I just wanted to give a recap of Friday!
We woke up, and Mrs. Lundy made potato pancakes for breakfast! Molly, Olivia, and I went into town to get some souvenirs. Earlier in the week, Karissa told us we could get manicures and pedicures for an extremely reasonable price! Olivia decided not to get hers done, but Molly got her toes and fingernails done, and I just got my fingernails painted. It of course wasn't as great as getting them done in the US, but $10 for both a manicure and pedicure was pretty hard to pass up! When we finished, we took a cab back to the hotel, because it was raining.
After that, most people either ate lunch or started packing up their bags to leave. Molly, Jacob, Daniel, and Martin went out into town to have lunch at Cafe Tortuga. They got crepes, which they said were good! Our vans were scheduled for 3 pm, but we wanted to have our bags ready by 2:30, in case they were early or something. We also wanted to say goodbye to the kids, but most of them don't get home from school until about 1:20.
Since Alex and his mom were ready and packed, they went up to the orphanage to hang out for a little bit. The rest of our group eventually trickled up there. We took a picture for the Independent newspaper back home, and we played with the kids for the last time. Since Karissa wasn't able to be there (she was at the hospital trying to save the life of a baby who is only a few days old), she wrote a letter for Kayla to read to us. She immensely thanked us and asked for us to come back; it was really sweet and touching.
After that, Kayla brought out grub worms for people to try! Not everyone did, but those who did mostly agreed that the taste wasn't too bad, but the texture was the bad part. A few of orphans ate some, and to them it was just like any other food! After the grubs, we got to put our handprints on a tree that they painted for all of the volunteers that come down there! A few people still needed to finish packing, so they went back.
Since Olivia and I were packed, we stayed to get pictures with all of the kids! Their lunch time had already been postponed, and we didn't wanted to keep them waiting any longer, so we decided to leave. We said our final goodbyes, and I hugged all the kids one last time. It was very hard to leave them with how close we've gotten. According to Bless An Orphan, the kids have already been asking when we're coming back. ):
After leaving the orphanage, we walked back to the hotel to wait for the vans. We took a few more pictures while we were waiting too. Finally, the vans arrived, and they started loading the luggage. This time, only one of the vans had a luggage carrier on top! We had a little less luggage than when we came down here of course, but we definitely still had a lot! Somehow, they packed it all in just fine though! We got into the cars, and they were actually REALLY nice! They looked brand new, were very clean, and they had air conditioning!!
When we were all ready, we finally left and started heading out of Tena. We stopped really quickly to air up one of the van's the tires, but then we were off for good. Since these vans were much nicer, the ride through the mountains wasn't as bad! The drivers this time weren't as crazy either, which helped. We stopped one time towards the end for a bathroom break. It was pretttty sketchy. There was a restaurant, but the bathrooms didn't have toilet seats, toilet paper (which is a little more common), and you flushed the toilet by pulling on a wet string.
For the last hour of the car ride, the sun was starting to set. It was really pretty, but sometimes the mountains blocked it. Finally, we got to the airport!! We went to check out luggage, but they told us we couldn't check in until 9 pm (it was only about 7 pm). Our flight didn't leave until midnight, and there was still another flight before ours. Eventually, they decided to let us go ahead and check them anyway!
After checking our luggage, we went to eat at Johnny Rockets. A few of us didn't want food from there, so we decided to go through security to see what other restaurants were on the other side. Their security was WAYY more laid back than it is in America. You don't have to take your shoes off, and they hardly even stopped the bags on the conveyor belt to look more carefully at them. It was kind of nice honestly!
After security, we got food and looked at the shops. They only had a few, but one of them was a chocolate store which was really cool! They gave out free samples too! :) After everyone made it through security, we all started writing little affirmation notes for each other. Olivia came up with this idea, and I'm glad we ended up doing it! It was kind of nice to hear what everyone thought after being together doing hard work for two weeks.
After awhile, we went to our gate to wait to board. We boarded on time, but once we were onboard, we had to wait a pretty long time. There were other passengers who were on a flight from Guayaquil, and their flight was delayed, so ours got delayed a little too. Our airplane was really nice though!! We all got movie screens, remotes, cup holders, pillows, headphones, ear plugs, eye masks, and pretty nice fleece blankets. Plus, the plane was big! There were three rows (2 seats, 3 seats, and 2 more seats).
Around 2 am, they served food. I guess it's customary to serve food on international flights, but it was kind of a weird time for people to get a full dinner-like meal! A lot of people ate it though! Because of our late start, we landed about 30 minutes late. The good part is that this didn't affect our next flight, because we had a pretty long layover in Miami.
In Miami, we went through customs, rechecked our bags (which was actually just giving it to a guy who put a new sticker on it), and went through security again. After security, we went to our gate. Someone found a place that was serving real breakfast already (it was 6 am now), so most of the group went there. A few of us stayed back to sleep. I was actually sleeping a lot of the time at the airport, because I still wasn't feeling well, so I'm not sure what everyone did. I know some people walked around and looked at the shops, others used their phones, and a lot of people slept. And of course, we did one last word-of-the-day!
Around 9 am, we boarded our plane for the last leg home! The flight left on time, and it even landed a little earlier than we had anticipated. We got off the plane, and while we were walking to get our luggage, a few of the family members were standing there waiting to welcome us back! It was really cool, because there were cameras flashing like we were celebrities or something haha. As we walked further, we saw Mr. Hart's wife, Mrs. Diehl, and my mom. We all got our luggage, said goodbye, and headed to our cars to drive home.
I just want to say thank you to everyone-- those who read the blog, those who supported us in any way, those who prayed for us, and anything else that anyone has done to help make this trip possible. It took a lot of preparation, but there is no way that we could have done it alone. The trip has opened all of our eyes. We know that we take a lot of things for granted and should appreciate what we have more, but seeing firsthand the way people live without some things we consider necessities is just so real. It has been an experience I hope none of us ever forget.
I hope everyone enjoyed the blog. Thanks again!
Kaitlyn
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Friday, March 8, 2013
Leaving.. ):
Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to write out a whole recap of today, but I just wanted to let everyone know that we are at the Quito airport right now, and our plane was scheduled to leave around midnight. We should be boarding pretty soon. We should arrive in Miami around 4 am, then we leave Miami at 8:50 am, and finally get into St. Louis around 11:30 am (this is all assuming there are no delays of course!). Please pray for safe travel!!
-Kaitlyn
-Kaitlyn
Thursday
I am so sorry about not posting this last night!!! Once again, I fell asleep while I was writing it!
This morning, about half of the group woke up early to work on the well in the jungle. Unfortunately, they encountered a few problems again, and they ended up leaving a little later than planned. They were planning to install the second well today, but when the natives started digging it, they couldn't get any water. So, we ended up just working on the well we started last time.
First, it needed more rocks, which meant dismantling more of one of the native's kitchen floors. After that, they mixed concrete and then poured it on top of the rocks. Then they put the pump on, and it was finished! The natives did do a lot of the work. We tried many times to offer help though, but they seemed to want to do it themselves.
Whenever the well was finished, the native man whose kitchen floor we used asked to give a speech. He thanked us many times for installing the well, and he said how much this means to him and how generous of us it was. He also thanked us on behalf of the community because of how much of a help this would be. The natives also made tilapia soup (with the bones still in it and part of the fish tail in it too) as a way to say thanks. My dad said it was very good and tasted really fresh! It's really nice to know they are so grateful of us helping them. :)
While they were in the jungle, the rest of us stayed back at the orphanage. Martin, Olivia, Mrs. Dickinson, Mrs. Lundy, and I helped the kids make arts and crafts. Normally only one orphan is there, but the three kids from the jungle were there, so we did something to entertain everyone. They seemed to really enjoy it! Plus, it kept them busy for a pretty long time! Mrs. Witges stayed back for a little while at the hotel, but she came up a little later. Mr. Kuester cleaned up a little outside the orphanage while we were inside.
After doing crafts, we played a few games with the kids, including jacks, tic tac toe, puzzles, and we colored. They actually caught on to the games pretty well, and one kid even knew how to play tic tac toe already. The children we have been serving are really some smart kids! It is amazing/surprising how much they know. Around 12:30 or 1, the rest of the group came back from the jungle and went up to the orphanage. After the kids came home from school and we served them lunch, the rest of us headed back to the hotel to eat lunch.
Mr. Kuester, Olivia, and I decided to walk around town to look for souvenirs, so we did that around 3, after it stopped raining. Towards then end of our shopping trip, we ran into Molly, Martin, and Jacob, who were also exploring around town. When we finished shopping, we took a taxi back to our hotel. We had planned to eat dinner at the orphanage, but the plans changed a little, so we decided to get pizza again from Bella Selva like we did the first night.
Mrs. Witges and Mrs. Dickinson left to get it, and all of a sudden, the power went out! It has gone out multiple times since we've been here, but this time it went out for most of the city. Apparently this is common, and it used to take days before they could get the power back on, but now it just takes about 15-30 minutes. The one thing that really stinks about the power going out is that the water also goes out! Luckily, we were able to use a match to get the burner working on the stove, because we wanted to make popcorn to take up to the orphanage as a little treat for our last night here. So, Mr. Hart helped me, and we were able to pop the kernels in a big pot like we wanted to!
