A Quick Trip to Ecuador

In a rather sudden way, I got the opportunity to join HCJB Global's new webmaster, Danny Montes, for a quick trip to Ecuador. While I was there I gave some workshops on missionary communications that I entitled "Communications and the Missionary Spiderman" in order to convince folks to come and listen. I was happy that I ended up with four well-attended sessions in Quito and a large session in Shell. Even though I am a rookie blogger, I was encouraging missionaries to give it a try because I’ve been amazed at how easy it really is—even for a non-techy guy like me.

On the way to Shell (driving with fellow HCJB Global missionary and writer Ralph Kurtenbach) we had a little extra time before my evening session in Shell. We first stopped and rode the cable car across the Pastaza river canyon and over top of a large waterfall. It is a fun bargain at only a buck apiece. Here is a photo of Ralph on the cable car.

When we exited, a friendly Ecuadorian family who were on a holiday visit recommended we hike down to another waterfall a bit further downstream where someone constructed a nice trail and a cement overlook perched beside another impressive waterfall called El Pailon del Diablo. I took some video on my digital camera there and it was so loud we had to shout to hear each other. I had never taken the time to make this short hike (and pay the $2 to go the last little bit) –but it also was worth the time and money.

My secret motive for agreeing to the trip was to visit my Waorani friend Pegonga who recently had hip replacement surgery. Apparently he injured his hip when he was young and was in such pain before the surgery that he wasn’t able to be very active. He has such a great attitude and listens to the Waorani Bible on tape as long as he has batteries. I bought him two more sets while I was there.

I snuck in a quick 3 or 4 hour visit via a Mission Aviation Fellowship plane flight with Ecuadorian pilot Fred Velasco. We spent the most time in Tiweno and did a quick hop to our old home village of Tzapino. There was only about 8 folks home at Tzapino and all but one were young kids. Everyone else was visiting Tiguino. Bummer.

The sawmill that we took out to the Waorani in 1999 was in Tiweno and the main drive belt broke. I was a bit bummed to see it sitting in an unusable state for the time being and am already dreaming about another visit in the near future where I would have time to get it all tuned up and running well again. Anyone want to join me?