Out of bed by 6am with 6:45am breakfast. Started work at 7:30am and finished digging up the remaining 3 holes and building forms for the footers. Hand carried the concrete roofing tiles from the parking lot to the job site. Poured concrete for the remaining footers. Wrapped up by lunchtime.
Needed to wait for the concrete to dry overnight before proceeding, so we planned an afternoon excursion to the Rio Verde River. After lunch, we loaded up in the back of two pickup trucks and headed up the muddy mountain roads to the river.
Once we arrived, several of us tried our hand at crossing the suspension bridge, others enjoyed the scenery, and Mark tried his hand at fishing.
We then headed back to town and visited the old Lita train station. The train doesn’t run through this area anymore.
Met a young entrepreneur who built a bicycle that rides on the train track (a traincycle?) and has seating for 2 peddlers and 2 passengers. He plans on renting the vehicle to tourist for sightseeing in the near future.
Packed up the and hit the road about 9am, traveling the mountainous road from Cotacachi in the Ecuadorian Andes down to Lita at the edge of the Ecuadorian rain forest. Elevation changed from approximately 8000 feet to about 2000 feet. As we headed to lower elevations, the temperatures warmed up.
Scenery was beautiful, passing large waterfalls and spotting gorgeous views of the valleys along the way. It was an incredible display of God’s creation.
At one point in our journey, we were only 20-30 miles from the Columbian border. Passed through a security checkpoint, with heightened security since it was the end of Carnival. Ecuadorian police patrol the border region 24 hours a day for smugglers. Found out that drugs aren’t the only things being brought across the border. People also have been caught bringing in or taking out tools and construction supplies. Guess we didn’t fit the profile, because they just waved us through.
Arrived in Lita early afternoon. After checking out the site for the outdoor shelter we were putting up, we hand carried building supplies from the parking lot to the building site a few hundred feet away. Got started digging holes for concrete footers with shovel and picks. Needed ten holes approximately 48 inches wide by 39 inches deep. Finished seven of the ten holes by dark. A tired crew hit the beds by 9:30pm.
The Atlee team spent the first part of the trip (from Friday night through Tuesday morning) in Cotacachi, staying downstairs at Amigos en Cristo (Friends of Christ) church. We also spent the night there upon our return from Lita on the following Saturday.
We had a number of great photos of life around Cotacachi that didn’t quite fit into other categories, so here they are for your enjoyment.
After another fine dinner at La Marquesa restaurant in Cotacachi, we stopped into a convenience store across the street to pick up phone cards so we could call loved ones back home.
Started a conversation with Monica, the girl who was working at the store and who also spoke very good English. Monica asked if we were from the United States. We told her that we were, and then she asked if we were from Virginia. Wow…
Like most Virginians, I never thought we actually had an accent, so I couldn’t figure out how in the world she guessed that. I suspected she had met some of our crew earlier and they had told her about our trip and where we were from. As it turns out, Monica had attended VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University) and had actually lived in Richmond. She came back home to Ecuador last year to help her family out when her mom passed away. She hopes to return to Richmond again one day and go back to school.
We told her if she ever made it back to Richmond, she would have to visit our church. I just happened to have an Atlee invite card with me and gave it to Monica. I hadn’t referred to Mechanicsville, thinking she wouldn’t be that familiar with the suburbs of Richmond. Wrong again… she told us, “My boyfriend lives in Mechanicsville.” Turns out he only lives a couple miles from the church. Hope they both will come and visit.
On Monday morning at youth camp, Stephanie shared her testimony on dating. She comments:
Who knew that when I decided to go to to Ecuador that I would be onstage talking to teenagers about choosing a mate?
I gave a short testimony about meeting and choosing a mate. The core of the message was to seek God’s will in choosing a mate, to find someone who shares similar interests and will continue to grow in faith with you.
I was amazed at how attentive and polite the kids were since they had been up late the night before.
Out of bed by 6am with 6:45am breakfast. Started work at 7:30am and finished digging up the remaining 3 holes and building forms for the footers. Hand carried the concrete roofing tiles from the parking lot to the job site. Poured concrete for the remaining footers. Wrapped up by lunchtime.
Needed to wait for the concrete to dry overnight before proceeding, so we planned an afternoon excursion to the Rio Verde River. After lunch, we loaded up in the back of two pickup trucks and headed up the muddy mountain roads to the river.
Once we arrived, several of us tried our hand at crossing the suspension bridge, others enjoyed the scenery, and Mark tried his hand at fishing.
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Posted by Frank Walters