The power came back on after about 20-30 minutes, and we headed up to the orphanage. The kids all really seemed to enjoy the popcorn. (: After we were finished with the popcorn, Bless An Orphan gave everyone cocoa mix and chocolate bars! The coolest part about the chocolate bars is that the cocoa beans that made the bars are actually grown here in the Amazon by the native Kichwa people. It was really thoughtful of them!
Next, we gave them the things we brought down here for them! We gave Karissa and Marshall their own t-shirts like the ones we made, 2 little tubes of essential oil headache relief for Karissa (I had seen her post on Facebook asking about natural cures for headaches, and someone recommend peppermint oil. I knew of this stuff called Mygrastick, which is for headaches, and it contained peppermint oil, so I thought it would be perfect!), and a fruit juicer (I also saw Karissa post on Facebook about how she wished they had a juicer because of all the fresh fruit down here, so I thought they would really like that too!)! Everyone was realllly excited about the juicer!! And we gave two of the volunteers, Kayla and Tanya, Kraft mac n' cheese, which they were really excited about too!
After we gave them their gifts, Alex read a bedtime story to all the kids (in Spanish!), which they thought was funny. We're not sure if the book was funny or if they were laughing at him reading it. :) Then, the kids were put to bed, and we ate our pizza. After we ate, we played 2 games of Bowl with our group and Kayla and Tanya. After that, we headed back to the hotel.
We did our last "word of the day" down here, but we did "how I've experienced God" this time. It was a nice way to end it! After that, some people went to bed. Kayla and Gary played cards with some of the kids until 1 in the morning. They both seemed to really enjoy playing cards with the kids.
Tomorrow is our last day, and the vans are supposed to pick us up about 3 in the afternoon. Originally, we were schedule to depart at 8 am, which would've meant we would have to wait in the Quito airport for about 12 hours!! Thankfully, Kayla was able to get the ride pushed back for us!!
-Kaitlyn
This morning, about half of the group woke up early to work on the well in the jungle. Unfortunately, they encountered a few problems again, and they ended up leaving a little later than planned. They were planning to install the second well today, but when the natives started digging it, they couldn't get any water. So, we ended up just working on the well we started last time.
First, it needed more rocks, which meant dismantling more of one of the native's kitchen floors. After that, they mixed concrete and then poured it on top of the rocks. Then they put the pump on, and it was finished! The natives did do a lot of the work. We tried many times to offer help though, but they seemed to want to do it themselves.
Whenever the well was finished, the native man whose kitchen floor we used asked to give a speech. He thanked us many times for installing the well, and he said how much this means to him and how generous of us it was. He also thanked us on behalf of the community because of how much of a help this would be. The natives also made tilapia soup (with the bones still in it and part of the fish tail in it too) as a way to say thanks. My dad said it was very good and tasted really fresh! It's really nice to know they are so grateful of us helping them. :)
While they were in the jungle, the rest of us stayed back at the orphanage. Martin, Olivia, Mrs. Dickinson, Mrs. Lundy, and I helped the kids make arts and crafts. Normally only one orphan is there, but the three kids from the jungle were there, so we did something to entertain everyone. They seemed to really enjoy it! Plus, it kept them busy for a pretty long time! Mrs. Witges stayed back for a little while at the hotel, but she came up a little later. Mr. Kuester cleaned up a little outside the orphanage while we were inside.
After doing crafts, we played a few games with the kids, including jacks, tic tac toe, puzzles, and we colored. They actually caught on to the games pretty well, and one kid even knew how to play tic tac toe already. The children we have been serving are really some smart kids! It is amazing/surprising how much they know. Around 12:30 or 1, the rest of the group came back from the jungle and went up to the orphanage. After the kids came home from school and we served them lunch, the rest of us headed back to the hotel to eat lunch.
Mr. Kuester, Olivia, and I decided to walk around town to look for souvenirs, so we did that around 3, after it stopped raining. Towards then end of our shopping trip, we ran into Molly, Martin, and Jacob, who were also exploring around town. When we finished shopping, we took a taxi back to our hotel. We had planned to eat dinner at the orphanage, but the plans changed a little, so we decided to get pizza again from Bella Selva like we did the first night.
Mrs. Witges and Mrs. Dickinson left to get it, and all of a sudden, the power went out! It has gone out multiple times since we've been here, but this time it went out for most of the city. Apparently this is common, and it used to take days before they could get the power back on, but now it just takes about 15-30 minutes. The one thing that really stinks about the power going out is that the water also goes out! Luckily, we were able to use a match to get the burner working on the stove, because we wanted to make popcorn to take up to the orphanage as a little treat for our last night here. So, Mr. Hart helped me, and we were able to pop the kernels in a big pot like we wanted to!
The power came back on after about 20-30 minutes, and we headed up to the orphanage. The kids all really seemed to enjoy the popcorn. (: After we were finished with the popcorn, Bless An Orphan gave everyone cocoa mix and chocolate bars! The coolest part about the chocolate bars is that the cocoa beans that made the bars are actually grown here in the Amazon by the native Kichwa people. It was really thoughtful of them!
Next, we gave them the things we brought down here for them! We gave Karissa and Marshall their own t-shirts like the ones we made, 2 little tubes of essential oil headache relief for Karissa (I had seen her post on Facebook asking about natural cures for headaches, and someone recommend peppermint oil. I knew of this stuff called Mygrastick, which is for headaches, and it contained peppermint oil, so I thought it would be perfect!), and a fruit juicer (I also saw Karissa post on Facebook about how she wished they had a juicer because of all the fresh fruit down here, so I thought they would really like that too!)! Everyone was realllly excited about the juicer!! And we gave two of the volunteers, Kayla and Tanya, Kraft mac n' cheese, which they were really excited about too!
After we gave them their gifts, Alex read a bedtime story to all the kids (in Spanish!), which they thought was funny. We're not sure if the book was funny or if they were laughing at him reading it. :) Then, the kids were put to bed, and we ate our pizza. After we ate, we played 2 games of Bowl with our group and Kayla and Tanya. After that, we headed back to the hotel.
We did our last "word of the day" down here, but we did "how I've experienced God" this time. It was a nice way to end it! After that, some people went to bed. Kayla and Gary played cards with some of the kids until 1 in the morning. They both seemed to really enjoy playing cards with the kids.
Tomorrow is our last day, and the vans are supposed to pick us up about 3 in the afternoon. Originally, we were schedule to depart at 8 am, which would've meant we would have to wait in the Quito airport for about 12 hours!! Thankfully, Kayla was able to get the ride pushed back for us!!
-Kaitlyn
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Wednesday
This morning, we had pancakes again for breakfast! After getting ready to go white water rafting, we met everyone to walk to the rafting place in town. Once we got there, we loaded up two big vans and one taxi, and then we drove to Rio Jatunyacu, about 45 minutes away.
At the river, they distributed life vests and helmets and explained to us what to do in certain situations. They called them "what ifs" ;). We did a Class 3 rapid, and the cool part is that the river is interspersed between rapids and pools of water, so you get a little time between each rapid.
Finally, we walked down to the loading area of the river, and after waiting a little bit, we loaded the boats. There were a few other people that also were part of our group that we didn't know, so altogether we had 3 boats full of people! Plus, there were 2 ducky boats, which were inflatable kayaks that rode along with us for safety.
Once we were all in our boats, we learned how to row, depending on what the guide would direct us to do. After that, we were off! I think some of us were nervous, but most of the ones who had done it before really weren't. We rode for about 45 minutes, and then they let people get out to float down the river a little bit, until we reached a small beach area. We played around there for about 10 minutes, and then we continued riding down stream.
Around 1:15, we stopped at a bigger beach, where we ate lunch. There were tortillas and a pretty nice assortment of fillings too! There was ground beef, beans, rice, cold slaw, cheese, homemade sour cream, a veggie mixture, hot sauce, guacamole, chips, pineapple, and a few other things, plus drinks and chocolate cake! It was all prepared by one of the guides too, who I think may own the rafting business or at least has a high position in it. I didn't really eat much of it since I still wasn't feeling great, but everyone else really seemed to enjoy it! They gave a few of the leftovers to some of the dogs roaming around, because they were extremely emaciated. ): The rest of the unfinished food was left for the children who live in the village of the island.
After lunch, we continued floating down the river. We saw a few natives on the waterline with machines that sift out gold from the river, which was pretty interesting. The rapids seemed to get more and more crazy the farther we went. For the most part, not many people fell out, but a few did. There were also some games we played that made it easier to fall in. Towards the end of the ride, the sun started to come out a little more; I was really glad, because the water was SOO cold! It came from runoff of the snow on mountains, so it's understandable.
We also had a little time at the end to mess around with the other boats. We went after each other trying to splash one another, and sometimes the guides would playfully hook their oars onto people's life jackets to pull them in. At one point, the people on another raft tried to get onto our raft to knock us all off, but our guide jumped to the front and pushed them off first before they could get any of us. We played around like this for awhile, and then we finished up with rafting. We drove back to the raft shop in Tena around 4:00 and walked back to our hotel.
