July 2nd – July 4th
Tena, Ecuador
To say that the past three days were incredible and packed with adventure after adventure would be putting it mildly. In fact, they were probably the wildest, manliest, most extraordinary three days of my young life. Bungee jumping, off-road driving, canoeing down the Rio Napo, hiking in the Amazon jungle, meeting the Kichwa people, celebrating Ecuador’s biggest soccer victory ever, climbing around with monkeys, and enjoying the Amazonian sunsets made it an incredible trip and one that I’ll never forget.
Our trip started out Wednesday afternoon after Vacation Bible School. Brother Steve decided to send Dennis, Randy Burrows, and I out into the jungle for three days to get a feel for the culture and environment as well as the mission work already being done out in some of the remote villages. Fifteen minutes down the road from the camp (Tena, our destination, was a good three and a half hours away), Randy asked Dennis and I if we had our passports. Unfortunately, we had forgotten those items back at the camp (in fact, my passport hadn’t left my bookbag since the day I got here). We decided that it’d be a good idea to them though, just in case of an emergency. So we set off back down the road, a little later than expected, but still with plenty of time. After passing Banos, we stopped at a bridge to bungee jump. It was my second time, but Dennis’s first….and boy what an experience. After ten long minutes of leg shaking and screaming, he finally made his first jump into the oblivion below. Randy probably made the best decision in our group and opted just to watch.
After our bungee jumping experience, we hopped back into the truck and took off. I was driving and we were passing through the tunnels cut through the mountains when a small, slow moving truck appeared in front of us. Understand that really anything goes when driving in Ecuador. Lines are just suggestions painted on the road. If you can move faster than somebody, then that’s what you’re supposed to do. After checking for traffic ahead and with the advice of our backseat driver, Randy, we passed the small truck and came out at the end of the tunnel before slowing down.
The hand of a police officer made me bring the truck to a halt. He asked for my license and I willingly gave it to him. While he walked back to his station to talk with a fellow officer, I asked aloud if I had broken any laws or if this was just a routine check. It soon became apparent that it wasn’t just any routine check. The officer returned, told me to get out of the truck and escorted me into the station. It was there where he read me my rights and told me that the penalty for passing another vehicle in a tunnel was 30 days in jail. THIRTY DAYS in an Ecuadorian jail! I took a quick glance down at my watch and realized I had exactly thirty days left in the country before I was supposed to fly back. But I remained calm and cool, trusting that the Lord knew what he was doing here. If my ministry was supposed to be in the jail this summer, then by golly, that’s where I was going.
Meanwhile, Dennis and Randy were now talking with another officer as he put my info into the computer, trying to explain the situation. Things continued to get heated, especially when Dennis said to one of the officers, “Este is Ecuador (This is Ecuador….meaning that everyone drives like that and why should they send me away on that offense)!” After that, the officers wanted to see his passport (thank goodness we had the foresight to return for passports) and he was taken outside to continue speaking with one of the officers. I stood next to Randy and one of the officers, looking off into the distance at the beautiful mountains God had created in this small town of Rio Verde. Standing there in silence, I decided that this could be an opportunity.
Understand that the police here in Ecuador usually often arrest and pull over people (especially gringos) in hope of getting paid off so that that person can get off the hook. I wasn’t carrying much money in my wallet, so I was counting on God more or less. I started conversing with the officer in Spanish, talking about everything to what I was doing in the country and where we were going to the town we were in. Meanwhile, Dennis spoke with the other officer about his daughter getting a visa to come to the U.S. to study. These officers were in search of connections more than anything. Getting a visa here in Ecuador is extremely hard, unless you know English. That’s the door that was placed before us in terms of getting to share about Camp Chacauco and our work as missionaries this summer. Intrigued, we stood by the roadside for half an hour discussing English, the camp, our work, and this officer’s daughter. At the end of the conversation, he gave me a stern warning not to pass on bridges or tunnels, or I would do time in an Ecuadorian jail.
