Santo Domingo

I skipped class today and went with a couple of the leaders from the office here over the western ridge of the Andes to Santo Domingo de los Colorados. They were buying land for a new church that is ready for its own permanent building. We also visited our campground there.

Santo Domingo is only 100 Km (62 miles) from Quito, but it is a 3-hour drive each way. Quito is at about 9400 ft above sea level. The pass through the mountains is at about 11,000 ft., and Santo Domingo is at about 2500 ft. It was a spectacular drive that took us from eucalyptus and agave to high forest and down to banana trees, gardenias and guava. Most of my pictures are video taken from inside the pickup, but I'll post what I can on Flickr. To get a sense of the trip, look at Google maps terrain map of the area just south and west of Quito.

The mountains are similar to those on the wet sides of the Hawaiian Islands: lush and green with sheer cliffs and tall waterfalls. The river in the canyon that the road follows is white with rapids.

A New Adventure

The 1000 Car Man is Stephen. His parents, Pamela and Dave, are with him on a new adventure for all of them in Quito, Ecuador for nine weeks. Stephen only brought about 50 of his favorite Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars with him. They packed nicely in the new red nylon bag with his initials on it. That was a retirement gift to him from Dave’s office. The customs agent at the airport here wanted a look at them when it went through the X-ray machine.

We’re new to keeping a Web log, but we want you to share in this adventure. We’ve sent some of this to some friends who we had e-mail addresses for. We hope those folks don’t mind if we share it with you too.

La Basilica

It has been too long since we wrote everyone. Perhaps we will find time to set up a weblog (blog). Until then, we will try to get out the occasional e-mail update to everyone. We are posting pictures to Flickr. If you are not registered to see all of them (many more than you wanted to see), send us a quick e-mail, and we will send you an invitation with the link.

We are adjusting to many changes. For one thing, milk comes in rectangular cartons that do not require refrigeration until they are opened. They are the same as the chicken stock cartons sold in the United States. We eat most of our meals in the comedor with the other students so we do not keep as much food on hand in the apartment. Since we have limited shelf space, we store even the unopened cartons in the refrigerator.

Friday, the 24th, we took our first exam. It was muy dificil (very difficult). We were surprised by what it covered. We will need to study differently, so we hope to make some changes before the next exam.

That evening, Pam was invited to attend a women’s Bible study with two missionaries and two other volunteers. They met at the home of the missionary who lives at the work and witness volunteer center. The study is Believing God, by Beth Moore. Pam thinks it is the same one she was not able to complete a year or more ago. It is great to know that God gives second chances.

Saturday, October 25, we went with a carload of Americans to the Mitad del Mundo. It is the monument that was built on the equator. A few years ago, they discovered with GPS that it is not really on the equator, so they built a museum in the proper place. We will be going there again with our NILI group this Sunday afternoon.

One morning, we ran out of propane in the middle of Pam’s shower. The hot water is on-demand and when the propane is gone, the water goes cold almost immediately. Fortunately, we were able to get a replacement tank the same morning.

One evening, Dave and I were studying irregular verbs for our exam. In the early evening, the NILI resident student director took us, along with the other NILI students, to the mall. As we walked around we saw a sign that said “15% DESCONTAR” (15% discount). One of the verbs on our list was contar (to count), so that was helpful. While we were waiting for the others at the van, we started working on the verbs. When we came to pedir (pronounced pay-deer), which means “ask for,” the idea came to us that we ask (or rather tell) each other to “Pay, Dear” at the restaurant. If only we could do that for all the verbs, it would help us remember.

Wednesday, October 29, we went to la Basilica de Voto Nacional with the six NILI students, Dr. Stan Hall, his assistant with the NILI program Lucy, Stephen’s aide Harrison, and Evelyn the Spanish professor. Justin, one of the students, is blind; so he and Evelyn waited in the coffee shop on about the seventh floor and Dave and Stephen waited below after walking up to the gift shop, which is the fifth or sixth floor.

[Pam continues the adventure.] The rest of us climbed up the lowest turret. To get there we had to cross above the ceiling of the sanctuary from the towers to the turret. To get across, we walked on a boardwalk about three feet wide with ropes along each side. When we reached the end, we climbed a ladder which took us out of the attic. We walked around the turret and climbed two ladders to the flat area of the turret. We had a short wall around us, but the area above was open. The view was awesome. When we came back to the gift shop, I decided to not try the higher towers. I was afraid it would be too hard on my knees, so I went down to stay with David and Stephen.

Check out the pictures. The views of Quito are unbelievable. Obviously, Pam took the pictures from the pinnacle, and Dave took the angles from the ground. We even took pictures of each other. It took Dave a couple days to get over the vertigo of just climbing to the gift shop.