We washed up and got ready for dinner so that we could leave at 5:30 for the restaurant. The boys and Molly walked a little bit early, and the rest of us eventually caught a cab that took us to Chuquito's, the restaurant. We also invited Jeremy and his wife Jennifer to eat with us. The restaurant was REALLY nice! They had tablecloths, cloth seat coverings with ribbon, set tables, cloth napkins, and even glasses for drinks! It also had a beautiful view, AND the food was all really good! Plus, even for a nice restaurant, it really wasn't very pricy.
Martin, Daniel, Alex, and Molly got their food early, because the boys were going to play soccer again at 7, and Molly went to Zumba. Mr. Hart tagged along with Molly, and even he thought it was a pretty intense workout! Whenever Olivia, my dad, and I were walking back from the restaurant, it started pouring down rain on us! We were thankfully able to catch a cab at least.
Also, I found out a little more about the soccer the boys have played. The field is apparently really nice; it has turf and four goals, with nets! When they got to the game tonight, the Ecuadorians divided the boys up amongst the other players for teams. Then, one of the players yelled something, and everyone ran to the goalposts. Since the boys didn't realize what was going on, they just stood in the middle of the soccer field. Then the other players started laughing and yelling "Gringos!" Apparently, whoever is last to make it to the goal has to be the goalie first, and whichever team is first gets the ball first. Either way, they boys had fun! When they finished, they walked back in the pouring rain for at least 15-20 minutes!
Olivia and I walked up to the orphanage when we returned from dinner, but the kids were in bed. Mrs. Witges checked out some of the ears of the children of the long-term volunteers. Also, Carlos was finally released from the hospital and came home today!! And, three of the kids (one boy and two girls) came from the jungle to the orphanage tonight for at least a couple of days. Tomorrow, half of us are going to dig the well, and the other half of us are going to help out at the orphanage, especially with the new kids! Hopefully tomorrow's well-digging goes a little smoother than it did the other day! :)
Night!
-Kaitlyn
P.s. On last night's post, I couldn't remember the name of the type of bar we needed, and so I skipped over it in my post, anticipating to go back and fill it in. I totally forgot to ask what it was called, and I just now realized I never finished it.. It should be fixed now though! The word I was looking for was rebar, FYI :)
At the river, they distributed life vests and helmets and explained to us what to do in certain situations. They called them "what ifs" ;). We did a Class 3 rapid, and the cool part is that the river is interspersed between rapids and pools of water, so you get a little time between each rapid.
Finally, we walked down to the loading area of the river, and after waiting a little bit, we loaded the boats. There were a few other people that also were part of our group that we didn't know, so altogether we had 3 boats full of people! Plus, there were 2 ducky boats, which were inflatable kayaks that rode along with us for safety.
Once we were all in our boats, we learned how to row, depending on what the guide would direct us to do. After that, we were off! I think some of us were nervous, but most of the ones who had done it before really weren't. We rode for about 45 minutes, and then they let people get out to float down the river a little bit, until we reached a small beach area. We played around there for about 10 minutes, and then we continued riding down stream.
Around 1:15, we stopped at a bigger beach, where we ate lunch. There were tortillas and a pretty nice assortment of fillings too! There was ground beef, beans, rice, cold slaw, cheese, homemade sour cream, a veggie mixture, hot sauce, guacamole, chips, pineapple, and a few other things, plus drinks and chocolate cake! It was all prepared by one of the guides too, who I think may own the rafting business or at least has a high position in it. I didn't really eat much of it since I still wasn't feeling great, but everyone else really seemed to enjoy it! They gave a few of the leftovers to some of the dogs roaming around, because they were extremely emaciated. ): The rest of the unfinished food was left for the children who live in the village of the island.
After lunch, we continued floating down the river. We saw a few natives on the waterline with machines that sift out gold from the river, which was pretty interesting. The rapids seemed to get more and more crazy the farther we went. For the most part, not many people fell out, but a few did. There were also some games we played that made it easier to fall in. Towards the end of the ride, the sun started to come out a little more; I was really glad, because the water was SOO cold! It came from runoff of the snow on mountains, so it's understandable.
We also had a little time at the end to mess around with the other boats. We went after each other trying to splash one another, and sometimes the guides would playfully hook their oars onto people's life jackets to pull them in. At one point, the people on another raft tried to get onto our raft to knock us all off, but our guide jumped to the front and pushed them off first before they could get any of us. We played around like this for awhile, and then we finished up with rafting. We drove back to the raft shop in Tena around 4:00 and walked back to our hotel.
We washed up and got ready for dinner so that we could leave at 5:30 for the restaurant. The boys and Molly walked a little bit early, and the rest of us eventually caught a cab that took us to Chuquito's, the restaurant. We also invited Jeremy and his wife Jennifer to eat with us. The restaurant was REALLY nice! They had tablecloths, cloth seat coverings with ribbon, set tables, cloth napkins, and even glasses for drinks! It also had a beautiful view, AND the food was all really good! Plus, even for a nice restaurant, it really wasn't very pricy.
Martin, Daniel, Alex, and Molly got their food early, because the boys were going to play soccer again at 7, and Molly went to Zumba. Mr. Hart tagged along with Molly, and even he thought it was a pretty intense workout! Whenever Olivia, my dad, and I were walking back from the restaurant, it started pouring down rain on us! We were thankfully able to catch a cab at least.
Also, I found out a little more about the soccer the boys have played. The field is apparently really nice; it has turf and four goals, with nets! When they got to the game tonight, the Ecuadorians divided the boys up amongst the other players for teams. Then, one of the players yelled something, and everyone ran to the goalposts. Since the boys didn't realize what was going on, they just stood in the middle of the soccer field. Then the other players started laughing and yelling "Gringos!" Apparently, whoever is last to make it to the goal has to be the goalie first, and whichever team is first gets the ball first. Either way, they boys had fun! When they finished, they walked back in the pouring rain for at least 15-20 minutes!
Olivia and I walked up to the orphanage when we returned from dinner, but the kids were in bed. Mrs. Witges checked out some of the ears of the children of the long-term volunteers. Also, Carlos was finally released from the hospital and came home today!! And, three of the kids (one boy and two girls) came from the jungle to the orphanage tonight for at least a couple of days. Tomorrow, half of us are going to dig the well, and the other half of us are going to help out at the orphanage, especially with the new kids! Hopefully tomorrow's well-digging goes a little smoother than it did the other day! :)
Night!
-Kaitlyn
P.s. On last night's post, I couldn't remember the name of the type of bar we needed, and so I skipped over it in my post, anticipating to go back and fill it in. I totally forgot to ask what it was called, and I just now realized I never finished it.. It should be fixed now though! The word I was looking for was rebar, FYI :)
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Tuesday
Since we were going to the jungle today, we each did our own thing for breakfast, and Mrs. Lundy made us all peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. We left a little after 7 and had to drop the kids off at school. This basically meant pulling over on the side of the street and letting the three kids hold hands and cross it on their own. This was a little freaky, because pedestrians definitely don't have the right of way here!! But that is pretty customary to let the kids go by themselves to school, and a lot of them even walk all the way from their houses to get there.
After we dropped them off, we went to meet Pastor Elvis, who is in charge of well drillings. We planned to meet him at the church at 7 am, but since we were running late, he decided to go ahead and leave for Ahuano, the city where we take our canoe rides. When we called him, he said he would pull over on the side of the road and wait for us to meet him. So we drove all the way to Ahuano, but we never saw him! We also were having trouble getting ahold of him. We finally did, and we found out he had actually gone back to his house to wait for us. Then, when he arrived to Ahuano, we found out that the rebar was ribbed, and we needed a smooth one. So, we ended up heading to the jungle, and Pastor Elvis's partner went back to get the right bar.
We were a little worried about hauling all of the supplies through the 30 minute walk through the jungle, but a few of the natives helped us, and they had a wheelbarrow to carry the four 50 kg (110 pounds) bags of concrete mix. The trek through the jungle really wasn't too horrible! There was a dirt path we walked on, and there were two small creeks we had to cross. One had loose rocks to walk on, and the other has two bamboo trunks to walk across.
We reached a clearing that looked like some sort of recreational area, which is where we installed the first well. It had two soccer "goals," a volleyball net, and a house-like structure. We passed a few houses on our way to this area, and most of the houses didn't really have walls, and if they did, they weren't on all parts of the house.
Whenever we planned to do the wells, we were told a hole would be dug for us, so we would really just have to install the well. The hole was dug, but there also has to be 3 feet of water, and they didn't know that. So, the majority of the day was spent digging deeper to get more water. Luckily none of us had to do this, because there were a few natives who did it.
While we waited for the hole to be dug, we gathered rocks, which serve as the filter for the water. Since there weren't any nearby, we ended up having to use the rocks that made up the kitchen floor of the native family that was helping us. We formed an assembly line to hall the rocks; that seems to be a method we've mastered. :)
After that, some of the boys and men helped bring up buckets of mud as the native man shoveled it into them. This took a pretty long time, but when they finally reached the right depth, they stuck a large PVC pipe into the hole. The only problem was that the smaller pipe that goes inside the PVC pipe was the wrong size! So, Kayla had to go back to find a new one.
