Final Destination: Quito

After my night in Chicago, I successfully arrived in Quito! I was a little worried about my bags arriving with me because my flight to Miami was on American Airlines and my flight to Quito was on LAN, but no había problema, there were no problems. The one other annoyance was that I had to walk all the way from Terminal D to Terminal J in the Miami Airport. I seriously think I walked a mile. Plus, I had to leave the terminal and go through security again. Luckily, I had a two-hour layover and the lines for LAN were way shorter than for American.

Shorter lines was just the first of many reasons to fly LAN. For one thing, they board by rows starting in the back. Doesn't that just makes sense? No waiting for the front row people to get their junk in the overhead compartment and just sit down already. Secondly, the aircraft was huge but not full, so I got a window seat without anyone in the aisle seat to climb over when I had to use the lavatory, plus I had more elbow room and space to spread my stuff out. Then, they offered free wine with dinner! Now that is classy. Most importantly, the flight staff was both exceptionally friendly and exceptionally good-looking. Nothing makes a flight more enjoyable than a young, handsome, smiley male flight attendant.

After arriving in Quito and being reunited with my BFF Mandy, we dropped my stuff off at her apartment, I called home and cleaned up, and we met the North Park students studying in Ecuador this semester and the other short-term missionaries for dinner. Since then, Mandy and I have mostly been running errands to prepare for the team coming with Covenant Merge Ministries and meeting people Mandy works with.

Yesterday, we went to the zoo with a couple of former missionaries who were visiting and some of their Ecuadorian friends with little kids. The relaxed excursion changed quickly for me as I watched a stranger pass out in her boyfriend's arms. Thanks to my training as a "professional rescuer," I felt the responsibility to stick around, assess what happened, and wait for her to regain consciousness. I probably didn't actually help at all except to ease the look of helplessness and fear on her boyfriend's face. She came to pretty quickly, was aware of her surroundings, and said she thought she was dehydrated. Lucky for her, I had a full water bottle.

Today, we went just outside of Quito to Carapungo, where Mandy first lived and worked. We met her former host family, who she lived with for about six months. Her host father took us out for ice cream. Then, we went to the church she worked in and visited the Compassion project, which gives sponsored kids a meal, homework help, and Bible lessons a few days a week.

On Saturday, a team comes from Canada work with Covenant Merge Ministries. I'm still not exactly sure what my role with them will be... translating mostly, I think. We'll be going to Sumaco, which is a few hours from Quito. I won't have internet access, so I'll be incomunicada for about a week starting Sunday. So, until next time, I will be doing my best to remember not to flush the toilet paper, to diligently apply sunscreen, to drink lots of water, and to ignore the many hisses, whistles, and "mi amor" calls on the streets.

Detour

It seems there is some force that always tries to keep me out of Ecuador. In 2007, the program I wanted to do in Ecuador shut down, so I couldn't go. In 2010, a volcano erupted the night I was to fly to Quito, so I got stuck in Miami for a day. Now, in 2012, my first flight had a two-hour delay due to "unexpected maintenance issues," so I couldn't make my second flight in Chicago, so I couldn't make my final connection to Quito. There were no more flights today, so I'm flying out of Miami tomorrow afternoon. I decided to stay in Chicago with my former roommate Colleen instead of spending the night alone in Miami. An unexpected visit makes the detour much more enjoyable. Tomorrow, I will get there. Tonight, I will enjoy a few hours with a good friend.

And as Miley Cyrus sings:
"There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waitin' on the other side
It's the climb"

You better believe I'm singing along ;)

New year... new location!

Well, a week from tomorrow, I'm leaving for South America, and I'm not coming back to the US until August.

Yep.

This plan has been brewing for a long time. Basically, I've wanted to go back to Peru since I left in August 2010. Plus, my best friend moved to Ecuador last January, and I definitely can't last more than a year without seeing her, so I HAVE to go to Ecuador, too. Really, I am doing exactly what I planned to do after graduation:

1. live at home -- did it
2. make some money -- okay, that part hasn't really worked out as well as I planned... I made more money working at Bible camp for two months than I made in four months as a substitute teacher, but I still made some money.
3. apply to grad school -- done
4. Spend January through July in Ecuador and Peru -- doing it!

I'm living the dream, baby!

However, a week before departure, the dream is proving to be slightly scarier than I expected. Although I've been scheming things for a long time, I made the decision to go rather quickly. After Mandy searched for jobs in Quito for me all fall and suggested other opportunities for me (that I loosely agreed to and usually backed out of), she told me, "Abby, I talked with Merge Ministries and they say you can help me lead the team and be a translator in January. Do you still want to do that?"
To which I replied, "Yeah! I do really want to do it. Just let me talk it over with my parents."
"Okay, well just tell me as soon as you can because I need to tell Merge whether they need to find someone else or not."
"Well... I want to do it. Tell them I'll do it. I'm doing it!"

The day after that I talked to my friend Lisa Merritt (director of Inca Link), and the dates of every thing I wanted to do all lined up, which I took as a sign of God's approval. So, five weeks ago, I decided to do it all. I talked to the mission committee at my home church for support, I bought my ticket, I set the plan in motion.

I am very excited to see my BFF Mandy, visit Machu Picchu with my old roomie Valerie, spend time with my friends in Peru, and work with Inca Link again, but six months is a long time! Moreover, I am leaving with no idea what I'll return to. Hopefully grad school, but where??? I applied to seven schools in six states. I could end up at any one of them, or none of them.

Being at home would not erase the question mark looming ahead, so onward I go, having faith that God will guide me, work through me, and clear a path before me.