How God works. The rest of our trip was bumpy, as much of the road to Tena was unpaved. When I say bumpy, I mean Ecuadorian bumpy. Hitting your head on top of the roof bumpy. We managed to get to Tena though and meet with Pastor Jorge Rodriguez, the father of one of our full-time staffers, David. After getting directions to the camp, we stopped at a restaurant in downtown Tena for food and for a game. Actually, it was the biggest game in Ecuador’s history. It was the first time one of their professional teams had made it to the Latin American Cup (the final match between the top two professional teams in all of Latin America). Sporting our Liga (LDU-Quito) jerseys, we rooted hard for the Ecuadorian team as they took on Fluminese, a pro team out of Brazil. It was the most exciting game I had ever witnessed, won at the end on penalty kicks after an overtime period. The streets of Tena were eerily quiet during the game, but broke out in pandemonium afterwards, with people dancing and honking horns in the rain. It was the first time I had really witnessed the passion these people have for futbol. And passion Ecuador has.
We spent the night in the jungle camp, Unpes, just off the Rio Napo. The camp is a good fifteen minutes from Tena and I had never seen a place get so dark. You could even see your hand in front of you without a light, yet you could hear the animals, bugs, and birds of the jungle. We settled in to get a good night’s sleep for the coming days ahead.
The next morning came quickly. I arose to find myself surrounded by the lush, beautiful landscape of Amazon jungle. You could smell, see, and hear that you were in the middle of a jungle. What an incredible view! With Pastor Jorge, we set off to Misahualli to rent a canoe to travel down the river to visit several of the outpost communities. About forty-five minutes down the river, we made or first stop at Kachiwanusca. Hiking on the jungle trails wasn’t easy, even in good hiking shoes. I sunk down in the mud with every step, passing the amazing jungle houses built out of bamboo on the way into town. In some ways, their towns seemed to be much like the mountains communities we visit, just with a change in landscape. After meeting with the pastor in that town and with some school children, we continued on to our next stop. The next community had an abundance of critters, especially monkeys and anteaters. One of the monkeys got a little attached, literally. Lucas hung on my head and arm before I had force him back on a tree in order to leave.
We returned to town before we drove to Jumandy to go caving to finish the day. When they go caving here in Ecuador, they go caving. The first hundred feet into the cave, we had to swim and climb up a waterfall before continuing in the muddy cavern. It was an unbelievable how nature had formed the cave that extended for quite a ways underneath the earth. After about an hour, we reached the place where the bats nested before coming out at night. Every inch of me was muddy or soaked with water, but what an experience!
We retired back at Unpes, a camp still very much under construction, for the night. The three of us decided that we wanted to go a lot farther into the jungle the next day…two hours going downstream, making a three and a half hour trek upstream on the way back. Setting off early in the morning, we got quite a ways downstream before stopping off at a group of villages. Surprisingly, we encountered other missionaries or medical teams, working with the people in some of the communities. It was good to know that we weren’t the only ones wishing to make an impact out in the remote parts of the jungle. About a hour and a half downstream we stopped in Santa Rosa to meet with the pastor of that community’s church. His family warmly welcomed us into their home and gave us food and drink when we sat down. It’s part of the Kichwa culture to serve guest this drink called Chicha and this Yuca soup. When I took gulp of the Chicha, I noticed immediately that it was a few days fermented….that’s how they prepare it. Looking over at Dennis and Randy, we just started laughing. Drinking in the preacher’s house, who would have thought of that.
It was a miracle that we didn’t get sick from the various jungle foods and drinks we ate that day because we ate and drank a lot. The last two stops on our trip were in Los Rios (two hours by boat) and a Swiss hostel (built for tourist, but an extremely nice place on the river). Driving back was a long trip on the bumpy roads late at night. For some reason, Randy convinced Dennis to stop at the police station we were stopped at on the way back. At one o’clock in the morning, we visited with the same police officer that wanted to get connections for his daughter. Willingly, we gave our email addresses so that she could practice her English before getting a few snapshots with the cops. In espanol, it was ‘Muy Extrano’ (very weird), to stop at that same station, but in the end, all of us realized that they were good policemen, not in search of money, but rather ways to improve things for their country and their families. We reached camp safe and sound in the wee hours of the morning, thankful for a safe trip.
It was a beautiful time, one that I’ll never forget. I’m thankful that God allowed me to see what I saw in the jungle and so much more. There’s so much more I could write about, but I’ll wait to tell you more stories in the future. I’m just thankful that I’m not spending the night in an Ecuadorian jail.