Once the pipe was in the right spot, we started piling in the rocks. Normally we would've poured concrete on top, but it took a lot longer than we had planned to do this well, so Pastor Elvis said he would be able to finish it another day. Luckily we got most of the harder work done that he wouldn't have been able to do on his own. It doesn't really seem like what they did would've taken much effort or time, but there was only one shovel, and it was suuuper muggy and hot, which just made it worse.
After we did as much as we could, we are lunch and headed back down to the river. We saw a bunch of cool exotic plants along the path! A lady who is in charge of a lot of the things with the jungle explained to us what a bunch of things were. We ended up opening up a cacao fruit and eating it. There isn't very much meat to it; the part you eat is basically the little bit of fruit surrounding all of the cacao beans. It tasted a lot like a mango surprisingly. We also ate part of a medicinal plant that is supposed to help cure infections. It tasted kind of minty!
We got back into the canoe, and we rode to a nearby island where we bought some drinks to rehydrate ourselves. While we were there, we actually found out we weren't going to be doing the second well today since the other one took so long. Pastor Elvis said we could finish it on Thursday or that we didn't have to do the second one at all. We decided that about half of us were going to go back Thursday to install the other one. They assured us that this one would definitely be dug out, so this one shouldn't take as long!
After stopping to get drinks, we rode the canoe back to its little port. Once we got everything loaded onto the Bless An Orphan van, we headed back to Tena. We dropped off Pastor Elvis and his partner, and then we got dropped off at our hotel. Mr. Kuester and my dad went back to the orphanage to help finish up and clean up a few things. Molly, Olivia, and I took showers here, and then we went up to the orphanage with the boys to play with the kids and help with homework. They were verrry wild today (even more so than usual, which is hard to believe!), but we had fun.
Eventually we went back to the hotel, and a few people ran out to get some groceries we needed for dinner. We had leftovers from last night and the night we had spaghetti, and we made macaroni and cheese, because we knew Kayla would be coming over here tonight. After dinner, most of the kids played cards like usual. :)
A little later, Kayla made it over, and Jacob, Olivia, and Molly played cards with her. One of the things she really misses about home is not being able to see her friends or play cards and just hang out with them, so we thought we'd invite her over here to play with us! We also gave her a shirt tonight like the ones we made for the trip, and she seemed pretty excited!
The boys and Mr. Kuester went to play soccer somewhere with Gary (the husband of the hotel owner), but I don't know much about it, because I was napping when they left. Apparently they were late, so they didn't get to play! But they are back now, and they just started playing cards with Kayla too. My stomach has been pretty upset all day, so I've been in bed for a lot of the evening. It hurt a little bit yesterday, but it seems to be getting worse as time goes on. Whatever it is, I hope it's gone soon! Mr. Hart had an upset stomach today/last night too, so he stayed back at the hotel today. He seemed to be doing a lot better tonight, so that's good!
Tomorrow, we plan to go white water rafting, because this area is actually known to be one of the best places to white water raft in the world!! I hope I'm feeling up to it so that I can go tomorrow! And hopefully we get lucky and can avoid the rain!
¡Hasta la vista!
-Kaitlyn
After we dropped them off, we went to meet Pastor Elvis, who is in charge of well drillings. We planned to meet him at the church at 7 am, but since we were running late, he decided to go ahead and leave for Ahuano, the city where we take our canoe rides. When we called him, he said he would pull over on the side of the road and wait for us to meet him. So we drove all the way to Ahuano, but we never saw him! We also were having trouble getting ahold of him. We finally did, and we found out he had actually gone back to his house to wait for us. Then, when he arrived to Ahuano, we found out that the rebar was ribbed, and we needed a smooth one. So, we ended up heading to the jungle, and Pastor Elvis's partner went back to get the right bar.
We were a little worried about hauling all of the supplies through the 30 minute walk through the jungle, but a few of the natives helped us, and they had a wheelbarrow to carry the four 50 kg (110 pounds) bags of concrete mix. The trek through the jungle really wasn't too horrible! There was a dirt path we walked on, and there were two small creeks we had to cross. One had loose rocks to walk on, and the other has two bamboo trunks to walk across.
We reached a clearing that looked like some sort of recreational area, which is where we installed the first well. It had two soccer "goals," a volleyball net, and a house-like structure. We passed a few houses on our way to this area, and most of the houses didn't really have walls, and if they did, they weren't on all parts of the house.
Whenever we planned to do the wells, we were told a hole would be dug for us, so we would really just have to install the well. The hole was dug, but there also has to be 3 feet of water, and they didn't know that. So, the majority of the day was spent digging deeper to get more water. Luckily none of us had to do this, because there were a few natives who did it.
While we waited for the hole to be dug, we gathered rocks, which serve as the filter for the water. Since there weren't any nearby, we ended up having to use the rocks that made up the kitchen floor of the native family that was helping us. We formed an assembly line to hall the rocks; that seems to be a method we've mastered. :)
After that, some of the boys and men helped bring up buckets of mud as the native man shoveled it into them. This took a pretty long time, but when they finally reached the right depth, they stuck a large PVC pipe into the hole. The only problem was that the smaller pipe that goes inside the PVC pipe was the wrong size! So, Kayla had to go back to find a new one.
Once the pipe was in the right spot, we started piling in the rocks. Normally we would've poured concrete on top, but it took a lot longer than we had planned to do this well, so Pastor Elvis said he would be able to finish it another day. Luckily we got most of the harder work done that he wouldn't have been able to do on his own. It doesn't really seem like what they did would've taken much effort or time, but there was only one shovel, and it was suuuper muggy and hot, which just made it worse.
After we did as much as we could, we are lunch and headed back down to the river. We saw a bunch of cool exotic plants along the path! A lady who is in charge of a lot of the things with the jungle explained to us what a bunch of things were. We ended up opening up a cacao fruit and eating it. There isn't very much meat to it; the part you eat is basically the little bit of fruit surrounding all of the cacao beans. It tasted a lot like a mango surprisingly. We also ate part of a medicinal plant that is supposed to help cure infections. It tasted kind of minty!
We got back into the canoe, and we rode to a nearby island where we bought some drinks to rehydrate ourselves. While we were there, we actually found out we weren't going to be doing the second well today since the other one took so long. Pastor Elvis said we could finish it on Thursday or that we didn't have to do the second one at all. We decided that about half of us were going to go back Thursday to install the other one. They assured us that this one would definitely be dug out, so this one shouldn't take as long!
After stopping to get drinks, we rode the canoe back to its little port. Once we got everything loaded onto the Bless An Orphan van, we headed back to Tena. We dropped off Pastor Elvis and his partner, and then we got dropped off at our hotel. Mr. Kuester and my dad went back to the orphanage to help finish up and clean up a few things. Molly, Olivia, and I took showers here, and then we went up to the orphanage with the boys to play with the kids and help with homework. They were verrry wild today (even more so than usual, which is hard to believe!), but we had fun.
Eventually we went back to the hotel, and a few people ran out to get some groceries we needed for dinner. We had leftovers from last night and the night we had spaghetti, and we made macaroni and cheese, because we knew Kayla would be coming over here tonight. After dinner, most of the kids played cards like usual. :)
A little later, Kayla made it over, and Jacob, Olivia, and Molly played cards with her. One of the things she really misses about home is not being able to see her friends or play cards and just hang out with them, so we thought we'd invite her over here to play with us! We also gave her a shirt tonight like the ones we made for the trip, and she seemed pretty excited!
The boys and Mr. Kuester went to play soccer somewhere with Gary (the husband of the hotel owner), but I don't know much about it, because I was napping when they left. Apparently they were late, so they didn't get to play! But they are back now, and they just started playing cards with Kayla too. My stomach has been pretty upset all day, so I've been in bed for a lot of the evening. It hurt a little bit yesterday, but it seems to be getting worse as time goes on. Whatever it is, I hope it's gone soon! Mr. Hart had an upset stomach today/last night too, so he stayed back at the hotel today. He seemed to be doing a lot better tonight, so that's good!
Tomorrow, we plan to go white water rafting, because this area is actually known to be one of the best places to white water raft in the world!! I hope I'm feeling up to it so that I can go tomorrow! And hopefully we get lucky and can avoid the rain!
¡Hasta la vista!
-Kaitlyn
Monday, March 4, 2013
Monday
Since we were going to the jungle this morning, the moms made us all sandwiches for lunch early in the morning. Then we also had pancakes and fruit for breakfast! After we ate, we got ready for the jungle which included putting on lots of bug spray of course!
We walked up to the orphanage, where they were loading food for 350 children; this included the 350 sandwiches Bless An Orphan prepared last night, bags of chips, a HUGE bag of animal crackers, and juice drinks! Whenever they take trips to the jungle, the schools tells Bless An Orphan there will be 300 kids, but they always bring extra food. When people hear there will be food at school, they actually send their kids so that they can eat. And actually, after everyone had been served, there were only about 10 sandwiches left. We ended up making a few extras for the teachers too, because we had brought extra bread and meat just in case we didn't have enough.
We rode in Bless An Orphan's van to get to the canoe place instead of taking a taxi or bus. Then we took a short canoe ride to the jungle. When we pulled up to shore, the only way to enter was by walking up an extremely steep little path. It was definitely sketchy, but no one got hurt or fell!
