Saturday evening

Saturday night was our last evening in Quito.  After we finished our hike, we went to the Gomez farm for a pig picking...not sure if they call it that in Ecuador!  It was very good food and I discovered an awesome candy called Bianchi.  It is a caramel covered chocolate!  Not too much chocolate, and lots of caramel!  Yum! 

The farmhouse is on top of a hill and from there you can see a volcano. The volcano has snow on top of it.

There are lots of fruit trees on their farm...passion fruit, bananas, plantains, lemons, dragonfruit...and coffee trees.  I even chewed on a coffee bean.  It tasted like coffee, but since I don't like coffee, it wasn't that good!

Cinnamon tree

Dragon fruit

Coffee Beans

The kind of tree used to make dart guns

We gave the ladies from the church flowers a a thank you gift. 

The church secretary

The pastor's wife

One of our favorite drivers

The first lady I met at the Macas church

The Gomez family

That yummy candy!

Our last stop of the evening was downtown Macas.  We spent some time finishing up our shopping.  In Macas that meant mainly buying snacks to take back home.  I was able to get a bag of Bianchi. 

The sweetest thing that happened for me was that night.  We met the bus at the church and Abigail was waiting for me.  I had left her an English/Spanish Bible storybook, and she had a gift for me.  She and her family gave me a necklace and bracelet.  I also got a big hug from her.  Her family seems to be involved in the church and I am happy for her about that.  She wrote me a note that said "Gracias por su amistad.  Dios bendiga su vida y familia."  (Thank you for your friendship.  God bless your life and family.)  I will always treasure that bracelet!

Family time at the hotel ended our evening before a restless night's sleep due to a karaoke party at the hotel.  We were packed and ready to get going the next day for home!

Camden hanging out with my mom in Columbia!  They had fun together!  I miss my family and was ready to see them again.

   

Sabado

Saturday was my other favorite tourist day!  The chartered bus that had picked us up Friday night from the Shimpis church also took us around on Saturday.  Our first stop was the Laberintos del Chiguaza.

This place is a type of nature preserve.  There was a pool there that we were going to swim in after our hour hike through the caves.  Well, 3 hours later we finished!  But it was a great 3 hours.  What we thought was a cave exploration was actually a hike through the mountains, but it was an awesome experience!

The bridge to the preserve

The pool

Fossils in the rock

We saw a huge scorpion spider,

walked through a rock maze (only one like it in the world), 

listened to our guide talk about the environment, 

and then walked down the mountain to explore the caves.  It was really more like going into the first part of a cave and then coming out.  

Bats!

Nathan and Alexia

Colby 

Bats flying!

More caves on the other side of the river

We finished with going into a real cave, squatting down in the dark, the guide turning on the light, and then having the bats fly above us.  You could hear their wings flapping.  It was very cool!

The cave we went in

Only four of us stayed with the guide to go into the cave, while the rest of the group went back.  We walked back with the guide, who ran off and left us when we got on the road....we weren't sure if this road led back to the center, but thankfully it did!

When you touch these leaves, they close

This was truly another jungle hike!  It cost $7, but it was well worth the money!  

During the hike, we saw the type of tree that the Shuar women get beads from once a year in order to make their jewelry.  

While most of the youth went swimming in the natural pool, some people took pictures with a boa constrictor.  They held it around their neck and they said it was very heavy.  

Nathan's Grammie hates snakes and his Gramma hates spiders...he had them both covered on this trip!

Christian

Michelle

Brianna

I kept thinking of the song I sang in elementary school....

I'm being eaten by a boa constrictor and I don't like it one bit...oh no, its up to my toe; oh fiddle, it's up to my middle; oh heck it's up to my neck!