Sunday Travel Day by Avery Spalding

After we spent our final night in Quito we were already longing to get to the jungle and begin our work for the school. Once we were all up we were treated to an amazing breakfast cooked by Ashley , which only excited us more for our journey to the jungle.

We said our goodbyes to Boris, Ms. Wilkinson, and Rachel and headed off on our long journey into the jungle. About 4 hours in we made it to our first stop of Banos, which is another city located in the mountains of Ecuador.  We stopped for lunch at a local pizza place, which did not disappoint.

While we waited for our food, most of us got out and went shopping throughout the streets of Banos.

Roasted guinea pig salesmen lined the streets, but we were told to avoid it (unfortunately). Once shopping and lunch was complete we made our way to the side of a mountain to go on a cable car type contraption. The contraption, despite its shady look, was very fun and gave us a great view of a beautiful waterfall.

Our final stop after the cable car was the Nick Saint house, which is one of the most historic mission sites in Ecuador. Nick Saint was a pilot who flew missionaries out to the villages deep in the jungle not accessible by car. It was very cool to hear about people doing the same work we are doing way back then.

Shell house

The jungle was only a couple of hours away, and all of us were dying to get there. We made it to the jungle right before dinner, and we were greeted by other friendly missionaries from Memphis who were leaving Sunday (Today).  For the rest of the night we reminisced with our friends we made in Ecuador last year and began new friendships with the team from Memphis. Although we didn’t do any work on this travel day, it was amazing seeing all of Gods creation in this country so different than our own. On top of that it was also very eye opening to see what the people here do on a daily basis, and how much we take advantage of the luxuries we have in America. We look forward to working for the school here and being the hands and feet of God as we spend the next week here. Adios.