We weren't really sure what to expect of the area, but it was actually very civilized. The school was similar to the schools here in Tena, and it had concrete walls and everything. The kids were all dressed in uniforms too. On the car ride back to Tena, Karissa actually told us that the government comes in and puts a school in, but that's about the only civilized part there. Most people actually live about 2 miles away from school, and that is where life is more like what you would picture a jungle to be like. What was really crazy is that about half of the teachers actually live in Tena and make that commute daily, which has to take almost an hour!!
As we walked by the school, lots of kids were poking their heads out the door looking at all of the gringos! There were SOO many little kids!! We divided up into four groups to play with them. There was a dodgeball group, a soccer group, a duck-duck-goose group, and a singing group. I was in the singing group; we sang a couple American songs in Spanish while Mrs. Lundy played her guitar! The kids' favorite song seemed to be "Head, Shoulder, Knees, and Toes" (or "Cabeza, Hombros, Rodillas, y Pies"). It was a little difficult for some of them, but they caught on pretty well! It seemed like the duck-duck-goose group had a little trouble getting the kids to understand the game at first, but they caught on a little bit eventually. I'm not sure how the dodgeball group or soccer groups did, but I would assume everything went fine!
After playing games for a little bit, we served them the lunch we brought. They were very well-mannered, and probably 10-15 kids even said "thank you" in English! It was kind of interesting, because I noticed some of the kids weren't eating their food just yet. This is only a guess, but I have to wonder if they were saving their food because it's the only meal they would really get to eat today besides the small 10 am snack the school provides. Mr. Kuester was feeding some of the dogs around the school food from the trash box, and then he realized there were kids eating from the same trash box he was taking food out of to feed the dogs. It is just so sad to see how many basic necessities these kids lack.
Mrs. Witges also evaluated some of the kids who were sick. She treated kids with rashes, malnourishment, respiratory problems, and even a little boy with a really bad heart murmur. His face was pale, he would hardly eat, and he was lethargic. The only way he could probably get help is to have surgery in a hospital in Quito. Karissa also is going to try to see if a few of the kids' parents would allow them to stay at the orphanage for a couple of days so that they can visit a hospital here in Tena to get a full diagnosis. Let's hope they do!
After we ate lunch and left the jungle school, we headed back to Tena. On the way back, we stopped at a cave that supposedly has a 30-foot anaconda living in it! All of us seniors did go in, but it was definitely a little freaky in my opinion!! We went in a little ways, but the area for standing was getting smaller and smaller, there were bats EVERYWHERE, and there was a knee-deep puddle of water we would've had to walk through.
When we got back to the hotel at about 4:45, we cleaned up a little bit and relaxed. All of us kids, Mrs. Lundy, and Kayla went to a Zumba class at 6:00. It was such a unique experience, and it was super authentic with all of the Ecuadorians there dancing too. It was definitely a tiring workout though, because you are moving the whole time. After that, some of us walked to the store to get bread to make more sandwiches for tomorrow, and a few others decided to run back to the hotel.
When we came home, we had one of the best dinners we've had so far!! It was rice, black beans, quesadillas, and chips and guacamole, all prepared by Mrs. Witges! (: We really haven't had much cheese here (yes I know I had it last night, but that was rare!), but what was on the quesadillas was delicious! We also tried a new fruit that tasted just like a kiwi! I can't remember the name, but it was really good!! There was a bit of a bad spot on the piece I ate, so I ate around it and set it on my plate. I had stepped away from the table to get water, and all of a sudden Molly screamed, because there was a little worm crawling out of the piece I had!! It sort of reminded me of a mealworm. We are hoping to get more of the fruit to eat before we leave, so hopefully we don't find any more bugs in it!
After awhile, most of the seniors played cards and everyone either went to bed or just relaxed. Tomorrow we have to be ready to leave by 7 am, which is the earliest we've had to leave so far! We are going to go dig two wells. Apparently we have to walk 30 minutes into the jungle, so it sounds like we will be really getting a full jungle experience! I am very excited for it, because I think it will be really eye-opening to see these people and their way-of-life first-hand. Tomorrow is really our last big work day (at least that we have planned) sadly. Wish us luck!!
-Kaitlyn
We walked up to the orphanage, where they were loading food for 350 children; this included the 350 sandwiches Bless An Orphan prepared last night, bags of chips, a HUGE bag of animal crackers, and juice drinks! Whenever they take trips to the jungle, the schools tells Bless An Orphan there will be 300 kids, but they always bring extra food. When people hear there will be food at school, they actually send their kids so that they can eat. And actually, after everyone had been served, there were only about 10 sandwiches left. We ended up making a few extras for the teachers too, because we had brought extra bread and meat just in case we didn't have enough.
We rode in Bless An Orphan's van to get to the canoe place instead of taking a taxi or bus. Then we took a short canoe ride to the jungle. When we pulled up to shore, the only way to enter was by walking up an extremely steep little path. It was definitely sketchy, but no one got hurt or fell!
We weren't really sure what to expect of the area, but it was actually very civilized. The school was similar to the schools here in Tena, and it had concrete walls and everything. The kids were all dressed in uniforms too. On the car ride back to Tena, Karissa actually told us that the government comes in and puts a school in, but that's about the only civilized part there. Most people actually live about 2 miles away from school, and that is where life is more like what you would picture a jungle to be like. What was really crazy is that about half of the teachers actually live in Tena and make that commute daily, which has to take almost an hour!!
As we walked by the school, lots of kids were poking their heads out the door looking at all of the gringos! There were SOO many little kids!! We divided up into four groups to play with them. There was a dodgeball group, a soccer group, a duck-duck-goose group, and a singing group. I was in the singing group; we sang a couple American songs in Spanish while Mrs. Lundy played her guitar! The kids' favorite song seemed to be "Head, Shoulder, Knees, and Toes" (or "Cabeza, Hombros, Rodillas, y Pies"). It was a little difficult for some of them, but they caught on pretty well! It seemed like the duck-duck-goose group had a little trouble getting the kids to understand the game at first, but they caught on a little bit eventually. I'm not sure how the dodgeball group or soccer groups did, but I would assume everything went fine!
After playing games for a little bit, we served them the lunch we brought. They were very well-mannered, and probably 10-15 kids even said "thank you" in English! It was kind of interesting, because I noticed some of the kids weren't eating their food just yet. This is only a guess, but I have to wonder if they were saving their food because it's the only meal they would really get to eat today besides the small 10 am snack the school provides. Mr. Kuester was feeding some of the dogs around the school food from the trash box, and then he realized there were kids eating from the same trash box he was taking food out of to feed the dogs. It is just so sad to see how many basic necessities these kids lack.
Mrs. Witges also evaluated some of the kids who were sick. She treated kids with rashes, malnourishment, respiratory problems, and even a little boy with a really bad heart murmur. His face was pale, he would hardly eat, and he was lethargic. The only way he could probably get help is to have surgery in a hospital in Quito. Karissa also is going to try to see if a few of the kids' parents would allow them to stay at the orphanage for a couple of days so that they can visit a hospital here in Tena to get a full diagnosis. Let's hope they do!
After we ate lunch and left the jungle school, we headed back to Tena. On the way back, we stopped at a cave that supposedly has a 30-foot anaconda living in it! All of us seniors did go in, but it was definitely a little freaky in my opinion!! We went in a little ways, but the area for standing was getting smaller and smaller, there were bats EVERYWHERE, and there was a knee-deep puddle of water we would've had to walk through.
When we got back to the hotel at about 4:45, we cleaned up a little bit and relaxed. All of us kids, Mrs. Lundy, and Kayla went to a Zumba class at 6:00. It was such a unique experience, and it was super authentic with all of the Ecuadorians there dancing too. It was definitely a tiring workout though, because you are moving the whole time. After that, some of us walked to the store to get bread to make more sandwiches for tomorrow, and a few others decided to run back to the hotel.
When we came home, we had one of the best dinners we've had so far!! It was rice, black beans, quesadillas, and chips and guacamole, all prepared by Mrs. Witges! (: We really haven't had much cheese here (yes I know I had it last night, but that was rare!), but what was on the quesadillas was delicious! We also tried a new fruit that tasted just like a kiwi! I can't remember the name, but it was really good!! There was a bit of a bad spot on the piece I ate, so I ate around it and set it on my plate. I had stepped away from the table to get water, and all of a sudden Molly screamed, because there was a little worm crawling out of the piece I had!! It sort of reminded me of a mealworm. We are hoping to get more of the fruit to eat before we leave, so hopefully we don't find any more bugs in it!
After awhile, most of the seniors played cards and everyone either went to bed or just relaxed. Tomorrow we have to be ready to leave by 7 am, which is the earliest we've had to leave so far! We are going to go dig two wells. Apparently we have to walk 30 minutes into the jungle, so it sounds like we will be really getting a full jungle experience! I am very excited for it, because I think it will be really eye-opening to see these people and their way-of-life first-hand. Tomorrow is really our last big work day (at least that we have planned) sadly. Wish us luck!!
