It was a Mexican Thanksgiving in Ecuador

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving the kids only had a half day of school.  So we packed up the family, warm clothes, a ton of food, some board games and headed out of Dodge.  We hired a taxi to give us a lift to the Puyo bus station six miles away with all our things.  From there we would ride a couple of hours to the Tena bus station where we would take a three to four hour ride to the small mountain town of Papallacta.  This roughly 200 km (120 mile) trip could take us up to eight hours due to road construction, transfers, bus stops, and mountain curves.

Once we got in the taxi, we found our first bit of good fortune.  This driver, called by a dear friend for us, was a strong Christian man who said he was willing to cart us all the way to Tena directly for a fee.  We took him up on his offer and ended up shaving off about two hours of our drive time.  Once we were in Tena we bought tickets and then walked over to the local grocery store, which is larger than ours in Shell, and enjoyed looking at their selection of cereal, popcicles, yogurt and potato chips.  You know you live overseas when walking in a grocery store even keeps your kids entertained. 

A few minutes later we took our Dramamine and boarded the bus.  This ride showed us the eastern ridge of the Andes Mountains and took us through a cloud forest--visibility is almost nil at times since the roads wind through the mountains at about 10,000 feet.  We were ever so grateful that our bus driver took the roads slowly and was willing to make a bathroom stop about three hours in; there are no bathrooms on these buses.  After three and a half hours we arrived just at dark only half an hour behind our other friends who had taken a car.  They had left Shell an hour and a half before us.

The guest house in Papallacta sleeps 28 and costs a mere $112/night.  That worked out to just over $5/person for the 22 of us who stayed.  There are nine bedrooms, two full baths, four half baths, and six shower rooms.  We had a fireplace where Doug kept nursing the flame, and a huge kitchen where Susan (who taught me how to pickle) and I took turns manning the ship.

Papallacta is known for its hot springs.  So, we spent Thanksgiving Day enjoying a hike, a spell in the hot water, and eating yummy food.  Here is a picture of part of our group.  HCJB employees like us get in free; otherwise it would have cost us $29/day to enjoy this part of the experience.

While the men and older kids hiked up the mountain from 10,200 to 11,000 feet, the ladies and smaller kids remained back checking out the llamas. 

This is a view of one of the many mountain streams found in Ecuador. 

Here are all the kids seated for our Thanksgiving Day meal.  Eleven smiling faces from age five to twelve.

This is the Thanksgiving spread:  four trays of chicken enchiladas, two pots of rice, refried beans, guacamole, homemade salsa and shredded lettuce.  Yum!  We all so miss Mexican food.  We opted not to do turkey since one bird would have cost more than $40!  Turkey is not cheap here.

These are the eleven adults (minus me):  one German, one Canadian, five New Yorkers, one Ecuadorian, Keith who is American but grew up in Ecuador, and then us.

The six of us just before we left to head back to Shell.  We're up on the mountainside at the guesthouse while the small town of Papallacta sits below.

An amazing long weekend.  We all played card games and board games, sat in front of the fire, ate constantly, laughed uproariously at times, enjoyed coffee together each morning, read for pleasure, and got to know each other better.  For Thanksgiving, we therefore, were thankful for time with friends, memories from home in the US, Mexican food, cold weather, no bugs (that one's mine), and so many little things that the Lord does that we take for granted. 

 

We thank you for reading.  Blessings, kim