Tena, Ecuador
To say that the past three days were incredible and packed with adventure after adventure would be putting it mildly. In fact, they were probably the wildest, manliest, most extraordinary three days of my young life. Bungee jumping, off-road driving, canoeing down the Rio Napo, hiking in the Amazon jungle, meeting the Kichwa people, celebrating Ecuador’s biggest soccer victory ever, climbing around with monkeys, and enjoying the Amazonian sunsets made it an incredible trip and one that I’ll never forget.
Our trip started out Wednesday afternoon after Vacation Bible School. Brother Steve decided to send Dennis, Randy Burrows, and I out into the jungle for three days to get a feel for the culture and environment as well as the mission work already being done out in some of the remote villages. Fifteen minutes down the road from the camp (Tena, our destination, was a good three and a half hours away), Randy asked Dennis and I if we had our passports. Unfortunately, we had forgotten those items back at the camp (in fact, my passport hadn’t left my bookbag since the day I got here). We decided that it’d be a good idea to them though, just in case of an emergency. So we set off back down the road, a little later than expected, but still with plenty of time. After passing Banos, we stopped at a bridge to bungee jump. It was my second time, but Dennis’s first….and boy what an experience. After ten long minutes of leg shaking and screaming, he finally made his first jump into the oblivion below. Randy probably made the best decision in our group and opted just to watch.
After our bungee jumping experience, we hopped back into the truck and took off. I was driving and we were passing through the tunnels cut through the mountains when a small, slow moving truck appeared in front of us. Understand that really anything goes when driving in Ecuador. Lines are just suggestions painted on the road. If you can move faster than somebody, then that’s what you’re supposed to do. After checking for traffic ahead and with the advice of our backseat driver, Randy, we passed the small truck and came out at the end of the tunnel before slowing down.
The hand of a police officer made me bring the truck to a halt. He asked for my license and I willingly gave it to him. While he walked back to his station to talk with a fellow officer, I asked aloud if I had broken any laws or if this was just a routine check. It soon became apparent that it wasn’t just any routine check. The officer returned, told me to get out of the truck and escorted me into the station. It was there where he read me my rights and told me that the penalty for passing another vehicle in a tunnel was 30 days in jail. THIRTY DAYS in an Ecuadorian jail! I took a quick glance down at my watch and realized I had exactly thirty days left in the country before I was supposed to fly back. But I remained calm and cool, trusting that the Lord knew what he was doing here. If my ministry was supposed to be in the jail this summer, then by golly, that’s where I was going.
Meanwhile, Dennis and Randy were now talking with another officer as he put my info into the computer, trying to explain the situation. Things continued to get heated, especially when Dennis said to one of the officers, “Este is Ecuador (This is Ecuador….meaning that everyone drives like that and why should they send me away on that offense)!” After that, the officers wanted to see his passport (thank goodness we had the foresight to return for passports) and he was taken outside to continue speaking with one of the officers. I stood next to Randy and one of the officers, looking off into the distance at the beautiful mountains God had created in this small town of Rio Verde. Standing there in silence, I decided that this could be an opportunity.
Understand that the police here in Ecuador usually often arrest and pull over people (especially gringos) in hope of getting paid off so that that person can get off the hook. I wasn’t carrying much money in my wallet, so I was counting on God more or less. I started conversing with the officer in Spanish, talking about everything to what I was doing in the country and where we were going to the town we were in. Meanwhile, Dennis spoke with the other officer about his daughter getting a visa to come to the U.S. to study. These officers were in search of connections more than anything. Getting a visa here in Ecuador is extremely hard, unless you know English. That’s the door that was placed before us in terms of getting to share about Camp Chacauco and our work as missionaries this summer. Intrigued, we stood by the roadside for half an hour discussing English, the camp, our work, and this officer’s daughter. At the end of the conversation, he gave me a stern warning not to pass on bridges or tunnels, or I would do time in an Ecuadorian jail.
How God works. The rest of our trip was bumpy, as much of the road to Tena was unpaved. When I say bumpy, I mean Ecuadorian bumpy. Hitting your head on top of the roof bumpy. We managed to get to Tena though and meet with Pastor Jorge Rodriguez, the father of one of our full-time staffers, David. After getting directions to the camp, we stopped at a restaurant in downtown Tena for food and for a game. Actually, it was the biggest game in Ecuador’s history. It was the first time one of their professional teams had made it to the Latin American Cup (the final match between the top two professional teams in all of Latin America). Sporting our Liga (LDU-Quito) jerseys, we rooted hard for the Ecuadorian team as they took on Fluminese, a pro team out of Brazil. It was the most exciting game I had ever witnessed, won at the end on penalty kicks after an overtime period. The streets of Tena were eerily quiet during the game, but broke out in pandemonium afterwards, with people dancing and honking horns in the rain. It was the first time I had really witnessed the passion these people have for futbol. And passion Ecuador has.