-Kaitlyn
Sunday
After eating breakfast like usual, we all got ready to go to church! We left in plenty of time to get to the 9:00 mass, but when we arrived, mass had already started. A few of us found spots within the congregation, and the rest of us stayed off to the side. After being there for a few minutes, everyone started walking out, and we realized mass was just ending!! We spoke to a Sister in the church and found out there was another mass at 9:30 luckily! There had been a few Catholic churches that we had been told we could go to, and I guess we went to the wrong one that didn't have a mass at 9:00. Everything worked out fine though!
The mass was said entirely in Spanish, so it was pretty hard to understand. I think the main things we understood were the Our Father and a song we learned in Spanish class called "Alabaré." I assume everything else the priest said was the same, but I'm not 100% sure, because there were definitely some things done differently. It's kind of hard to explain, but the church had a lot of pews with a cross section that divided it into two parts. As people arrived, we noticed that mostly kids sat in the front section, even if they came to mass with their families. Another odd thing is that the priest came down into the congregation to hand out what looked like bulletins during one of the readings. It had a very casual atmosphere too. I think the weirdest part was that people were talking the entire time. Not everyone was of course, but there was definitely a constant hum the whole time.
Communion was also pretty different. Everyone took Communion by mouth instead of in the hands, which is probably just more of a traditional way more than anything. The host was a little thinner and crunchier too in my opinion! The only person who gave out Communion was the priest, and we all went up in a single-file line. The procession of Communion was also really random; we didn't go up pew-by-pew. People just went up whenever they were ready, and less than half of the people there actually received Communion. All in all, it was just a different experience!
After church, most of the group went shopping around town, and a few of us went back to the hotel. We hung out around here for awhile, and everyone else explored the shops for a little bit. Since it's Sunday, not many stores were open. A lot of people choose not to open their stores or close them early. Eventually we all ate lunch, and then a few of us went back out to look at the shops more. When we finished, everyone went back to the hotel to get ready to go see the monkeys!
We left here in plenty of time to get to the bus stop this time, planning to take a cab to it, but since it's Sunday, it was hard to find one. So, we had to walk half of the way to the bus terminal, which took extra time. When we got to the bus terminal, we were still early, but the bus wasn't there. We found out that apparently it just leaves whenever it's full. So we had to take three taxis to Misahualli, which thankfully wasn't as far away as the city yesterday, because some people had to ride in the beds of the trucks again!
We got to Misahualli and walked down to the beach, which is where all the monkeys are. They were just swinging around on trees and crawling all over the ground casually. We tried feeding them an empanada, but they didn't seem too interested surprisingly. They really seemed to like bottles. If you would give one to them, they knew to unscrew the cap and put it up to their mouths. It was really cute! They would get a little fiesty with each other too and would roll around and wrestle. A few times they would bare their teeth though which was a little worrisome. Olivia and my dad were both really brave and let the monkeys jump up onto their arms to hang! There were also a few baby monkeys which were so cute!!
After a little time with the monkeys, they just went away. It may have been because it was starting to be dinner time, but we're not completely sure why. We decided to walk down more towards the water, and Alex got out his frisbee and started throwing it around. Some of the locals joined in, which was pretty cool. Mr. Hart, my dad, and Molly walked along the beach with the kids. When they came back, the kids were a little wet, because they dunked their heads into the river. Eventually Kayla (the volunteer coordinator) decided they could go ahead and get in the water. They really seemed to enjoy themselves (: They also really liked playing in the sand and all took turns burying each other. :)
After we were done in the water, we walked over to a restaurant called La Posada. While we were waiting for food, us seniors decided to look in the stores and ended up buying a few items. The food they had seemed pretty good for the most part! I have to say that my grilled cheese was a little lacking on the cheese, but it seems like finding good-tasting cheese here is kind of difficult, which was surprising to me. It's also been difficult to find tortillas and tortilla chips, which seemed a little odd.
After we ate, we played around with the kids in the little park area they had while we waited for Marshall (one of the founders of Bless An Orphan) to come get us. We got picked up and all piled into their van. He drove us back to the hotel, and everyone has pretty much settled in for the night. We were doing a couple loads of laundry, and then we realized the dryer stopped working. Unfortunately a couple of our sheets were in there, so it looks like some of us will have to sleep without them tonight. You just never know what to expect here (:
Tomorrow, we will head into the jungle to give supplies to the kids there and to learn about them. Since Bless An Orphans only has 7 children at the moment, they decided to take us to see some of the kids they could potentially be getting in the future. I can't wait to go tomorrow!! I think it is going to be a very interesting and eye-opening experience. :) Wish us luck!
¡Hasta luego!
-Kaitlyn
The mass was said entirely in Spanish, so it was pretty hard to understand. I think the main things we understood were the Our Father and a song we learned in Spanish class called "Alabaré." I assume everything else the priest said was the same, but I'm not 100% sure, because there were definitely some things done differently. It's kind of hard to explain, but the church had a lot of pews with a cross section that divided it into two parts. As people arrived, we noticed that mostly kids sat in the front section, even if they came to mass with their families. Another odd thing is that the priest came down into the congregation to hand out what looked like bulletins during one of the readings. It had a very casual atmosphere too. I think the weirdest part was that people were talking the entire time. Not everyone was of course, but there was definitely a constant hum the whole time.
Communion was also pretty different. Everyone took Communion by mouth instead of in the hands, which is probably just more of a traditional way more than anything. The host was a little thinner and crunchier too in my opinion! The only person who gave out Communion was the priest, and we all went up in a single-file line. The procession of Communion was also really random; we didn't go up pew-by-pew. People just went up whenever they were ready, and less than half of the people there actually received Communion. All in all, it was just a different experience!
After church, most of the group went shopping around town, and a few of us went back to the hotel. We hung out around here for awhile, and everyone else explored the shops for a little bit. Since it's Sunday, not many stores were open. A lot of people choose not to open their stores or close them early. Eventually we all ate lunch, and then a few of us went back out to look at the shops more. When we finished, everyone went back to the hotel to get ready to go see the monkeys!
We left here in plenty of time to get to the bus stop this time, planning to take a cab to it, but since it's Sunday, it was hard to find one. So, we had to walk half of the way to the bus terminal, which took extra time. When we got to the bus terminal, we were still early, but the bus wasn't there. We found out that apparently it just leaves whenever it's full. So we had to take three taxis to Misahualli, which thankfully wasn't as far away as the city yesterday, because some people had to ride in the beds of the trucks again!
We got to Misahualli and walked down to the beach, which is where all the monkeys are. They were just swinging around on trees and crawling all over the ground casually. We tried feeding them an empanada, but they didn't seem too interested surprisingly. They really seemed to like bottles. If you would give one to them, they knew to unscrew the cap and put it up to their mouths. It was really cute! They would get a little fiesty with each other too and would roll around and wrestle. A few times they would bare their teeth though which was a little worrisome. Olivia and my dad were both really brave and let the monkeys jump up onto their arms to hang! There were also a few baby monkeys which were so cute!!
After a little time with the monkeys, they just went away. It may have been because it was starting to be dinner time, but we're not completely sure why. We decided to walk down more towards the water, and Alex got out his frisbee and started throwing it around. Some of the locals joined in, which was pretty cool. Mr. Hart, my dad, and Molly walked along the beach with the kids. When they came back, the kids were a little wet, because they dunked their heads into the river. Eventually Kayla (the volunteer coordinator) decided they could go ahead and get in the water. They really seemed to enjoy themselves (: They also really liked playing in the sand and all took turns burying each other. :)
After we were done in the water, we walked over to a restaurant called La Posada. While we were waiting for food, us seniors decided to look in the stores and ended up buying a few items. The food they had seemed pretty good for the most part! I have to say that my grilled cheese was a little lacking on the cheese, but it seems like finding good-tasting cheese here is kind of difficult, which was surprising to me. It's also been difficult to find tortillas and tortilla chips, which seemed a little odd.
After we ate, we played around with the kids in the little park area they had while we waited for Marshall (one of the founders of Bless An Orphan) to come get us. We got picked up and all piled into their van. He drove us back to the hotel, and everyone has pretty much settled in for the night. We were doing a couple loads of laundry, and then we realized the dryer stopped working. Unfortunately a couple of our sheets were in there, so it looks like some of us will have to sleep without them tonight. You just never know what to expect here (:
Tomorrow, we will head into the jungle to give supplies to the kids there and to learn about them. Since Bless An Orphans only has 7 children at the moment, they decided to take us to see some of the kids they could potentially be getting in the future. I can't wait to go tomorrow!! I think it is going to be a very interesting and eye-opening experience. :) Wish us luck!
¡Hasta luego!
-Kaitlyn
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Saturday
This morning we had problems with getting the water to work again, so we just ate foods we already had here for breakfast. Since there were still a few things left to do with the trench, everyone except Olivia, Molly, and I went up to the orphanage. They finished filling the tops of the trenches and laid sod back on top of it. Even some of the moms got in the trenches! The pipe is working and everything, so all of the hard work has paid off! I'm not exactly sure if there are many labor-intensive projects we'll be doing up at the orphanage. We will be doing more of our work away from the orphanage for the rest of the week.
Molly, Olivia, and I got to go out into the city to explore the shops. Tena is very safe which is why we didn't have any parents come with us. A lottt of the stores were clothing and shoe stores. We were cautioned against buying clothes (they're overpriced and not made well), but we all bought shoes that are good for wearing in water! We also explored a few other stores and bought some souvenirs to take back home. It was kind of interesting because the stores didn't all open at the same time. The store owners just choose any time that they want to open or close. It seems like a lot of places close around 6 pm, which makes sense since that's when it starts to get dark.
