We rose early, ate a breakfast of hot cocoa, fresh squeezed juice, eggs, and fresh rolls which are baked to have a thin crust and little dry, making them perfect for butter and jam or light dipping in the cocoa. Ironically, the restaurant’s name was The Californian. As usual, there are a few that don’t eat anything from a foreign environment. We made food rules early on that if we are being served in a hospitality situation, minimally the remaining. food must look like something was eaten. Additionally, if you are not eating what is being served in the morning, you must bring something to eat as a substitute that chaperones can witness being eaten. It’s important that performers keep their strength up. There’s definitely some substituting going on already.
After breakfast, we headed out to see Guayaquil. We boarded the bus and headed first to the Guayaquil Temple. I am always interested in seeing the reaction of members of the church who visit a temple in a foreign country. In this group, some had immediate reverence for the holy grounds and the structure that was built there appreciating the sacrifice and dedication its presence represents. Others saw the temple as an embassy of sorts, a safe haven of familiarity in a foreign place. Others noticed how out of place it seemed not realizing that the neighborhoods surrounding the temple were directly affected for the positive because of the increase in security, land values, and relative affluence of the area. Some see it as a stop along the way, at best a point of interest. We all, with our different viewpoints came to the temple mount to receive what we were ready to receive. President Franklin Toral greeted us and our Morningstar singers sang for he and his wife as well as one of Guayaquil’s stake presidents. There a great feeling felt by those present. Upon thanking President Franklin and gathering our group we departed the temple and headed back to the city center for a walking tour of Seminary Park, the Malecon, and the famous Las Penas barrio.
The bus dropped us a block away from Seminary Park, centered with a statue of Simon Bolivar on a horse commemorating his efforts to liberate Ecuador from the Spanish. The park was shadowed by an old stone and stucco cathedral with beautiful, crisp, colorful, stain glassed windows. The Cathedral had been modernized as it had flat screen monitors on either side of the pews attached to the central pillars and hanging parabolic speakers. As we walked into the park we quickly realized this was not a normal run-of-the-mill park. Cherie, Hannah and Jonny quickly found out that the trees were full of iguanas that used your presence under them to relieve themselves. I will just say that the iguanas leave quite a puddle. Luckily our group only got “sprayed” with peripheral moisture – not a direct stream. They were what seemed over a hundred iguanas in every tree or bush, on the lawns and walking across the cobblestone paths. They were protected in the park and therefore had the right of way.
We walked from the park to the Malecon (Mal-uh-con) which was a boardwalk of sorts. Think of it as Pier 39 with only periodic street vendors, an IMAX theatre and kiddie zoos. Our 32 lime green shirts made quite a statement walking through the 2-3 mile frontage. At the south end of the Malecon we were led to the same steps that our runners from the previous night had run up and down. There were over 400 of them leading us from the water front all the way up to an overlook point with a decommissioned lighthouse and a simple chapel. We had all hoped for a nice breeze when we reached the top – no such luck. Hot, tired and sticky we took refuge in a barrio restaurant barely big enough to fit us all to have lunch. As I looked around, it seemed Che Gueverra has inspired the owner as the joint was adorned with his face on 2 of the 4 walls.
After lunch, we loaded back on the bus and headed east and up to our next city – Cuenca. Cuenca sits at 8500 feet. The road was in great shape but full of curves and twist. As we made our climb and descents over multiple grades, we encountered some incredible views looking down into verdant valleys below, beautiful tropical rain and cloud forests on either side of the road, and large billowy blankets of non-threatening clouds cutting through the highest tops of the Andes peaks and leading our eyes to sunbursts and eventually sunsets and the day passed. Ecuador is green all over, unlike Peru that had a lot of arid landscapes.
The trip, with stops, took just about 5 hours. There were two stops along the way worthy of note. The first was at a fruit stand that was pregnant with any tropical fruit/food you would expect: banana, guava, papaya, plantain, mandarin, lemon, pineapple, coconut, sugar cane, watermelon and more. They were stacked in organized stand, pyramids and baskets awaiting travelers on the highway looking for a little refreshment. Of course we couldn’t pass up such an organic display of hospitality. We enjoyed our local bounty finds the rest of the trip and even at breakfast the next few days.
The next stop was a bathroom stop…..at no particular place along the road. Allie Ball and Ashlyn Howes could wait no longer. With no hope for a bathroom in the neat future, 5 other girls and a couple of guys took advantage of the stop. It’s important to understand the entire picture. Somewhere along an Ecuadorian 2-lane freeway, a bus is stopped just barely off the shoulder. It is dark, slightly raining and there is a 10-15 foot swath of earth between the bus and a rushing brook and the grass is high. The girls/female chaperones go first and most if not all are ill-prepared - no tissue paper. Kari Risley summarily teaches the group, both old and young, a mastered technique involving a little hiney-shimmy or waggle to take care of business.
We continued on our way and arrived at our accommodations, the Tommebomba Inn just in time for dinner. The entire city was clean, with narrow streets and European architecture. The hotel was comfortable except there was no heat in the hotel. In fact, it seems there are few places in Ecuador that do. Cuenca was a welcome contrast to the hot and humid air of Guayaquil, but it was a little chilly a night. We had to unload every box and piece of luggage from the bus and follow-van. This consisted of creating a fire bucket line and quickly moving all pieces inside the hotel. Some rooms had vents that allowed the adjacent room to hear everything being said or done in the next room, which was great if you as a chaperone needed to “check-in” on activities or plans for the night, but not so nice if you were trying to sleep, have a private conversation or go to the bathroom. Yes, the vents went from bathrooms of one room into the main rooms. The other aspect to the hotel that we knew was going to make our stay memorable for all involved was that the layout of the hotel included a lobby to roof atrium that reverberated any sound made at any floor. 19 teenagers and sound reverberation is not a good combination. Dinner was tasty. Most of our meals are going to consist of a chicken/pork/guinea pig meat entrée with vegetables and rice accompaniment. Soup is also typically served. Tonight’s soup was a cucumber potato broth soup.
After dinner, we get everyone situated in their rooms and put down for the night – we thought. I went to the 2nd floor lobby to submit the day 1 blog content and check email when about 20 minutes later the elevator doors unexpected opened and I saw Preston Stark, Tyler Howlett, and Kaden standing inside the elevator, shirts off, with a guitar between them. They seemed just as surprised to see me. With that image in your mind, you know they were up to something. After putting down a half naked serenading spree, the hotel ambient noise finally settled down as we closed our second day of tour.
No comments:
Post a Comment