¿Como se llama el llama?

Taken while climbing "Naked Face" Mountain

This past Friday, our team was all set out to leave for Cuenca at 8am sharp, only to find out that our ride had broke down.  Unfortunately this bit of info wasn't shared with us immediately, but after 2 hours of waiting, we set out for Cuenca.  The delay actually worked out to our advantage.  Instead of cramming 14 of us and our backpacks into a 14 passenger van, we each got our own seats in two 8 passenger minivans (with plenty of leg room and comfy seats).  Even though there was a 4 hour car ride ahead of us, I wasn't planning on sleeping because of what would lay ahead....the Andes Mountains.

Above the clouds!

We reached the base of the mountains, catching only a glimpse of what was to come as we began our ascend.  On our way up we hit a really bad "fog" but our driver still insisted on speeding around corners and passing cars.  After a while, we emerged from the "fog" only to realize that we had been driving through clouds.  We were now driving above the clouds!  It was literally a sea of clouds as far as your eye could see.  Our jaws remained dropped for the remainder of the car ride as we weaved and climbed through the Andes Mountains on our way to Cuenca.  Pictures can't accurately display the beauty of God's creation.  On a side note: We passed through a national park and were able to see wild llamas!

We arrived at our hostel in Cuenca, with high expectations after our experience in Puerto Lopez.  While I don't know if the expectations ever got met, it was definitely an experience.  The hostel had a central cafe area with a courtyard that branched off the back.  The rooms were scattered between the cafe and the courtyard.  Room 2 gave us a lot of problems.  It started off as one of the girls' rooms.  They walked in to find a guy sleeping on one of the beds.  After that got taken care of (he happened to be from Oregon, was hungover, and gladly switched rooms as long as he could sleep some more), the guys took over the room due to the lack of a shower.  The room was a cave with no outside windows but we could make do.  A little while after, we get informed of the hostel's evening activity, an electronic light show techno party.  "Cool," we thought. I like light shows.  I like dancing.  and I like parties.  Until they started setting up the stage a mere 3 feet from our room's door.  We were able to get switched out to a room in the court yard, but I had to settle for a mattress on the floor.  We took room 8 which helped keep the 8-Bro-Uno theme alive.

We set out for the town market to do some souvenir shopping, with one item particularly in mind....LLAMA SWEATERS.  See the process for choosing a llama sweater is harder than it would seem.  One does not simply choose a llama sweater, it chooses you....kind of like Pokemon (yes I did just fit Pokemon into my blog post).  Side note: Alpaca sweater is the correct term but they have pictures of llamas on them.

I think I was in the bathroom...

On the first day, 12 out of the 14 of us found their llama sweater matches.  Don't worry, the story did end happily for the other 2, just not until Saturday.  Provided with a large array of llama apparel and random knick knacks, my family will be quite pleased with their souvenirs, as am I.

After an enjoyable dinner including mac'n'cheese, we headed back to the hostel, where our night was just beginning.  During the night we experienced and learned a variety of different things.  I will begin the listing... Dancing to techno music is frowned upon, as a slow side to side swaying motion is preferred (in order to enjoy the music...).  The hostel doubles as a bar at night so we experienced our fair share of drunk Ecuadorians in which drugs may or may not have been involved.  The phrase "Guests and Authorized Personnel Only" actually means "all are welcome", as our private courtyard filled with the party.  It is hard to fall asleep on a brick mattress to the booming sound of a techno song on repeat.  Cuenca gets really cold at night, and a lack of blankets will keep you up.  Parties in Cuenca last until the wee hours of the night.  Summing everything up, it was a great night in which everyone was able to get a full night's sleep, including myself.

After having not actually been able to count the full number of hours of sleep, I filled my stomach with delicious french toast on Saturday morning.  Saturday was low key, as was the whole trip since there was no planned agenda.  The highlight from Saturday was definitely hiking the Andes Mountains.  A little after lunch time, about half the team set out to hike to the peak of "Naked Face" Mountain.  Unfortunately our hostel was in the middle of the city so we had to walk quite a bit to the base of the mountain, but we did encounter a whole pig roasting over a fire during our stroll.  The thrill factor definitely increased as our climb began by sneaking through a barbed wire fence.  The view just kept getting better and better as we climbed higher.  The town proved to be quite larger than I thought, as it spread the entire width of the valley.  Clouds covered the mountains across from us as we saw rain pour down.  We stopped at the "Naked Face" (a giant cliff near the top of the mountain) to take pictures before climbing to the peak.  We made it to the peak, a proud accomplishment, as we stood over looking the entire city.  I later found out we only hiked a vertical height of about 525 ft (thanks to Courtney) which doesn't seem like much until I thought of it as 52 stories which made me feel a little better.  We also discovered a graveyard atop the mountain in which a few off the graves appeared to have been robbed.  I like to think it was actually zombies but we can just go with the more realistic approach.  Besides the creepiness of the cemetery, the mountain was beautiful.  We all agreed to retire to Cuenca and start our own village in the mountains but to have elevators for easier transportation, logical right?

Saturday's dinner included an amazing Italian meal consisting of pizza.  This however sparked a much heated debate of how to eat pizza.  Being from Chicago, it definitely makes sense to eat pizza with a knife and fork but when it's thin crust, is folding allowed?  Or is it a sin to Chicago and pizza lovers of the world?  I ended up having almost a whole pizza in which I cut a slice, folded a slice, rolled a slice and ate a slice with my hands.  While the "pizza roll" was quite tasty, I think I have to settle with cutting deep dish with a knife and fork while eating thin crust by the hand (un-folded) as the most effective ways of eating a pizza.

Saturday night was much better for sleeping, as there was a live acoustic set, but that didn't stop the party from raging until 3 in the morning.  I did however enjoy some good conversation with tourists from Scotland, Germany and Switzerland prior to going to bed.  The Loch Ness monster really does exist for all of you wondering.

Cuenca is my kind of town and the team debate of beach or mountains has me settled on the mountains side.  I'd take the views and brisk mountain air any day.  Now we're back to the high heat humidity in Guayaquil, with one week of campus sharing left.

Please pray for students' eagerness to get connected to the movements on the campuses as we continue to disciple this week.  Pray especially for wisdom and guidance in my talking with a group of atheists tomorrow (Tuesday).  Not for an argument of religion, but just for open ears and open hearts to hear the Gospel, then God will do the rest of the work.

Sleeping in tomorrow, 

Jeremias