Quinindé, hogar de mis amiguitos negros

Looking at all these pictures of Ecuador and reflecting on our trip has got me seriously missing the country and wanting so much to go back!!
Day 3 we traveled to Quininde from Quito which took about 4-5 hours down a winding canyon, full of beautiful green banana trees and tall waterfalls. I really felt like I was in a different world. I liked this world. :)
On the way there I had to stop and use the bathroom, of course. We found this guy right outside the restroom.

We all stopped for a photo op. After we all got attacked by red ants, we were back on the road!

Ben's church from June to November of 1997.

The Church is still true...even in the middle of the world!!

Melissa, Chuck and Ben walking the streets of Quininde.

Ben and Chuck lived on the 2nd floor of the yellow house for the first 5 months and then moved to the orange one.


Quininde is a very poor city. Their homes were very simple.




On the mission, Ben would cross over a bridge everyday that went over the Rio Blanco.

He said he always wanted to jump in it to cool off. Quininde is really hot and muggy. He wasn't so interested this time!! It was pretty dirty. This is where Ben's Mamita would wash their clothes. Take them down to the river and wash them on a rock!!

How cool is this? A woman carrying her bucket of laundry on top of her head??? These people are so AWESOME!

My favorite thing about this city, were the kids. They were so friendly with us and talked to us. I thought they were so cute!!!
This little guy was grilling plantains, which I love BTW!!

Right after I took this pic, the girl in the orange shirt stuck her tongue out at me! So, I did it back to her! Hey, I've never been the kind to walk away from a fight!!! She laughed at me!

These kids were on their way home from school. So cute!! Look how stylin' and handsome those boys were.
I love that as soon as I started taking the pictures, all the girls wanted to come over and have their picture take too! See them runnin' over!?


This little one was shy...

But hands down, these 3 little boys were my FAVORITE!! They were outside playing with this log and Ben pulled over to talk to them. We got them on video and I love playing it over and over 'cause their little voices are so cute. They were friendly and very happy. I love these little boys and that's why I entitled this blog post as "Quininde, home of my little black buddies.":)

They were proof to me that you can be happy with whatever God gives you. Even if it's just a little. I will never forget their cute faces.
As you leave the city, there is a giant statue of Jesus. These people are pretty hard core Catholic. I thought it looked cool against the sunset. (BTW, the sun sets faithfully at 6pm every night in Ecuador.)

It was time to head to our hotel for the evening but Melissa and I demanded that Ben and Chuck take us to Silencio!!! Why?? Because they told us the most hilarious story of them walking through the jungle of Silencio in the pitch darkness and being attacked by dogs. The only light they had was from Ben's little glow in the dark watch!! Then to top it off, Charlie meets a donkey face to face out of nowhere!!! The way they told the story had us all cracking up pretty bad!!!
Chuck and Ben standing just outside of the jungle of Silencio. The jungle was super thick. I can't imagine what it would be like in pitch darkness! Scary...

The jungle was mostly full of banana plants Just a fun little factoid ('cause I'm married to man with a brain full of factoids): The banana plant is not a tree, but the world's largest perennial and grows up to 25 feet, developing massive banana leaves that can extend 9 feet in the air. Did you know that bananas grow up? And that they start from a flower?? They're amazing. Ecuador is the largest exporter of bananas in the world. Check your Dole sticker...it mostly likely says Ecuador. If it says Mexico, don't buy them!!! :)

The schools in Ecuador are not big enough to occupy all the kids at one time so some kids go to school in the morning and the others go in the afternoon. These girls were on their way home from school.

After goofing around for a while, we decided to head to the hotel. We were all pooped. We ended up staying at an incredible resort in the middle of the rainforest. More later!!!

xoxo