THURSDAY, 17 November 2016

Got packed - had to get another suitcase!  Lisa had some extras so she gave us one.  So now, four bags to check, about 40 pounds each, and two carry-ons, plus my briefcase.  Jenny has her purse but it fits in her carry-on.  Said our good-byes to the missionaries, staff and boys around 2:30 then Pastor Ken took us to the Terminal Terrestre (bus station).  The fare: $8.00 per person.  We left there for Guayaquil close to 4 PM.  They had some air conditioning problems but got them resolved so the trip went well; no restroom break at about half-way though as I had been told by Expats on the Yahoo group.  Upon arrival at the GYE Terminal Terrestre, we caught a cab to the airport ($4.00), waited until AA counters opened, checked in, then waited for Immigration to open; processed without a problem then to the gat for our flight.  Last year, my name was called for a more thorough luggage inspection (that's when Jenny's tablet disappeared) but looks like I'm not going through that hassle this time.

WEDNESDAY 16 November 2016

Ran off some church brochures while Jenny washed our final load of clothes here.  Raul and Chelita came to tell us good-bye and brought us a beautiful parting gift - not exactly sure what the correct name for it is but it is a miniature carving in wood of the front of a house.  Raul does them himself; he took it on as a hobby after he retired and he is very good. Would love to decorate our home with more but we don't have room in our luggage for them because they are very fragile and needs to be well padded for protection. So, I hope we did a good job doing that.

Went to El Centro to jewelry shop; this time, I actually spent money on myself and bought two rings - one silver with cubic zirconia stones; the other silver with a cat's eye stone. One was about $55, the other about $35, I think.  Sure can't buy anything like that in the States.

Lisa asked us to find a couple of things for her - key chains and beaded necklaces.  We found the key chains but no necklaces for what she wanted to pay.  We actually shopped in the San Francisco Plaza, then to El Arenal, then back to SFP but no luck.

We got back about 30 minutes before Church started so visited with a few friends who got here early.  Pastor Mario, from the Shekina Church that Pastor Ken started last year gave a salvation message then baptized a recent convert - Silvia Paredes' son.  We fellow shipped and said our good-byes to our friends. Jose and Ruth gave each of us nice parting gifts - a desk plaque that has a typical Ecuadorian house and "Ecuador" on it for me, a stringed necklace for Jenny.

During Church, Pastor Ken recognized us for our work for the past six weeks.

TUESDAY, 15 November 2016

Worked all morning and early afternoon printing up Church brochures and packed a couple of our two big suitcases.

About 4 PM, we went to Karina's home for what was supposed to be coffee and a snack but it turned into dinner and a long visit until about 8:30 or so.  It was great to spend time with Karina, Amy, and Karina's mom (she has been in Guayaquil since we've been here so we haven't seen her).

MONDAY, 14 November 2016

Jenny washed clothes, I printed out about 150 Church brochures.  Around 2:30, we went to Cecilia Duran's apartment for a late lunch of typical Ecuadorian food. Found out she is the daughter of Ricardo Duran, who has the street near us named after him.  We did not meet her husband because he (an attorney) had a doctor's appointment then hung out with other attorneys.

Got back to the apartment around 6:30, had supper (chili that Inez had prepared - it was delicious!), played several rounds of Mexican train dominoes with Inez - Desiree and Antonio joined us for a couple of games, then to the apartment; watched a couple of episodes of Supernatural; Jenny went to bed, I got caught up on this blog, now I'm going to bed.

SUNDAY, 13 November 2016

Up and at 'em - I got up at 5:10, Jenny at 5:30, finished packing and luggage set outside the door for the crew to take to the airport on Baltra Island. Ate a light breakfast, although there was the normal full course buffet - still recovering from a little stomach too full episode last night.  We departed the boat at 7:00 in Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island. We then got on a bus and drove across the island, stopping on the way at a tortoise (tortuga) farm near Chato where the huge tortoises are.  For the most part, they roam free on these large farms (I think our guide said there we six of them).   The farms are owned by individuals but the tortoises do not belong to them; they belong to the government conservation department. Those farmers have agreed to "keep" the tortoises and meet government standards of care by allowing them free roam; they do not feed them, nor can they use any kinds of pesticides that could harm the animals. The farmers do this to protect the species and, in the case of the farm we visited, open the farm to tourists and charge fees.

