January 23rd through January 29th

January 23rd through January 29th: Monday: We went downtown to the Basilica of the National Vow.  Construction began in 1892 and it was consecrated in 1988, but remains technically unfinished because the local legend is that when it is finished the world will end.  It is an amazing building. 

It is hard to get a good picture of the outside because the building is built on a hill.

This brass door repesents the baptism of one of the indigenous people.

It is massive inside.

There are hundreds of stained glass windows.

We then took an elevator to the bottom of the towers, level 10 and then I climbed to the top of this small tower.

The views were fantastic.

Video of the views.

The gargoyles are birds in flight.

I then climbed to the top of one of the main towers.  8 flights of stairs.

Looking across at the other tower.  I am looking out of the small window that is in the middle of the triangle.

View of the Panacillo.

Looking down

We then took a taxi to the Volcano Park and rode the tram close to the top of Pichincha.  The top of the tram is 13,287 feet above sea level, but the top of the volcano is another 2000 feet. It was a clear day when we start up. 

This is mural in the building where we bought our tram tickets.

View from the top.

We made it to the top of the tram.

View of Quito on the way down.  Those two poles are for bikes so you can ride your bike down.

Video on the trip down.

Tuesday through Friday:  We worked the morning shifts.  I am mostly still training officiators for the endowment sessions and Chris is still training in initiatory. Tuesday we went to lunch with the Cameron's, the office couple and Thursday we met up with the Cameron's and President and Sister Winters for lunch at Top Ten Burgers. 

Lunch at Top Ten Burgers.

It is probably top ten for Quito but would not make it on my top ten list for Utah.  We had a lot of large groups from Otavalo this past week. 

It is always fun to see them come by bus and all be dressed in their traditional clothing.  Saturday was another long day.  During the week we were able to do two endowment sessions and a sealing session in the evenings.  Sunday: We went to church and then the Cameron's came and together we took an Uber to Papallacta in the mountains.  We had lunch and then checked into our hotel and spent a few hours in the hot pools right outside of our rooms. 

Lunch at Papallacta with the Cameron's

We are going to spend P-Day relaxing in the hot pools and maybe even treat ourselves to a massage.  

January 16th through January 22nd

January 16th through January 22nd:  Monday:  We again did our cleaning and grocery shopping.  We also went into Quito and met President and Sister Winters for lunch at a very nice Itailian resturant. It was fun to talk with them about how the mission work is going here in Quito.  We worked the afternoon/evening shift this last week.  We were also able to get in two endowment sessions on Tuesday and Friday morning.  Thursday:  I spent the morning cooking 3 Chinese dishes and then we had President and Sister Aguirre over for lunch. We so enjoy both of them.  We seem to get along very well and we end up laughing a lot. 

We actually ate in their apartment, because their table is big enough for all the dishes.

Saturday was a long day in the temple.  Sunday: We went to church and then came home and listened to stake conference in our home stake.  It was a really good meeting and President Eryring was the concluding speaker.  He lives in the ward next to ours and often comes to our stake conferences. 

Chris and Sister Aguirre after church.

We then we next door to President Aguirre's apartment and had dinner with them and their daughter's family.  We got to speak with most of our kids and grandkids in the evening.

January 9th through January 15th

January 9th through January 15th:  Monday:  We took an Uber into Quito and went to lunch with Elder and Sister Cameron.  We enjoy getting to talk with other senior couples serving here in Ecuador.  Tuesday through Friday:  We served in the temple for the morning shifts.  Tuesday evening we did an endowment session. Thursday, after the shift, we went to the Colon Ward and got our flu shots.  We invited the Sister missionaries that live in Cumbaya ride back with us in our Uber.  Once we realized that they had not had lunch we took them to lunch at TFIG Friday.  It is fun to listen to their enthusiasm for the gospel.  Sister Thompsons will be going home on our same flight.  She is from Arizona.  Thursday evening we did initiatorys at the temple and Friday we did some sealings we needed to get done.  Saturday:  We did our shift and stayed on till about 2:30 pm.  Sunday:  We went to church and then listened to the Sacrament meeting in our home ward where John Jr, our son, spoke in church.  It was fun to be able to be part of that meeting.  Sorry we have no pictures.

