Day 1,714 - Adventures in Ecuador: Day Nueve

3/29/24

Wow, I actually can’t believe I’m saying this but today is our final morning in Ecuador. It’s definitely felt like a long trip at times but it’s also been a ton of fun and super rewarding. This morning, it felt like there was only one way to start my day off and that was by sleeping in until 7:00 am! That’s the latest I’ve slept in over a week.

Once I had gotten all of my beauty sleep, I got myself dressed and made my traditional morning walk to the pool one final time. There I made sure to read, catch up on my journal, and spend a little time in prayer. Then, with more than a tinge of sadness, it was time to say goodbye to the pool and head to the cafeteria for one final Ecuadorian breakfast.

While we didn’t have any camp duties today, there was one final item to check off the agenda: BEACH DAY! It goes without saying that I was more than a little stoked for our beach day trip. I actually haven’t set foot on the sand since Ellie was one year old. Once I was dressed in my trunks and fully suncreened, I joined the rest of our dwindling group outside the auditorium where we killed time by watching Levi and Jamie have their hair braided by Leslie and Kalynn.

Finally, the time came to load up on the bus. I found my way to the back of the bus and sat near some of our Ecuadorian friends. Fairly quickly, a guitar appeared as if from nowhere and our bus became one giant sing-along. Did I understand anything that was being sung? No, not at all. Actually, that’s a lie. I did understand when our friends started singing ‘Jingle Bells’ in Spanish. That’s a fairly iconic tune regardless of the language.

Once we arrived at the beach, we hopped off the bus and started wandering across the hottest sand I have ever encountered. While it wasn’t always part of the plan, Matt decided that the team budget could handle the renting of several cabanas where we could gain relief from the sun. As I wandered the beach, it didn’t take long for my status as a tall, white, blonde guy to draw attention. It was cool though because the conversation I had with an older gentleman gave me the opportunity to share the Gospel with him. Definitely a flashback to my days of doing beach evangelism in Jacksonville, FL.

After my conversation ended, I abandoned my backpack and sandals in the cabana and headed to an area where other members of our group had gathered to play in the waves. There, I spent most of the next hour happily getting pummeled by waves. Finally, it was time to head back to the cabana and dry off in preparation for heading back to camp. Luckily, Richard had one last surprise for us as he purchased ice cream bars for the entire group.

Back on the bus, I ended up sitting by Matt and chatting with him most of the way back to camp. As for our Ecuadorian entourage, they were significantly more docile on our trip back to camp with a lot of them even falling asleep. Once we arrived back at camp, it was time for one last trip to the cafeteria where we were treated to an “American meal” of hamburgers and French fries. Definitely a super sweet gesture and it did not go unappreciated.

After lunch, we all took quick showers and packed up our belongings. Then, what was left of our group gathered inside the auditorium one last time for goodbyes and photo opportunities. Before we knew it, it was time for our team to board the bus one final time to head to the airport. Here’s the part where I share that entering an airport in a large bus can be slightly intimidating. That’s especially true when your bus is boarded by a soldier carrying a very large assault rifle as he checks for anything suspicious. Luckily he didn’t find anything and we were on our way.

We entered the airport and checked our bags. Then, with a couple of hours to kill, we quietly hung out and bought sandwiches from a little deli inside the airport for dinner. Eventually, it was time for us to head out onto the runway and board our plane for Panama. Here’s the part where I should share what our flight schedule was going to look like. While our flight to Ecuador took two days, our flight home would be done in one with the first group of us touching down in KC around 10:00 am.

After a fairly nondescript flight to Panama full of quietly listening to music for yours truly, we disembarked the plane and took a quick bathroom break. Then, we broke up into small groups to start heading to our terminal. Mason, Micah, Andy, and myself started slowly heading towards our gate when we were sidetracked by a Wetzel’s Pretzel stand. Overcome by the delectable smells, we hopped in line and patiently awaited our turn.

At about this moment in time, Mason received a notification that we were a 25-minute walk from our gate with about 35 minutes until boarding ceased. With that, we started booking it across the airport as fast as we could go. Somewhere along the way, we sadly lost Andy. We finally reached the terminal about 15 minutes later where we were dismayed to find that we would have to go through security to get on the plane. While we standing there deliberating what to do, other members of our team began showing up and we subsequently headed through security. Thankfully, all of us made it onto the plane with barely any time to spare.

In the moments before our plane departed, I took the opportunity to go ahead and take out my contacts and put on my glasses. After all, this flight would be flying through the night with us landing in Miami around 1:00 am. Now, you may ask “What do you do on a nighttime flight such as this one?”. Simple, when you’re as tired as our little group is, you spend a bunch of time watching episodes of ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and waiting patiently for the inflight meal of meatballs and fried rice.

Somewhere in the air between Panama and Miami, our Friday came to a close and our Saturday begun. As for that Saturday, well, stay tuned for more.

#DaddyWrite

This is the face of a very tired international traveler.