Good Trip...the sign on the way to Shimpis
And we really did get off the dirt road path to hike through the muddy walking trail. The team was broken up into 4 groups and our group was led by a Shuar woman named Ortensia. We were able to stop at four houses. Rocky spoke at the first house; Nat at the third; and I had the second house. The lady at that house asked me to pray for her. Her name was Olga. She only spoke Shuar, so I actually had two interpreters. Mitzi interpreted for me to Ortensia and then Ortensia interpreted for Mitzi to Olga. The Shuar language must be pretty different, because Mitzi said she knew how we felt when we are listening to Spanish speakers!
more mountains!!
Horses would be standing on the side of the road...and when we returned, they would be in the same spot. Not sure if they were tied up
Banana tree!
After the third house, we left the dirt path for the muddy path! This was the way to Ortnesia's house...well the shell of her house that is being rebuilt. On the way to the house, she stopped several times and started crying. She told Mitzi that her house had been burned down, and that her 8 year old son, although he escaped, had been in the burning house trying to put out the fire. This was still a hard subject for her to talk about. She also told Mitzi that their house was burned down because their faith was different than the Shuar people who burned it down.
Ortensia walking through the jungle in flats...while we all wore rain boots!
More banana trees!
We caught up with the rest of the group when we arrived at her house. Her husband, Miguel, was cutting sugar cane for us to chew on. Ortensia found a gourd and showed us how she washes it off. She told us that she will use it for holding water when it is hollowed out.
Sugar cane and the commonly seen machete
Ortensia showing off the gourd
Plantain tree
Miguel and Ortensia's house
Papayas
When we left their house, the path to the church was muddier than the first part. After the really muddy part, we passed a hotel in the jungle and the house of a witch doctor that another group had approached earlier.
Ants walking on the path!
Chickens were everywhere!
Just having fun walking through the jungle!
The hotel in the jungle...with a coke machine!
More chickens!
We made it to the Shimpis church. The church in Macas had brought lunch for us and it was fried fish. The head was on the fish, which was different, however, it was delicious! I ate three pieces! The church there is small and there were desks set up, like the church on Little House on the Prairie. The shelter that our team had raised money for was built and ready for the children to gather. It is still nothing like our children's wing..it was essentially a carport. But a shelter overhead is better than no roof. The toilet was in a little shed, and you had to pour water down it to flush it.
The church in Shimpis
After eating lunch at the church, we headed to San Miguel for another church. That will be in a different post.
Other notes about the cars transporting us....they were all manual. They are usually about 20 years old, but they are what the people can afford. A new car..a small new car...would cost about $90,000. People drive a little different here than in the states. They ignore stop signs if no one is coming (well, I am sure many Americans do that too!); and they honk to let people know to get out of the way. The roads are full of potholes (but we are used to that in Charleston!), so the rides are very bumpy. The lady who drove us this morning drove past the turn off road, tried to do a three point turn, missed the driveway, and ended up in the ditch. No problem though! The guys just pushed her out! Overall, riding around Macas has been an adventure!
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