We spent the night in the jungle camp, Unpes, just off the Rio Napo. The camp is a good fifteen minutes from Tena and I had never seen a place get so dark. You could even see your hand in front of you without a light, yet you could hear the animals, bugs, and birds of the jungle. We settled in to get a good night’s sleep for the coming days ahead.
The next morning came quickly. I arose to find myself surrounded by the lush, beautiful landscape of Amazon jungle. You could smell, see, and hear that you were in the middle of a jungle. What an incredible view! With Pastor Jorge, we set off to Misahualli to rent a canoe to travel down the river to visit several of the outpost communities. About forty-five minutes down the river, we made or first stop at Kachiwanusca. Hiking on the jungle trails wasn’t easy, even in good hiking shoes. I sunk down in the mud with every step, passing the amazing jungle houses built out of bamboo on the way into town. In some ways, their towns seemed to be much like the mountains communities we visit, just with a change in landscape. After meeting with the pastor in that town and with some school children, we continued on to our next stop. The next community had an abundance of critters, especially monkeys and anteaters. One of the monkeys got a little attached, literally. Lucas hung on my head and arm before I had force him back on a tree in order to leave.
We returned to town before we drove to Jumandy to go caving to finish the day. When they go caving here in Ecuador, they go caving. The first hundred feet into the cave, we had to swim and climb up a waterfall before continuing in the muddy cavern. It was an unbelievable how nature had formed the cave that extended for quite a ways underneath the earth. After about an hour, we reached the place where the bats nested before coming out at night. Every inch of me was muddy or soaked with water, but what an experience!
We retired back at Unpes, a camp still very much under construction, for the night. The three of us decided that we wanted to go a lot farther into the jungle the next day…two hours going downstream, making a three and a half hour trek upstream on the way back. Setting off early in the morning, we got quite a ways downstream before stopping off at a group of villages. Surprisingly, we encountered other missionaries or medical teams, working with the people in some of the communities. It was good to know that we weren’t the only ones wishing to make an impact out in the remote parts of the jungle. About a hour and a half downstream we stopped in Santa Rosa to meet with the pastor of that community’s church. His family warmly welcomed us into their home and gave us food and drink when we sat down. It’s part of the Kichwa culture to serve guest this drink called Chicha and this Yuca soup. When I took gulp of the Chicha, I noticed immediately that it was a few days fermented….that’s how they prepare it. Looking over at Dennis and Randy, we just started laughing. Drinking in the preacher’s house, who would have thought of that.
It was a miracle that we didn’t get sick from the various jungle foods and drinks we ate that day because we ate and drank a lot. The last two stops on our trip were in Los Rios (two hours by boat) and a Swiss hostel (built for tourist, but an extremely nice place on the river). Driving back was a long trip on the bumpy roads late at night. For some reason, Randy convinced Dennis to stop at the police station we were stopped at on the way back. At one o’clock in the morning, we visited with the same police officer that wanted to get connections for his daughter. Willingly, we gave our email addresses so that she could practice her English before getting a few snapshots with the cops. In espanol, it was ‘Muy Extrano’ (very weird), to stop at that same station, but in the end, all of us realized that they were good policemen, not in search of money, but rather ways to improve things for their country and their families. We reached camp safe and sound in the wee hours of the morning, thankful for a safe trip.
It was a beautiful time, one that I’ll never forget. I’m thankful that God allowed me to see what I saw in the jungle and so much more. There’s so much more I could write about, but I’ll wait to tell you more stories in the future. I’m just thankful that I’m not spending the night in an Ecuadorian jail.
2 comments:
Andrew, I'm very glad to know that you're okay and that the situation with the policemen turned out as it did. YES, A MOST EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURE!!! Praying for you.
Love, Mom
That looks like a blast! How fun! Thanks for sharing, as I do hope to go one day!
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