Blogs from Huaquillas, South, Ecuador, South America

The CIFA bus was much more rickety than any other bus we had been on but was well equipped with a good driver, conductor and security guy (no bathroom). We cruised along through endless fields of banana plantations. They went as far as the eye could see. Occassionally we would come across a town where we would drop off and pick people up. And that was really the extent of the ride. First cultural observation - Ecuadorians look quite different than Peruvians. Second cultural observation - the men are working! Rarely in Peru did we see a man doing any work, so when hoards of men raided the bus trying to sell food/drink/stuff it was a surprise. By about 3:00, only an hour late, we were in Guayaquil.... read more

Victoria´s mum wanted some fabric so we thought we´d visit the border market in Equador. Why not really :) Caught a taxi to Peruvian side of the border and just walked down a street and across a bridge. No checkpoint or other scrutiny of ... well ... anything. I found some people who were obviously related to me and a nice park. ... read more

No photos here....just tried to get the heck out of this place as fast as we could, and it wasn´t fast enough. So fellow travelers beware, and be very prepared if you must cross the Peruvian/Ecuadorian border here. We decided to cross here because we thought it would be the fastest way to get from Peru, to Vilcambamba, Ecuador even though other border crossings aren´t as notorious. Unfortunately, the travel schedules weren´t accurate, and scams and thieves definitely abound here. We had to spend the night in Tumbes, Peru on November 14th. We arrived at the airport around 6pm, only to be told by a lying, conniving taxi driver that there would be a major strike that would close down all transportation in the city for 5 days. It sounded way too fishy, so we politely ... read more

We're waiting in the Atlanta airport for our final flight home. I've missed a few days of the blog, it's been a real whirwind. We fnished the walls and roof of the church and about 3/4 of the bathroom, so we exceeded our goal and finished at the end of the day on Tuesday. Tuesday night we had a special dedication service with the local church that was just wonderful. The church was apcked, including the Huaquillas TV station interviewed Lenson and Carmen and filmed the bells playing. This church will grow - it's got a great core team, great location and a wonderful neighborhood opportunity. The church was really touched but the gifts and our presence and it was hard to leave. We became really attached to the people of the church. The last day ... read more

I missed posting to the blog yesterday. Every day is a full day. Breakfast is at 6AM. Construction starts at 7AM. We have lunch onsite and then the VBS heads back to prep. VBS starts at 3PM. We had back, have dinner at 6PM and thenthe evening meetings are at 7:30. We're back at the hotel at 10PM. Every day has been really full. We have completed the levels of blocks on the church. We have just the front and back top apex portions to do and then the roofing so we are making really great progress. The food has been wonderful. A local church memer helps us with shopping and cooking and she is a nutritionist. VBS has now grown to 150 children. Everyone was a little overwhelmed the first day, but today was really ... read more