Seeing the Sights

Today was a gorgeous day in Ecuador....

We started out by feeding toddlers, dressing and feeding infants, which I think will be a routine. There is no feeling in the world like sitting in a room with 5 or 6 infants scattered around playing/sleeping on the floor!

Since the orphanage has many volunteers on the weekend, we decided it would be a good day to strike out and learn a few things about Ecuador......(because ordering pizza was not enough! :)

So with Natasha's great inquiring skills and a map drawn up we struck out to ride the bus....

Just walking down to the bus station from the orphanage. It was so nice outside, the sun felt so close and it was so bright!!

Well after a very kind gate man made sure we got on the right bus, we were off! Feeling pretty good about this whole adventure.

So our first bus experience was quite memorable! When we were on the trolleybus a little old lady went crashing to the floor when the bus took off! It was so terrible, she smacked down good, and sat there crying. Then a bland man was walking around on the bus asking for money (almost stepped on the lady), then decided to get off at a stop, (we were in the way back of the bus, where the driver cannot see) he is half way out of the doors and the driver starts closing them! I thought for sure he was going to be smashed! But a bunch of people yelled something at the driver so he opened the doors and let him out! Then when out stop finally came around, he opened the door and like two people got out then he shut them....but a nice lady hollered at the driver again so he let us off! huge sigh of relief! So an hour and a half later we arrived at our destination! But it only cost 25 cents!

This was not our destination, but interesting anyway. Its amazing how much stuff them cram into these little stores.

Destination : Basilica

It was absolutely huge and beautiful! The architecture was amazing!

The ceiling

You had to pay $2 to get in, but many people were in their praying.....

so I guess they have to pay to go into their church to pray....

I guess they have these in the open so others can stand around you making sure you confess everything!

You can buy you crucifixes here!

I guess you might call this the courtyard.

This is actually the front view...we came from the back.

The pipe organ, I would have loved to have heard this played!

The ever nosy one I had to try out everything! It just led to a locked gate outside.

From the balcony

The stain glass windows were magnificent!

This one didn't have anything over it!

So of course I had to try it out! :)

There was a little restaurant half way up so we stopped and had a real tamale! I'm not ever sure what it was wrapped in, but I enjoyed it quite well until I came across an unidentifiable chunk (that was not chicken).

Getting up higher! Natasha and I decided to go all the way up!

Getting higher, this is in the bell tower, there was a wood walkway all the way around.

There is all the mechanics!

This was the stairs we had to climb.

My first try at a panoramic photo.....didn't turn out very well, I didn't know what I was doing!

We made it to the top!

I'm not sure what all this monkey business was about, but I was feeling thankful I have some experience being a carpenters daughter, I put it to good use climbing around!

So then we decided to go up the other side and we had to cross on the rickety bridge.....

Don't look down....

I think this is for maintenance......but it looks somewhat familiar!

At the end of the bridge was a ladder (yep straight up) we had to climb.

but we made it!

But there was more....

The mountains are always in view.....

This mountain  is by far my favorite!

laundry's out to dry.....

We are hopfully going to take this one while we are here!

So after we left there we decided to go see the Presidents Palace.

Toilet anyone??

Well we were there we seen some interesting things.....this group was playing music, it was really neat! They were really pretty good! Then there were so many dogs running around on the street, we seen some start fighting.

Candid Camera!!

This was another church we stopped at, it was magnificent, but it broke my heart as I watched people flock into pray, realizing that they have no hope, praying to these statues and dead saints. God is that hope, their only hope, but only if we are willing to give up our ideas of Him, and truly follow Him in Spirit and in Truth.

The sign said to take a picture of the sky, so I did.

O yes, feed the birds...

There are so many beggars and people selling things on the streets! Lottery tickets was a big one! At red lights people walk by the cars carrying fruits and vegetables. Its just amazing!

I was walking down the street and I heard a guy walking past me say, beautiful! So I glanced away from the building, and he was looking at me....so I'm not quite sure what he was referring to there! But the buildings are really beautiful!

We bought 27 roses, for a surprise birthday party and they cost $4.75! They were beautiful too!

So we decided to head back in a taxi, and avoid the whole bus thing again....... and I swear our taxi driver had one hand on the wheel, and one on the horn!! It was crazy! They drive like mad! On streets lined with pedestrians it felt like we were going at least 40 mph, then he was honking at them to get out of the way, but we made it home safely!

It was amazing how God was with us, through the whole day! When we needed directions, we found a officer, or traffic director who helped us out! Two even asked us later when we walked by them, if we had found what we were looking for! Or course we were pretty hard to forget! Pretty sure we could not have had more attention or stares if we had been space aliens! But God was so gracious! and it was a wonderful day, sunburn and all! Next time they won't notice us as much! :)