January 2nd through January 8th

January 2nd through January 8th:  Monday:  We were supposed to go on a walk before we left the lodge to look for birds at 6:00am, but when 6:00am rolled around it was raining very hard.  It had rained most of the night and the river was about 3 feet higher than on Sunday.  We had breakfast and loaded up in two canoes and headed up river to our drop off point the Bridge at Cuyabeno.  The ride up river went much faster than when we came in.  The river being much higher made it possible to go much faster and there were not as many dead trees sticking out of the water. 

Ginny filmed the same part of the river as I did.

This blue butterfly had iridescent wings.

I forgot this one from our night walk.

We got on our bus and were on our way back to Quito at noon.  We stopped 3 times for bathroom breaks and food and drink.  We got dropped off at 10:00pm at the temple. 

This is the Sumaco volcano just over 13,000 feet above sea level.  We drove straight for it for about 2 hours.

We then turned and went around it to the south.

Tuesday:  Sam and Ginny and the girls headed to the airport to go to the Galapagos Islands.  We did laundry and some cleaning.  We went to the evening shift at the temple.  Wednesday and Thursday: We did our evening shifts at the temple.  Friday: We did the morning shift so that we could cook dinner for Ginny and her family.  They got back from their trip about 6:00pm. We fed them and then they headed to Otavalo.  Ginny is on the board of directors of the foundation that supports Saminay,  the school that we have visited a number of times. Saturday: We spent from 7:00am till 3:00pm in the temple.  I did 2 sessions and Chris was in initiatory all day.  She needs a back rub.  Sunday:  We went to church and cooked dinner for Ginny and her family.  They spent the afternoon and evening with us before heading to the airport for their trip home. In the evening Chris, Ginny, Xela, and Willa went into Quito to the Cathedral Metropolitan to see a giant nativity.  They all said it was amazing.  It had thousands of figures, representing the Nativity and everyday life.  It changed from night to day and many of the figures moved.

The Nativity filled the entire floor of the Cathedral

The Girls

Angle visiting Mary

Bread shop

Birth of Jesus

Shepards.

Jesus presented at the temple.

Herod's palace

             Joseph and Mary's flight into Egypt 

We also played some games.

This was the winning drawings.  Mr. Vampire, guitar playing, merman.

December 26th through New Years Day

December 26th through New Years Day:  Monday:  We got word that our daughter, Ginny, and her family's flight got canceled and they would not be leaving until tomorrow.  So we did our cleaning and grocery shopping.  Tuesday: We went to the temple for the morning shift. 

One of the missionary zones that have been coming everyday this week. Quito North Mission

We are starting this week working only the morning shift and then next week working the evening shift.  Ginny and her family arrived at 2:30am early Wednesday morning.  We got them settled into their room and went to bed.  Wednesday: We went to our morning shift and then had lunch with Ginny's family in our apartment. We then went into Quito to the historic district. We went to the "Church of the Sanctuary".

We then went to the Church of the Society of Jesus, or in Spanish the Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus or as everyone here just calls it the Compania.

In front of the Compania.

We then went to the Iglesia and Convent de San Francisco.

Inside the church from the Choir loft.

We then went to Pim's Restaurant on the hill Panecillo to celebrate Xela's 13th birthday.

Happy Birthday Xela

We finished about 7:30pm and could not get a taxi.  We had to walk part way down the hill because there was a line of cars, probably a mile long, trying to get up to see the view of the city.  After about 5 minutes, some people in a taxi trying to get to the top got out to walk and we got the taxi to take Chris, Ginny and the girls back to the temple.  Sam and I continued to walk down.  About 5 minutes later another taxi let his ride out and he turned around and we got him to take us home. This just added to our adventure.  Thursday and Friday: We did our shift and then we hired a van to take us to the Mitad del Mundo, Middle of the Earth or the equator.  On the way we stopped at a volcano where people are now living in the crater.

