We started the day by sleeping in and then eating some cereal and toast. Today was more of a rest day, except for a bit of sanding in the new building they’re working on in Codeinse. There was not much to note, except a small girl’s trip to the nearby grocery store, which was maybe 10 feet by 10 feet in size, where they got ice cream (for the girls), coke (which apparently comes in 3 L. bottles here), and bread for sloppy joes.

After lunch, the youngsters of the group decided to hike up a nearby hill, where they enjoyed a gorgeous view of Riobamba and worshiped with a guitar they brought along. When they came back down, everybody began taking turns for warm showers in preparation for going into town. We went shopping at a mall, which was surprisingly quite like American malls, except that there was a grocery store inside. They had many beautifully carved and decorated horses (which had the additional function of helping us not get lost). We got some groceries, and had a fiasco over Belgium chocolate made in Belgium, not Ecuador. Some of us went off in search of winter coats in preparation for our hike, and we experienced the joys of language barriers and how helpful the phrase “no hablo español” is. And Kate Fruendt fulfilled her dream of getting a machete. We then went off and ate pizza at a very fancy pizza place, where we celebrated the birthdays of the parents of Braulio, a 27 year old Codeinse engineer who has been joining us on our adventures. We arrived home, again very exhausted and very ready to sleep. But alas, one final challenge to overcome; scorpions. We came across one outside of the meeting place, but thankfully Kate came swinging through with her machete and saved all of our lives. 

The highlights of our day include the pizza place, and climbing up the mountain. We are very excited to climb Mount Chimborazo in two days, and we’re looking forward to seeing the Equator. We were very surprised at how cheap everything was (the machete was around $8), and how modern and clean the mall was. We are thankful for music, this trip we get to be on, Nancy and Cesar, being able to just talk with friends, and Kate is very thankful for her machete. We are all very exhausted, and although we’re enjoying our time here, we very much are looking forward to going home. There are many many things we took for granted. Including but not limited to, clean water, nice beds and mattresses, warm showers, being able to eat food freely without worrying about what diseases it may be carrying, being able to pet dogs, the ability to communicate, and not worrying about there being scorpions in our shoes every morning. We miss you all dearly and thank you all for your prayers and support.