Day Adventures: What an amazing day!

Well Matt's taxi did not show up this morning! He is not sure why it never came, but he hitched a ride with some people coming into Quito. He said that in order for him to ride with the people coming to Quito, one of the men had to lay in the back of the truck on a mattress covered with a blanket to stay warm most of the two and a half hour trip!  Then Eduardo, the friend I met last May left the swimming pool to pick Matt up in a small town on the route to Quito and was able to join us at the park.

We just got home from spending the day with Eduardo and his wife Alexandra. It was an amazing day! We went to La Castilla de Amaguaña which is a huge park/club area. It has six pools, a few little zip lines, playgrounds, horses to ride, four wheelers, racquetball, squash, basketball, soccer, obstacle courses, a spa, paddle boats, a little zoo, a climbing wall, water slides and so much more! The kids rode horses, played on the playground, saw an ostrich, a llama, and peacocks, played soccer, went swimming, rode a little zip line and rode paddle boats. The park is in the middle of beautiful mountains.  We ate lunch there and then after playing went to Eduardo and Alexandra's house and met one of their sons and his girlfriend. We sat and talked and had popcorn and a different kind of mango that you suck out of the skin. The mango was delicious and the conversation was fantastic. Later we ate bread and cheese and drank hot chocolate. Lucas even got to watch a soccer game which he thoroughly loved.  It really could not have been a better day! We are all exhausted.

All week we have been treated so nicely by people even when we had no idea what they were saying and they did not understand us. I could not have made it through the week without so many helpful people especially getting on and off the buses. This week and today especially, the Ecuadorian people showed us their true selflessness and compassion.
   This is us starting our day this morning in front of our gate.