La Marin

July 18th

Cumbaya, Ecuador

With no group here at camp, I had a choice. Stay and catch up on sleep or explore more of the country that I’ve yet to see. It came together at the last minute, a trip to Quito with Dennis to see part of his family and to climb Pichincha from the top of the Telefarico in the center of Quito. Dennis’s parents, both Ecuadorian, were missionaries here in Quito for two years during his grade school years, so he still had plenty of family here in the country’s capital. Since then though, he’s moved to St. Louis, Missouri and now attends Union University on a soccer scholarship. His aunt and uncle, whom we were to visit, lived in the upscale suburb of Cumbaya. To get to Quito though, we had to ride in the back of Pastor Angel’s truck for three and a half hours in order to catch a bus to get to Cumbaya (Angel and his family had plenty of errands to run in Quito for the day and they didn’t mind us riding in the back….so they were our transportation for the morning). When we arrived in South Quito, we noticed right away that this wasn’t the place to stay around for long. Following Angel’s instructions, we walked a quarter mile to the bus stop in order to take a thirty minute bus to Cumbaya.

Ecuador’s bus system is something amazing in itself. In any major city here in Ecuador, you can catch a bus to just about anywhere in a matter of minutes for less than $3.00. It’s cheap, environmentally friendly, and a great way to see the country. On our walk to the bus stop, we witnessed an accident of gigantic proportions. A city bus was hit at an angle by a semi truck merging into one lane. The damage wasn’t too bad, but it certainly delayed traffic at that intersection for a while.

Our bus finally came and we got to Cumbaya same and sound. We ate lunch and I got to know the family pretty well before we took off to go to the Telefarico in central Quito. The Telefarico is simply a tram that takes you from the city level (about 8,000 ft.) to about 13,000 ft. and in view of Mt. Pichincha. Dennis and I went a little later in the afternoon unfortunately as daylight was waning, but decided to hike as far as we could with the remaining daylight. An hour and a half later, we had ascended and descended numerous rolling hills above the tree line and finally arrived at the peak of Pichincha. By then though, it was 7pm and no daylight was left. Fortunately, I had a headlight and we had an easy path (not easy to hike) to follow. We got back down to Quito by 9:30pm.

The deal we had worked out with Pastor Angel was that he would call Dennis’s cell phone when it was time to return back to Patate. Not thinking ahead though, Dennis’s phone died while we were hiking and we had no form of communication until we returned to his Aunt and Uncle’s house in Cumbaya. By the time we got in touch with Angel and his family, they were already a good hour and a half down the road. Knowing that our staff was leaving for the jungle early in the morning, it was imperative that I get back that night. With Angel gone, we really only had one choice, ride a bus to Ambato and get picked up there by one of the camp staff.

The bus station in Quito isn’t a safe place to be, even for an Ecuadorian. They’re dirty, unclean, filled with pickpockets and thieves. Roberto, who has lived in Riobamba for most of his life, got held up twice for his possessions, once at gunpoint. This place is known as La Marin. It’s a tough enough place to navigate safely in the daytime, let alone at midnight. We went from counter to counter looking for a bus going in the direction we needed. Finally, a lady at one of the counters pointed to a bus out on the curb headed for Riobamba. Then, she turned to Dennis and said that he and I should be very careful, especially since I was a gringo.

I’ve never been a real minority during my lifetime. I’ve never experienced that weird feeling that you’re different and shouldn’t be in a certain place, just because of your skin color. I felt it there though. After a lot of praying we took the bus and made it to Ambato safely at 2:30am. Luis, one of the staffers, picked us up at 3am and we headed back to Chacauco for a good night’s sleep.

It was a night I’ll never remember. I mentioned earlier this summer, that I had learned (and am still learning to trust God) in whatever the circumstances are. In such dangerous surroundings, I accomplished one of the biggest goals I had for the summer, sharing and witnessing to a complete stranger in Spanish. On the bus from Quito to Ambato, I sat next to a man in the Ecuadorian Air Force with his wife and young son. We talked about everything, from politics to the food of Salinas (his new town) and then the subject turned to religion. I shared with him my story and my motivations for coming down here to Ecuador….almost completely in Spanish. I was blown away afterwards that I had retained so much in only six weeks and was able to have that conversation with that man.

I saw so many beautiful things that day on the top of the mountain overlooking Quito. So many beautiful things riding in the back of a truck for three and a half hours. Humanity in supposedly the most dangerous place in all of Ecuador. What caught my attention most was this man’s questions. “Why do you believe that?” “What happens after life?” “What’s most important in life?” There were no defenses, only a yearn to understand what the Bible said. I’ll probably never know what came from that conversation, but if God is planting seeds here in Ecuador, then He can consider me one of His field workers. No other job is more exciting.