After spending about 45 minutes there, we boarded the bus to the North side of the island where we left the bus and boarded a ferry for the short trip across the bay to Baltra Island and the airport.  We left late but made up a little time to Guayaquil airport, met our driver, then off to Cuenca.  The Cajas mountains were covered with clouds and we even had rain.

We made it back just in time for Church! Some people we saw for the last time because some don't go on Wednesday nights, which will be our last service.  Pastor Ken announced during the service that he is curtailing the Sunday night services for the future because he and Lisa are so busy with the Dayspring Home.  He also wants to begin a new church so will, once started, have them meet on Sunday nights.  They need much prayer!

FRIDAY, 11 November 2016

Started the morning with rough seas after the boat got underway for our next port of call, Suarez Point on the island of Española. 

I was up for a beautiful sunrise.  After breakfast, a beautiful morning for a walk along rocks at Suarez Point to see sea lions and their babies, marine iguanas, masked (AKA nasca) boobies, albatrose, a blowhole, and other species of birds. We literally had to watch where we were walking because the iguanas lay on the path, on the rocks, basking in the sun to get their body temperatures up before going into the cooler waters to eat algae off the rocks, put there during the night as the tide rose.  It was very, very rocky; luckily Jenny and I carried walking sticks – they definitely helped us maintain our balance.

That excursion over, back to the boat for some ice cream, a little rest, then lunch.  While eating, the boat relocated to Gardner Bay, still Española Islands.

There was a deep water snorkeling excursion but it was cloudy and the air temperature was cold so we decided to skip that one.  Jenny slept in the cabin; I went to the upper deck and napped a little there.

After the deep water snorkeling “excursioners” got back, the next one was to the white sandy beaches, where we could either swim or walk along the beach – we chose the latter.  The sand is a beautiful white with sea lions, all huddled in one area.  It was easy to identify the alpha male because he, when we got there, was in the water but came out soon after to interact with all the females and babies.  An interesting display of hierarchy.

After an hour or so, back to the boat for a bar-b-que! 

THURSDAY, 10 November 2016.

When we woke up, we were still in the bay at San Cristobal. Soon after, we began our journey to Curro Burro (check pic on camera!) where we toured the bay by dingy.  I learned a valuable lesson today – actually two!  Even though I didn’t think I would need my glasses, I did because I could not see the screen on the camera; therefore, I missed a picture of a blue footed boobie while going around the bay.  Second lesson: always take my cap!  Even though it was very cloudy when we left the Coral II, the sun came out later.  I don’t think my head burned but we’ll see. We then went ashore and walked the beach.  We saw many sea lions, some yellow warbler birds, a couple of lava gulls.  As explained by our guides, the animals here have no fear of humans because they have never been hunted or abused by “us”. They pretty much ignored us.

After walking the beach, we returned to the bay where we had exited the water; there I snorkeled for the first time in my life.  It took some practice (at first, I got lots of ocean water in my mouth!), but after I got the hang of it, it was fun but tiring.  Jenny stayed on the beach and waded.

After lunch, we had time to rest then to Punta Pitt island where we hiked up the volcanic mountain to see red & blue footed boobies as well as the other kind (I’ll look up the name later); it is not a color.  Although blue footed boobies are the most common to see in the Islands, the red is more populated but because they live in hard to access areas, they are not seen as much.  It was definitely a difficult hike, as originally told to us by the guides but we made it.  The near death (greatly exaggerating for effect here!) was when we got back into the dingy; a huge swell came up, caught the dingy and turned it sideways.  All aboard at the time got much wetter than we had intended; lucky neither of my cameras got wet.  All survived though and we made it back to the boat.  After everyone was on board, we headed to our next destination, although we won’t have an activity until tomorrow.  Rest and relaxation time until dinner.

Quiet evening after dinner, some time spent on the upper deck after Jenny went to bed, then bed for me.