Hello everyone! I hope everything is going well wherever you are, whether that is at home, at BC, or elsewhere!
(October 4th) So after two months I have now officially left Guayaquil and Duran!!! (Not counting RdC things)… a friend from Hogar and the Parish, Victor, invited us to his grandparents house out in the campo, a place called Triunfu. There was a total of 8- Victor, his nephew Damian (who plays music at the parish and also a friend of ours), Carolina (a friend’s little sister) and then 5 of us (Madison decided not to come which was a blessing in disguise as you will see). We took the bus which took about an hour, and as soon as we walked into the countryside we were greeted with a swarm of mosquitoes. And when I say swarm, I mean swarm. There would be 10 on your back at one time, and then 5 more on your arm. Needless to say, I was already a little nervous. Then, as we arrived at the house, the swarm grew! Victor’s family was joking that we were fresh meat J After a few minutes, the mosquitoes seemed to get bored and left us alone (relatively), so bites were not as frequent. We smashed a fair amount of moscos (as they are called here) that were full of blood, and that always led to a good laugh. I say that it was a blessing that Madison didn’t come because she has tiny allergic reactions to bites, and so 50 bites would alone be incredibly uncomfortable and possibly lead to a larger reaction. Eventually the mosquito shock that I initially felt subsided, and I was able to enjoy the company and the beautiful countryside! Their house is on a beautiful river with a dam (that kind of makes a waterfall at the end!) We walked down to the waterfall and took some beautiful pictures and just took in the view. Back at the house we were fed carne asada, rice and lentils = SO MUCH FOOD. I was full for a very long time after that. Over the afternoon we just relaxed, enjoyed laughs together (mostly about mosquitoes), and took in the views. Next time we go (fingers crossed!) we were told to bring clothes to swim in! Can’t wait J
I really appreciated the time we spent with Victor and Damian… I think it was an amazing opportunity to get to know them a little better instead of just at work or at the parish!
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| Victor and Damian's Family |
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| The River |
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| Belén, Victor, Carolina and I |
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| Rostro and Victor love :) |
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The blondes of the house! |
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| Group shot |
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| Mateo, Belén, Elisa, Patricio and I |
(October 19th) So then this past saturday came the Reina del Octubre (Queen of October), which is essentially a pageant show. Before, I mentioned that at Hogar I work in an office dedicated to community development. They do that by forming committees in the neighborhood, and each committee is responsible for a ''community event'' every so often (I'm not sure how often exactly). The committee Nuevos Horizontes (New Horizons) decided to do Reina del Octubre, and it was SO MUCH FUN! I was a judge along with 4 other Hogar volunteers from Chile, Columbia and Spain, and we had a blast at the judge table :) There were 4 contestants, all girls from the community, who did baithing suits, traje tipico (kind of like a cultural outfit) and a 'gala' dress. There was a huge stage, speakers, loud music, and tons of dancing. My house knows that I'm not the biggest dancer in public, but I decided to try out a little salsa, and I did have some fun dancing with all of these great people I have met in the community! We stayed until 1 am, but apparently people were up dancing until 8 am! Mt Sinaí sure knows how to party :)
The next day, Sunday, we went to a birthday party after mass and youth group! We spent the sunday again with Victor and his family, but at his godson's house, Ricky. Ricky plays in a group with Damian (which Belén and Mateo sometimes jump into), and so we have spent some time with him, but not too much, so this was a really great way to get to know him and his family better! Victor started the game penitencias (I think), which essentially means you have to do something silly infront of the group like dance with a broom or give someone a kiss on the cheek. Then Elisa started showing everyone the funny dance moves we do in the states like hooking a fish across the room, or some of the classics from Hitch like 'going shopping'or 'making a pizza' or things like that. I think Ecuadorians might think we are a little crazy now :) But nevertheless, we shared some great laughs. For lunch we each ate an entire crab with our hands, which was an adventure in intself but a bunch of fun, and afterwards I think we all had quality time with different parts of the family. I felt so honored that we were invited... it was literally us and Victor's family to celebrate his niece's bday. It was a wonderful way to spend the sunday afternoon, which turned into sunday night! We ended up spending 7 or 8 hours there, which flew by because of all the fun we were having!
So I think that's it from me for now... We are having our first retreat group in November which we are preparing for as a community over dinner every night, because this is the first year that the Mt. Sinaí house has had retreat groups! But more on that later :)
Lots of Love, Katie (Cah-tee in spanish, correction from an earlier post!)