After that we took a trip to Super Tia, the grocery store with air conditioning! We picked up groceries which was a little difficult. They definitely don't have as much of a variety of items as we do. Their prices were pretty reasonable overall which was nice! We also went to the open-air market to buy fruit. It was a little difficult to barter with them, because their Spanish is obviously better than ours. We were able to get a few things lowered though!
Around 11:30 we all ate a quick lunch and then headed to the bus terminal. Unfortunately, the tickets were all sold out for the bus ride we wanted to take. The next bus wasn't running until later in the day, so we ended up having to take 4 taxis for $15 per carinstead of paying $1.30 like the bus ride. To fit everyone in the car, people had to ride in the bed of trucks. Olivia and I rode in the back of one and so did Mr. Kuester and Alex. It was really cool honestly! And I have a feeling that will be a once in a lifetime experience probably. ;)
Our taxis took us to the place that gives canoe rides across the river. We all loaded onto a giant canoe to get to the Amazoonica. It does have a small covering over the top, which really pretty much saved us, because it rained. So, we would've been even more wet than we had already gotten, if we had nothing. The rain actually turned out to be a good thing, because I think it helped the jungle be a little cooler.
When we arrived at Amazoonica, we found out it is more of an animal sanctuary rather than a zoo. They do a lot of stuff to preserve wildlife and protect the native animals. It was still neat to see all of the animals though. Plus, the tour was in English, which was really nice since we probably wouldn't have been able to understand most of it if it was in Spanish. We got to see a lot of animals that we wouldn't be able to see at home. And the craziest part is that Amazoonica is literally just a part of the jungle; it wasn't separated from it or anything.
After our tour ended, we waited there a little bit to take a break. Then we took another canoe ride back to where we came from. It took a little longer since we were going against the flow of the current. A couple of the orphans even fell asleep. :) We had to wait there a little while longer for the bus to pick us up at 6.
We rode the bus back to Tena which took about an hour because we stopped to pick a few people up along the way. Plus, the bus follows the rules of the road a little better than most of the people who drive down here.
Right after we got off the bus, we stopped for a bathroom break and then walked to a restaurant. It was called Super Pollo. I personally didn't think the food was exceptional, but it was alright! Overall I think everyone was pretty content.
We all walked back from dinner once we finished eating. Once we got back, everyone relaxed around here and played cards and talked. We had a short gathering to record daily video footage. Other than that, we all just showered and did our own thing!
Tomorrow is church at 9:00 am. The entire mass will be in Spanish, so I'm interested to see how this goes. Then later in the day we will be visiting the monkeys. I'm not exactly sure what we're doing there. I guess we'll find out!
Time is flying! I can't believe it has already been a week since we left! And I can't believe we'll already be leaving this coming Friday. I don't think we're ready yet though. : )
Goodnight!
-Kaitlyn
Molly, Olivia, and I got to go out into the city to explore the shops. Tena is very safe which is why we didn't have any parents come with us. A lottt of the stores were clothing and shoe stores. We were cautioned against buying clothes (they're overpriced and not made well), but we all bought shoes that are good for wearing in water! We also explored a few other stores and bought some souvenirs to take back home. It was kind of interesting because the stores didn't all open at the same time. The store owners just choose any time that they want to open or close. It seems like a lot of places close around 6 pm, which makes sense since that's when it starts to get dark.
After that we took a trip to Super Tia, the grocery store with air conditioning! We picked up groceries which was a little difficult. They definitely don't have as much of a variety of items as we do. Their prices were pretty reasonable overall which was nice! We also went to the open-air market to buy fruit. It was a little difficult to barter with them, because their Spanish is obviously better than ours. We were able to get a few things lowered though!
Around 11:30 we all ate a quick lunch and then headed to the bus terminal. Unfortunately, the tickets were all sold out for the bus ride we wanted to take. The next bus wasn't running until later in the day, so we ended up having to take 4 taxis for $15 per carinstead of paying $1.30 like the bus ride. To fit everyone in the car, people had to ride in the bed of trucks. Olivia and I rode in the back of one and so did Mr. Kuester and Alex. It was really cool honestly! And I have a feeling that will be a once in a lifetime experience probably. ;)
Our taxis took us to the place that gives canoe rides across the river. We all loaded onto a giant canoe to get to the Amazoonica. It does have a small covering over the top, which really pretty much saved us, because it rained. So, we would've been even more wet than we had already gotten, if we had nothing. The rain actually turned out to be a good thing, because I think it helped the jungle be a little cooler.
When we arrived at Amazoonica, we found out it is more of an animal sanctuary rather than a zoo. They do a lot of stuff to preserve wildlife and protect the native animals. It was still neat to see all of the animals though. Plus, the tour was in English, which was really nice since we probably wouldn't have been able to understand most of it if it was in Spanish. We got to see a lot of animals that we wouldn't be able to see at home. And the craziest part is that Amazoonica is literally just a part of the jungle; it wasn't separated from it or anything.
After our tour ended, we waited there a little bit to take a break. Then we took another canoe ride back to where we came from. It took a little longer since we were going against the flow of the current. A couple of the orphans even fell asleep. :) We had to wait there a little while longer for the bus to pick us up at 6.
We rode the bus back to Tena which took about an hour because we stopped to pick a few people up along the way. Plus, the bus follows the rules of the road a little better than most of the people who drive down here.
Right after we got off the bus, we stopped for a bathroom break and then walked to a restaurant. It was called Super Pollo. I personally didn't think the food was exceptional, but it was alright! Overall I think everyone was pretty content.
We all walked back from dinner once we finished eating. Once we got back, everyone relaxed around here and played cards and talked. We had a short gathering to record daily video footage. Other than that, we all just showered and did our own thing!
Tomorrow is church at 9:00 am. The entire mass will be in Spanish, so I'm interested to see how this goes. Then later in the day we will be visiting the monkeys. I'm not exactly sure what we're doing there. I guess we'll find out!
Time is flying! I can't believe it has already been a week since we left! And I can't believe we'll already be leaving this coming Friday. I don't think we're ready yet though. : )
Goodnight!
-Kaitlyn
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Update
Good morning!
In last night's post, I mentioned one of the kids was sick last night. We weren't exactly sure how bad things were, so I didn't want to post much information (we didn't really know much either). This all actually happened as we were leaving dinner last night. Anyway, here is a status Bless An Orphan posted this morning on their Facebook page about it.
"Just returned from the hospital at 4am. We rushed "Smiley" Carlos to the Emergency Room around 8pm after he collapsed. He doesn't speak so it is hard to identify if he is having any problems. However, tonight we recognized he wasn't feeling well. He became lethargic and complained of stomach pain. By the time we got him to the van he was pretty out of it. Within moments of pulling off we couldn't get a pulse and he wasn't breathing. After a long night at the hospital running tests we really aren't sure exactly what is going on other than he is anemic. He is now responsive and sleeping peacefully. Kayla, Marshall and I came home for a couple hours of sleep and then I'll head back in a few hours to be with him. Please keep him in prayer, the Dr's to find the problem, and for wisdom to know what we need to do to help this sweet boy. I'm so very grateful that he is with us rather than on the street. Can you imagine if this would have happened and he was alone? Thank you Lord for your mercy."
Please please please keep him and those caring for him in your prayers!
¡Gracias!
-Kaitlyn
In last night's post, I mentioned one of the kids was sick last night. We weren't exactly sure how bad things were, so I didn't want to post much information (we didn't really know much either). This all actually happened as we were leaving dinner last night. Anyway, here is a status Bless An Orphan posted this morning on their Facebook page about it.
"Just returned from the hospital at 4am. We rushed "Smiley" Carlos to the Emergency Room around 8pm after he collapsed. He doesn't speak so it is hard to identify if he is having any problems. However, tonight we recognized he wasn't feeling well. He became lethargic and complained of stomach pain. By the time we got him to the van he was pretty out of it. Within moments of pulling off we couldn't get a pulse and he wasn't breathing. After a long night at the hospital running tests we really aren't sure exactly what is going on other than he is anemic. He is now responsive and sleeping peacefully. Kayla, Marshall and I came home for a couple hours of sleep and then I'll head back in a few hours to be with him. Please keep him in prayer, the Dr's to find the problem, and for wisdom to know what we need to do to help this sweet boy. I'm so very grateful that he is with us rather than on the street. Can you imagine if this would have happened and he was alone? Thank you Lord for your mercy."
Please please please keep him and those caring for him in your prayers!
¡Gracias!
-Kaitlyn
Friday
This morning, we planned to eat breakfast as usual, but unfortunately the water wasn't working in the kitchen! Eventually it came back on; we were just a little delayed is all.
We headed up to the orphanage and pretty much began working immediately. After all the hard digging they've done the past few days, Alex and Daniel decided to work inside with the moms while the girls helped Martin and the adult men dig the trench. For part of the time we dug, Mrs. Lundy played her guitar. It really helped to keep our spirits lifted and made the work not seem so bad :)
We worked on the trench until about 12:30. We headed back to our hotel to clean up and then took a break for lunch. Karissa (one of the founders of Bless An Orphan) made us a delicious lunch. We had broccoli cheddar soup, tuna sandwiches, fruit salad, and watermelon slices! We also got to eat with the kids which was awesome!
