Sunday Blogday

 

First off, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! I bet my mom is having (or had, considering the time difference) the best mother's day in Europe.  Not only does she get to be with 3 of her kids (Danny, Tom and Jake), but she also gets to celebrate it with her mom!  They are having a blast in Europe, from what I can tell from the 400 Snapchats I get daily from my brothers.

 

Here's my chance to say that I have an amazing, wonderful mother.  She has taught me so much, and I miss being able to talk to her (since she's in Europe and I'm in Ecuador and phone calls would be way too expensive).  My husband can thank you a million times over for teaching me how to make, in his words, the "best apple pie in the whole world," and for teaching me how to smile, work hard and love unconditionally.  Thank you mom for the life you've given me!

 

Here are some more pictures for all you picture lovers.  I forgot to mention that the day before we left for Guayaquil, we went to a cocoa plantation!  The owner of the hotel we were staying at owns it.  He's the one in the colorful striped shirt in the picture.  He taught us about growing the cocoa beans and we got to taste the fruit inside that surround the cocoa part.  It was really good!  This guy also used a machete like a champ and was hacking away at the cocoa bean to open it up without any fear.  You could tell that he was super proud of his plantation and it was cool to see how invested he was in his work.  It reminded me a lot of my dad and his trees.



Our first day in Guayaquil we went to Parque Historico.  There were all sorts of animals there, and they ranged from cute, to scary, to weird.  This one is for Ali Waxman.  SLOTH.  This was a cute one.

These parrots were so beautiful!  It is sad to see that their feathers are cut and they can't fly.  But I guess I wouldn't see them if they flew away.

Flamingo!  This counts as a cool one. 

I found this sign funny.  As you can see, it's for the two-toed sloth.  But if you read the name of the sloth in Spanish, it translates to "Lazy Bear."  I thought that was an interesting way to name a sloth!

These are little pig things.  The baby one in the middle is cute.  The rest....not so much.

I wish I could have gotten a better picture of this guy.  Seriously, BIGGEST bird I have ever seen.  I wish I could remember his name, and my dad could probably tell it to me in a heartbeat.  He just looked so majestic!

This was a bench we saw surrounded by beautiful Ecuadorian flowers.  Shelly commented that it would be the perfect place to take engagement photos.  So, to all of you out there looking for engagement photo sites, this is the place!  It only costs a ton of money to get down here, but it will be worth it, right??

This was the biggest pig I have ever seen.  Seriously, massive.  Side note: when we first got to Guayaquil, I noticed an advertisement for a burger place (I think it was Carl's Junior).  There was this woman on there wearing a string bikini, with tanned skin, defined abs and perfect hair holding a large bacon cheeseburger.  It was as if the sign was saying, "If you eat here, you will look like this!"  I personally think that they should put this pig on that billboard to represent what you will really look like if you make bacon cheese hamburgers a daily part of your diet.

Saturday evening, we went to a festival.  It wasn't a cultural festival like I thought it would be, but it was fun to be out with friends experiencing a small part of the night life here.  Here's a picture from a pier we were standing on.  Guayaquil is so hot and humid and I much prefer it in the evening.  On the pier, a warm breeze was blowing and we got to watch the city light up as the sun set.  It was so lovely!

 

This is an edit into my post: I forgot to mention one of my favorite parts of last night!  In order to get to the festival, we had to order 3 taxis to fit all 12 of us.  The hotel called the hotel drivers (because we aren't allowed to take any other taxis) and they drove us over.  When we got to the park, the taxi drivers told us to give the hotel a call when we wanted a ride home.  After we were done with the festival, we called up the hotel and they said they would send the taxi drivers.  We were waiting around for them when one of them pulled up.  We walked toward him.  When he saw us, he started talking into his walkie talkie saying, "Code: I found the 12.  Repeat, I found the 12!"  It seriously made me think of secret service or something ("The Eagle is flying!").  We were quite entertained by our "royal" status!

 

Today was Church!  We went to the ward close to the hotel.  I love going to church!  There is still so much to learn about the gospel, no matter where you are from.  I even got to participate a couple of times.

Like I mentioned before, Guayaquil is very hot/humid.  I have a hard time with that, but thanks to the best purchase I have made on the trip, it's a little more bearable!  I bought an handmade fan.  It's not super pretty or anything, but MAN, it is effective.  I was fanning myself off during all of church, and even lent it to some friends to use.  I think this fan and I will become great friends by the end of the trip.

Because it is mother's day in the United States, many people in our group have mothers and missionaries to Skype today.  It made me realize that this is the first Mother's Day in (I believe) 3 years that my parents haven't had a missionary out in the field to talk to.  But then Mom went off to Europe, so it is kind of like she is the missionary far away.

This evening, we hiked up to the lighthouse.  I didn't get a good picture of it, but I wanted you guys to see it nonetheless, so this is a picture from the internet.  You can see the lighthouse at the very top of the hill.  It's striped blue and white.  When you reach the bottom of the stairs, it is exactly 444 steps to the top of the hill.  Isn't this view amazing?  I love all the colors of the houses.  The view from the top was fabulous too, overlooking the river and everything.  I'm glad we went for a hike in the evening because it was much cooler, and have I mentioned that it is HOT HERE?

 

Well, I believe this is the end of my Sunday Blogday.  I'm having a wonderful time here, and I am learning so much.  Tomorrow we'll tour the hospital, and then I think on Tuesday we'll start work there!  See you all!