After our visit to Quininde and our beautiful stay at Kashama, we headed to Santo Domingo. We drove through fields and fields of piña (pineapple) and the beautiful Ecuadorian canyons to get there. There were beautiful waterfalls like this one throughout.
When we arrived in Santo Domingo, we stopped for lunch at KFC (slim pickin's in Santo Domingo) and then went to find Ben's and Chuck's old house. When we drove up to the house, a man and woman were standing outside talking. Ben rolled down the window and asked if the missionaries still lived there. The man answered him and said that they haven't lived there in years and that he and his family now live there. Ben told the man that he lived there while on his mission. The man said, "We're members! Do you want to come in and look around?" Ben was excited. So, we met Teo and his wife Yesenia and Yesenia's twin sister, Maricela. None of them spoke English and Yesenia was asking me all these questions and Teo was talking with Ben and Chuck. Then all of a sudden this little kid who totally reminded me of an Ecuadorian version of my 6 year old nephew, Spencer, popped up out of nowhere and said, "I can translate for you!!" Woah!! Where did you come from!? Turns out that Maricela's son speaks perfect English. What a cutie! He was very proud to be our translator.
Seeing the house was really cool for Ben and Charlie. They spent Christmas of '97 and New Year’s '97/'98 there together and then Charlie got transferred. They had 17 baptisms in that one month between them. Ben didn't know it at the time, but the family that owned the home and lived above him was Maricela and Yesenia!
Teo offered us a drink. I said, "Yes, that would be great!" About 15 minutes later, Teo came back with Fanta for everyone. My heart dropped when I realized that he had run to the store to get us a drink. Little things like having a soda pop in our fridge are little pleasantries that Ecuadorians just don't enjoy like we do. All the Ecuadorians that I met were so hospitable and wanted to do all they could to make us feel welcome.
Saying goodbye was hard!! I immediatley liked Maricela (orange shirt). I felt like I had just met new friends and now had to say good bye, not knowing when we would ever see each other again.
(our little translator is the boy in the blue shirt and flip flops)
After we said goodbye to our new friends, we dropped by the church where Ben and Chuck would have their district meetings and hang out on P-Day.
A quick photo and we're off! We stopped at the bakery for some yummy bread and then headed for home.
This is La Cara del Diablo (The Devil’s Face). It's basically a giant Chia Pet carved into the mountain. Not too scary. ;)
The drive home was CRAZY!! It was so foggy and Ecuadorians are insane drivers!! Thankfully, Ben was able to channel his inner Mario Andretti and was able to safely get us back to Quito.
We're just getting started!! Stay tuned!!