After lunch, we went swimming; the pool we went to was really nice! It had two big slides, a soccer "field", a small playground, and a mini zipline! We almost thought it was better than American pools! The pool actually ended up being really fun, and I think everyone had a good time! It was really nice to get a little bit of a break from all of the hard physical work and still be able to help the orphanage out.
Inside, the majority of the day was spent doing the usual household chores and entertaining the newest member of the orphanage! There is a new boy that arrived yesterday; they aren't sure how long he'll be here, but please pray that whatever happens to him is for the best! He is VERY smart and is really starting to warm up to us. He seems to fit in perfectly which is awesome. :)
After the pool, we came back to the hotel to clean up. By the time we went to dinner, the new pipes had been buried in the trenches we dug earlier today. Dinner was at the same pizza place we went to the first night we got here! It was a lot of fun and a good bonding time. After dinner we walked to a little ice cream shop nearby! It was good, but it tasted a little bit different than ice cream at home, in my opinion! Either way, it was a fun little outing!
Tomorrow we get to do a little souvenir shopping in the morning. We will got out to lunch with the orphans, and then we are taking them to the zoo. Apparently it is in the jungle, and we have to take a canoe ride to get there, so it will be interesting to see how it goes! :)
One of the orphans is sick, so please keep him in your prayers. It is amazing what these kids go through and so surreal to be here to see how this works first-hand. This has already been such an eye-opening experience.
¡Buenos noches!
-Kaitlyn
We headed up to the orphanage and pretty much began working immediately. After all the hard digging they've done the past few days, Alex and Daniel decided to work inside with the moms while the girls helped Martin and the adult men dig the trench. For part of the time we dug, Mrs. Lundy played her guitar. It really helped to keep our spirits lifted and made the work not seem so bad :)
We worked on the trench until about 12:30. We headed back to our hotel to clean up and then took a break for lunch. Karissa (one of the founders of Bless An Orphan) made us a delicious lunch. We had broccoli cheddar soup, tuna sandwiches, fruit salad, and watermelon slices! We also got to eat with the kids which was awesome!
After lunch, we went swimming; the pool we went to was really nice! It had two big slides, a soccer "field", a small playground, and a mini zipline! We almost thought it was better than American pools! The pool actually ended up being really fun, and I think everyone had a good time! It was really nice to get a little bit of a break from all of the hard physical work and still be able to help the orphanage out.
Inside, the majority of the day was spent doing the usual household chores and entertaining the newest member of the orphanage! There is a new boy that arrived yesterday; they aren't sure how long he'll be here, but please pray that whatever happens to him is for the best! He is VERY smart and is really starting to warm up to us. He seems to fit in perfectly which is awesome. :)
After the pool, we came back to the hotel to clean up. By the time we went to dinner, the new pipes had been buried in the trenches we dug earlier today. Dinner was at the same pizza place we went to the first night we got here! It was a lot of fun and a good bonding time. After dinner we walked to a little ice cream shop nearby! It was good, but it tasted a little bit different than ice cream at home, in my opinion! Either way, it was a fun little outing!
Tomorrow we get to do a little souvenir shopping in the morning. We will got out to lunch with the orphans, and then we are taking them to the zoo. Apparently it is in the jungle, and we have to take a canoe ride to get there, so it will be interesting to see how it goes! :)
One of the orphans is sick, so please keep him in your prayers. It is amazing what these kids go through and so surreal to be here to see how this works first-hand. This has already been such an eye-opening experience.
¡Buenos noches!
-Kaitlyn
Friday, March 1, 2013
Thursday
After breakfast and getting ready this morning, the moms and I stayed behind to organize all of the supplies we brought down for the orphanage! We have been giving them some of the stuff each day, but we plan to give them the majority of it whenever we're able to get their van to bring all of the bags to them so that we don't have to carry them up the hill!
Everyone else went up to the orphanage to start working on the projects for the day. It was rainy when we woke up, but luckily it stopped when we were ready to work. It has rained every day that we've been down here so far. It's their rainy season though, so I guess that is expected! It is very wet here in general actually.
For the drainage project, they have located the flow of water they were looking for!! They have a plan of how they're going to fix the problem, but it means we will probably have to hand-dig a 75 foot trench in order to put in the new pipe! We plan to do that tomorrow morning.
We also finished the concrete slab today!! The mixing process is definitely one thing that is a lot different than in the US. We had to shovel the mixture back and forth, add water to it, and shovel some more before it was ready. Whereas in America, a cement truck does all of that for you :) Then we had to take several wheelbarrows full of the mixture over to the area where we laid the concrete... And the filled-up wheelbarrows each probably weighed 200 pounds! It turned out really nice though in the end! The 7 of us seniors decided to put our handprints into the wet cement after all of the work we put into it.
Inside the orphanage, some of the moms helped out with the usual cleaning duties. There are almost always dishes to be done at the orphanage; unfortunately this is also a longgg process! There of course no dishwashers, so they are done by hand. In order to get hot water, it has to be boiled. And of course boiling water takes twice as long as it does at home :) And then the water was turned off the majority of the day in the house, which makes it hard to get anything done!
For lunch we made macaroni and cheese; when two of the volunteers here found out we were eating it, they got super excited because they hasn't had it in so long. The macaroni here just doesn't compare to mac n'cheese back home. So we gave them a little bit of ours, which seemed to make their day! :)
After lunch and finishing up the concrete, we went inside to help the kids with their homework. As usual, this was a pretty long process. It is definitely interesting to see how different some of their schoolwork is. We all learn the same basic concepts, but how they are taught them seems to be different sometimes.
After homework, we took a few of the boys to play soccer. A few of the local kids joined in to play with us. They all seemed to really enjoy it and were full of energy the entire time!
Finally we came back for dinner. After dinner the hotel owner showed us how to make a little dish that is basically a smashed plantain that you fry a few times. It tasted sort of like a potato or something.
My dad decided to run to the grocery store to buy paper towels and other things, but the cost of paper towels here is outrageous. For a package of 2, they were $6!! They claim they are reusable, but they are pretty normal-looking to me. Other than that, we all spent time relaxing.
Tomorrow we will work on the trenches and help out in the orphanage. In the afternoon we plan to to swimming with the kids! Hopefully the weather holds up!
-Kaitlyn
P.s. I'm sooo sorry I didn't post this last night!! I fell asleep in the middle of doing it! I will try to be better about it!
Everyone else went up to the orphanage to start working on the projects for the day. It was rainy when we woke up, but luckily it stopped when we were ready to work. It has rained every day that we've been down here so far. It's their rainy season though, so I guess that is expected! It is very wet here in general actually.
For the drainage project, they have located the flow of water they were looking for!! They have a plan of how they're going to fix the problem, but it means we will probably have to hand-dig a 75 foot trench in order to put in the new pipe! We plan to do that tomorrow morning.
We also finished the concrete slab today!! The mixing process is definitely one thing that is a lot different than in the US. We had to shovel the mixture back and forth, add water to it, and shovel some more before it was ready. Whereas in America, a cement truck does all of that for you :) Then we had to take several wheelbarrows full of the mixture over to the area where we laid the concrete... And the filled-up wheelbarrows each probably weighed 200 pounds! It turned out really nice though in the end! The 7 of us seniors decided to put our handprints into the wet cement after all of the work we put into it.
Inside the orphanage, some of the moms helped out with the usual cleaning duties. There are almost always dishes to be done at the orphanage; unfortunately this is also a longgg process! There of course no dishwashers, so they are done by hand. In order to get hot water, it has to be boiled. And of course boiling water takes twice as long as it does at home :) And then the water was turned off the majority of the day in the house, which makes it hard to get anything done!
For lunch we made macaroni and cheese; when two of the volunteers here found out we were eating it, they got super excited because they hasn't had it in so long. The macaroni here just doesn't compare to mac n'cheese back home. So we gave them a little bit of ours, which seemed to make their day! :)
After lunch and finishing up the concrete, we went inside to help the kids with their homework. As usual, this was a pretty long process. It is definitely interesting to see how different some of their schoolwork is. We all learn the same basic concepts, but how they are taught them seems to be different sometimes.
After homework, we took a few of the boys to play soccer. A few of the local kids joined in to play with us. They all seemed to really enjoy it and were full of energy the entire time!
Finally we came back for dinner. After dinner the hotel owner showed us how to make a little dish that is basically a smashed plantain that you fry a few times. It tasted sort of like a potato or something.
My dad decided to run to the grocery store to buy paper towels and other things, but the cost of paper towels here is outrageous. For a package of 2, they were $6!! They claim they are reusable, but they are pretty normal-looking to me. Other than that, we all spent time relaxing.
Tomorrow we will work on the trenches and help out in the orphanage. In the afternoon we plan to to swimming with the kids! Hopefully the weather holds up!
-Kaitlyn
P.s. I'm sooo sorry I didn't post this last night!! I fell asleep in the middle of doing it! I will try to be better about it!
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