Back to the jungle.

Papallacta! Is this nice or what?

From Saturday, April 27 to Thursday, May 2 we were back in the jungle for a second time. Although the ride is pretty long (about five or six hours, depending) we made it fun by stopping in a town called Papallacta on the way. Papallacta is a town pretty high in the Andes mountains known for its volcanic hot springs. There are spas all over the place as well as pools heated by the volcanoes. There are several different pools at the spa, all of different temperatures, so you can hop from one to another. I stayed in the pretty hot one the whole time, relaxing and talking with the girls. It was amazing, not to mention the beautiful scenery! By the time I got back on the bus I was so relaxed, I hardly noticed the rest of the journey.

Yet another volcano visible from the pools at Papallacta. 

Once we arrived in Misahualli we had an early dinner (delicious, as always!) and headed out to the town plaza to meet up with the missionaries we support there. I've already told you a little bit about Roberto, Charmai, and their school, as well as the other American missionaries who work there. The group from Antioquia (the name of the school; Antioch in English) had planned an evangelism event to take place during Fiestas de Misahualli, which is basically a long town party to celebrate the founding of the town. Once we met up with them we found out we were going to be part of a flash mob! They had planned two dances to reggeton (that's the most popular type of music here other than salsa. For the record, it's not reggae) music with Christian lyrics and we all learned them quickly. After that, the missionaries and their children put on three different dramas, all very well done. Testimonies were shared and the Gospel was communicated beautifully. It was such a great way to start the week.

View of Misahualli from the hostal window.

On Sunday morning we started work on a basketball court for the school. Let me tell you, anything you do in the jungle is about ten times harder than anywhere else. Clearing the land seems like impossible work, even if it's just a small portion. The guys set to work removing some tree trunks and roots from the court area, while the rest of us moved river rocks to form the foundation of the court. It was hot, sweaty, humid work, not to mention all the jungle wildlife we saw (mostly in the form on scary spiders and other bugs). We continued with this work on Monday and Tuesday mornings as well. Eventually I volunteered to help place the rocks on the basketball court, which was even harder work. The rocks were big and heavy, and fitting them together is like working on a giant puzzle where the pieces don't necessarily fit together. The sun was brutal on Tuesday morning as well. Still, we all stayed encouraged and I didn't mind the work too much. I actually enjoy physical labor for the most part--but not so much the bugs!



Sunday afternoon was spent hanging out at the beach next to the Napo River, which is basically what the whole town does on weekends. Communities in this part of Ecuador are so isolated that people rarely venture out of their tiny towns. There are no big grocery stores, just little tiendas that pretty much offer one kind of just the basics. As far as things to do, there's soccer, swimming, discotecas, and that's about it. At least, that's all I've seen but perhaps there's more!

The rest of the afternoons were spent running a sports camp for the local youth. By doing this we were able to reach younger kids and teenagers, and I think everyone had a lot of fun. Since I didn't know a ton about the sports we picked (basketball and soccer) I translated, talked with the teenage girls, and told a Bible story on one of the days. Roberto, who is Ecuadorian, told me I had great Spanish after I told the story. It was a little moment of accomplishment for me. So, that's a basic overview of what we did, but there's so much more to tell, coming soon!