Sunday in Ecuador

Today, we met for breakfast at 7:30 am, as usual. Diego picked us up at 8:15 am to head to the Cathedral in Guayaquil for Mass. There is Mass on Sunday’s every hour on the hour, at 7:00 am, 8, 9, 10, etc. all the way until 5:00 pm. We arrived about 20 minutes early so decided to visit the iguana park before rather than after Mass.

The park is filled with iguanas, turtles and fish in ponds. They hang out in the trees so you have to be careful that they don’t fall on you or poop on you. The boys took to calling this “the splash zone” and avoided the tree branches all together.

Mass was lovely. Of course it was entirely in Spanish, but still lovely. They begin Masses with intentions, then as usual. At the end of Mass, we walked aroun

d a bit to see some of the statues and shrines that were present. They have a beautiful area dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of the Americans and St. Narisa and St. James (Santiago), the patron of Guayaquil. We didn’t have much time since the next Mass was about to begin so left.

Diego was waiting in the van for us. He dropped us off at the Hostal so that we could change into work clothes. Then we walked back to the Foundation for our work project. Today, the boys are cleaning all the screens and windows of the men’s section with Diego and Charlie (the maintenance staff. Edgar has the day off today).

We had yucca and green plantain tortillas for snack today. The yucca tortillas were very yummy – it was the first time I had had them. Following our snack, Maria and I played dominos with Ramon and Leon. Ramon won, of course!

While we were playing, Nathan asked Maria and I to help the women (Lisette and Jenny) in the kitchen making salad for lunch. They had made puree de papas (mashed potatoes) and pollo rostado (roast chicken) for lunch along with the salad. Brendan E. had 4 servings!

When everyone had finished eating, Germania told us her story. She has worked here for 23 years – helping to organize Sr. Annie and manage the foundation. She will eventually take over when Sr. Annie retires.

When the boys finish the windows this evening, we’ll go back to the hostal for showers, then out to dinner at the food court at the Mall. Diego, Jocelyn, Nathan and Germania will accompany us.