 

We had a fun tour and demonstrations of things that happen on and near the equator.

 

We then went for linner, if brunch in a meal between breakfast and lunch, then linner is the meal between lunch and dinner.  It was about 4pm.  We had very Ecuadorian food.  Sam even ordered Cui or guinea pig.  We got home about 6:00pm.  We went over to the temple and did baptisms for the dead.  We then spent the rest of the evening getting ready for our trip to the Amazon jungle.  We got picked up at midnight and after a 10 hour bus ride arrived at El Puente de Cuyabeno or Cuyabeno Bridge. 

We were pickup by our guide, Elias, and we were transported by river canoes to our lodge on the Cuyabeno river.  It was about a 4 hour boat ride. 

Here we go.

Video of our trip to the lodge.

We stopped along the way to see birds and other wildlife.

Can you see the bird on the log?

Trees fall into the river every week.

Monkeys moving through the trees.

We got settled into our rooms and then after dark we went on a walk into the jungle.  Willa and Xela were a bit nervous and afraid but stuck it out for about 90 minutes. 

Many different kinds of mushrooms.

Lots of spiders.

That is a 4 inch long cricket.

We got back to the lodge and had dinner and then it was off to bed.  Saturday: After breakfast, we took a 90 minute canoe ride down river to visit a local community.  We had  an hour hike into the village. 

The hike up to the trail was really muddy.

Here is our group, Christian on the left is from Quito.

 A cock fight almost broke out.

We found these butterfly wings on the trail.  Something ate the body of the butterfly.

This lady bug is about 1 inch long.

We then spent 4 hours with a women and her kids.  She had prepared some treats for us and then she taught us how to make yuca bread.  We had to dig up the yuca, then skin it, grate it into a mash, then press all the water out, then sift it into a very granulated flour, then make large tortillas, then cook them and finally eat them. 

Lots of treats when we arrived.

Sam was strong enough to pull up the yuca.

Willa was especially good at pealing the skin off the yuca root.

We all chipped in to grate the yuca.

Our host mostly sifted the grated yuca after all the juices had been squeezed out.

Chris cooking the yuca bread.

After our late lunch, the daughter and her friend brought in some necklaces and bracelets that they had made.  We bought Chris a matching necklace and bracelet. 

We then hiked to visit the village Shaman.  He tried to heal some neck and upper back pain I had. The cure was worse then the aliment.  He slapped my upper back with stinging nettle and then put some medicine on the rash.  It hurt so bad that I completely forgot about the pain in my neck so I guess he did cure me. 

My back was a bit red from the stinging nettle.

I would not recommend him to my worst enemy.

We hiked back to the boats and went up stream this time to our lodge. 

Good thing we all had our mud boots on.

The bird is blowing air in and out to cool off.

Don't blink or you will miss the dolphins.

On the way back we stopped to see the largest tree in the jungle.  A Cebal tree.  The base is about 20 feet wide.

After dark we went out in the canoe hunting caimans, similar to an alligator.  We were successful and afterward returned for dinner. 

This is a child and only his head is out of the water.

Sunday:  A 3 to 4 hour walk in the jungle was on the schedule.  Sam and Ginny were the only ones up for it.  Chris and I rested up after our long day visiting the village.  In the afternoon, we went to the lagoon.  This time of year it is really just a dried up and muddy lake bottom. 

Xela got sick and threw up so we went back to the lodge.  After dark, we went back out to find some more caiman.  We then had dinner. We all have a few bug bites, but it has not been bad. Here are some other pictures you might find interesting. 

This fish jumped into the canoe.

This is the lodge.

A beautiful butterfly.

This building looks out over the river.

The head is in the middle of the black and yellow stripes.

Black butterfly flying.

Xela wanted to eat the cacao pod.