On Thursday, we celebrated the Day of the Dead (actually November 2). We made a colada morada with pineapple, blueberries, guava, oranges and several spices. It is very thick and rich. We also made bread people with cheese filling and then dipped the baked bread into the juice. Rico is the only word for it.

After chapel on Friday, we headed north out of Quito for Otavalo for the weekend. We will write about that weekend next.

We are making progress. We are trying to talk with others in Spanish whenever we can. Everybody is very patient and probably somewhat amused. In class Dave had to describe a picture of a barber. We had just learned the verb cortar (to cut) and had been reviewing the names of the parts of the body. So Dave confidently recited, ‘Manuel está cortando el cuello del señor.” Unfortunately, el cuello is the neck, el cabello is the hair. We are certainly glad that we will not receive a grade.

Either the weather has improved or we are adjusting. When we woke up one morning, we were actually hot. There are almost always clouds, but one day last week began absolutely clear like an Arizona morning. That afternoon was like a partly cloudy, somewhat windy Prescott fall day. Today, we could see the top of the mountain above the cloud. What a beautiful sight.

Until next time,

Dave, Pamela & Stephen

First Days in Quito

This is a good thing to try if you want to break out of a routine.

They had the apartment ready for us when we got here the night of October 13. It is spotless and freshly painted and has plenty of room for the three of us. It has 2 bedrooms, a private bath with a shower, and a combined kitchen and living room. It does not have heat since it is perpetually spring here. This week it has been a rainy spring however. We are glad that they had told us to bring long sleeved shirts and jackets. Most mornings have started partly cloudy, but thunderstorms and rain have rolled in by early afternoon. Layers of clothes have felt good. Today, the rains have held off, and it is really nice. Even now, the thunder is rolling over us.

The setting for Quito and the Seminary (Seminario Teológico Nazareno Sudamericano) is beautiful: mountains on two sides of the city form an avenue about 30 miles long for about 2 million people. The clouds roll over and around the mountains giving us an ever-changing view. The campus is on a hillside, so the buildings step down like stairs. The classrooms and cafeteria buildings are below the tabernacle-gym, then the apartments which are above the mission and district offices. This is the headquarters for one of the Ecuadorian districts and the North Andes Field of Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador. The view out of our apartment window and from almost anywhere on campus is of the huge mountain across the city to the south. [When I first wrote this, I thought it was southwest. I’m still trying to get oriented.]

Pam and I have a private tutor that works for the Seminary and its Nazarene International Language Institute. She works with us five mornings a week from 8:30 to 12:30. She is very considerate and extremely patient. We are definitely learning fast, but we have a long way to go before we will be able to really talk to anyone intelligibly. Nine weeks may not be enough, but we’ll see. It seems like it is all we can do each night to write a short page in our diaries in Spanish. With Spanish/English dictionary in hand, we struggle to write elementary sentences.

We did get out on the town, though, with the university students from Olivet, Mid-America, Ambrose Univ. College (Calgary), and Univ. of Missouri. Wednesday evening, we went downtown to the National Folk Ballet. They are a dance troupe that preserves the traditional and indigenous dances of Ecuador. The music was beautiful (think El Condor Paso), the costumes were very elaborate and extremely colorful, and the choreography was complex and sometime acrobatic. One number was a May pole dance. At least a dozen dancers wove and un-wove various patterns. At first, they did simple weaves and undid them. Then, they braided a very complex pattern with spirited dancing that seemed impossibly complicated, but they reversed it with just as much speed and grace.

Yesterday, we went to a centro commercial or shopping center. It was very much like any in the States. Actually some of the stores seemed to be multi-nationals like Payless Shoes, but there was no large anchor department store. A modern supermarket grocery store was maybe the largest single store. The food court had a great panoramic view of the international airport a couple of miles across the valley.

We have enjoyed a few meals so far in the seminary cafeteria with the seminary and NILI students. Rice is part of virtually every meal. Soups are often served. The meal last night (evening meals are at 8:00) was a lasagna-like baked dish served with rice and salad. Muy bien. Breakfasts are light, and lunch is usually the big meal of the day.

Stephen spends each morning while we are in class with Harrison, an Ecuadorian who was an athlete in the Army before answering a call to prepare for the ministry. He is obviously and by all accounts an outstanding young man. Stephen seems to have quickly accepted him as his new "staff." They have been out kicking a soccer ball on the school's soccer field and shooting baskets in the gym. They also just watch the traffic on the busy street beside the campus as well as the planes taking off from the airport.

We met a student in the NILI program from Phoenix. Wednesday, he gave his story in chapel, and we learned that he became a Christian through the Madhouse basketball program which is run by Jerry and Cindi Steele. He graduated from Olivet last year and is considering law school.

We really appreciate your prayers.