting. If they don't have perfect letters, they erase and rewrite it until they like it. For example, it took Mrs. Witges 2 hours to get one of the little girls to fill up two small papers as she wrote 2 letters of the alphabet up and down the pages. Not only are we being physically challenged with the outdoor work, but we are also being emotionally challenged with the indoor work as well!

Around 4:45, we all cleaned up and left the orphanage to go get ready for dinner. We ate at a restaurant called Cafe Tortuga! A couple people recommended this place to us. It was very interesting, because when we walked in, almost all of the people eating there were Caucasian. This is very different from almost all other restaurants and stores in town, so it was definitely weird that there were so many in one place! Our food was pretty good, but it wasn't the best we've had (although we've been pretty spoiled so far!). A few people were brave enough to eat the lettuce on their sandwiches. We have been warned that lettuce is the one thing to definitely not eat here, because it is usually rinsed in the unsanitary water. Jeremy even told us that he ate a sandwich from Cafe Tortuga back in October and was sick for 4 days afterwards. But the cafe did claim that they take all precautions when preparing their food, so hopefully everyone is okay!!

After dinner some of us walked back home while others took a taxi. Some people played cards again or did laundry or just relaxed. We are getting pretty worn out from these busy days, but it is definitely worth it! There have already been some very inspiring, eye-opening, and moving things we've seen and experienced in what little time we've been down here so far.

Tomorrow I think we will hopefully finish up the concrete slab and be able to start on a new project! But who knows what obstacles we may face! You never know here in Ecuador :)

¡Hasta mañana!
-Kaitlyn

P.s. I'm sorry I don't do these updates until so late! I usually don't have time to get around to posting earlier. I also like to be able to give a recap of the entire day. And I've been posting most of these from my phone, so that alone takes awhile to type out. The great news is that the wifi has been working all day, so pray that this continues!!