My First Week in Quinindé

My first week here has been a good whirlwind! I have already learned so many things and participated in so many events...

I arrived late Monday night to Quito, and by 10:00 am, we were on our way to Quinindé, which is about 4 hrs. away from Quito...Upon arrival we went straight out to one of the outlying agricultural communities to a women´s group that was meeting to celebrate Mother´s Day together! The next day I went to one of the elementary shools, where the Luke Society has a ministry of tutoring and teaching the children outside of their normal school hours in order to keep them in school in the future.

When all of us were in the classroom ready to go, the teacher asked me to introduce myself and lead us in prayer...so far so good....then she spoke some with the kids and they sang some songs, and then she began to tell them how blessed they were to have someone from the United States here with them and that God had provided them with an English teacher ;) So, I proceeded to give my first English class of my trip here to a group of fifth grade students....we did pronouns and animals and some introductory phrases...but next time, I will be better prepared!

The scenery is beautiful here in the area...there are lush green hills and lots of palm trees, banana trees, coca plants, and other vegetation. It seems that everyone grows some vegetables and everyone owns some animals...My first few days I woke up at 3:30 every morning to the sound of the neighborhood roosters!! They act somewhat like dogs, if one of them crows, the others have to start crowing!

I have also had good food since I have been here! They eat lots of bananas....I didn´t even know there were that many ways to cook them, and they are always so good! There is also all kinds of fruit...yesterday we went to the finca that my host owns...it is similar to a plantation or large farm in the states, I guess....she has an orchard area, and we went in to pick ochotillos (I have no clue what these are in English...I had never seen them before, but they are really good!!) and oranges...then we returned to this large wooden house and all sat in the open eating fruit, the juice running down our arms! It was very delightful...then we went down to the river for a swim...it´s dry season right now, though, so it feels more like a creek than a river...

Needless to say, it was a very relaxing and beautiful place! In the kitchen of this house at the finca, they have a bon-fire type pit in the middle for cooking over an open fire...they told me this was typical of the coastal peoples...Also, my host Rosaura showed me a large pot that belonged to the mother of the woman who lived in the house. She said is was around 40 years old, and that they boil water and put it in the pot and it makes it naturally cool...

God has been good so far, and it has been a great first week! I have several mosquito bites all on my legs, but that should pass in the next few weeks. As I learned last night, almost every house, including ours has house lizards that eat the bugs in the house! I had not seen one until last night, but that sounds like a great animal to have around!!

I will only have internet access once a week probably, so that should be the pattern of the blog!

Hope you all are well!
Elise