We arrived at our hotel in Quito late, because our flight from Miami was delayed. First we had to wait for the cabin crew, who were on a flight from Dallas/Fort Worth. I have never flown through that airport without experiencing delays. The crew arrived, and we were departing about half an hour late, but then we sat on the runway. It seems there was a problem with the automatic pilot, so they had to find us gate and have the technician meet us there. By the time we finally left Miami we were an hour and a half late.
Coming into Quito we could see lights, lights, and more lights. Today Marco, our host and guide from the Diocese of Ecuador Central, told us that Quito is a city of some 2.5 million inhabitants and growing rapidly. We could see the extent of the urban sprawl as we drove out and around the city today for our journey south. We passed not only Quito Sur (South Quito) but Quito Sur Sur! Quito sits at about 9,200 feet above sea level. Neither Ruth-Ann nor I have felt any effects of altitude sickness because we were given a drug to help prevent it. We should be able to stop taking it tomorrow. It does have one interesting side effect--our sense of taste is affected. Some things over the last couple of days have tasted very strange.
Once out of Quito we drove down the Pan American Highway to Ambato. We passed several active volcanos, although we could not see the tops of them because of the clouds. The corridor of the Andes along this stretch of the Pan American Highway is known as "the Avenue of the Volcanoes." There are several national parks in the region.
In Ambato we visited the Iglesia Episcopal El Salvador and its primary school. The school's 170 students, kindergarten through 7th grade, were gathered in the courtyard to greet us, with the 7th graders presenting the welcoming speech in English. We thanked them for our welcome, through a translator, and told them how pleased we were to visit with them. Then their teachers took them back to their classrooms so that we could visit each class in turn. The lower grades greeted us with a song in English, usually along the lines of "welcome, teacher." The 7th graders were in the school's computer lab (a project of the Diocese of Atlanta) working in PowerPoint. They were making slides that said, "My name is ______," and "Your visit makes today a special day." Before we left we were served a snack of fresh corn on the cob, mozzarella cheese and orange juice.
We left Ambato with three additional passengers: Heydi Mantilla, the priest of El Salvador, her daughter, and Raul Rivera, a priest who serves six missions in and around Pilahuin. He does three services on Saturday for three of the missions and three on Sunday for the other three. He travels by bicycle. In the Andes, he travels by bicycle! Traveling between the missions can take an hour and a half, if he is biking uphill, or 40 minutes, if he is going downhill.
We drove west from Ambato into the area around Pilahuin. The first mission we visited was Nueva Esperanza--New Hope--which is at about 12,000 feet above sea level. It is a community of indigenous people, and they are building their chapel themselves of cinder blocks, eucalyptus wood, and a tin roof. The roof is not complete, and the floor is dirt. When they hold services, the people sit on the floor. Just after we arrived, they brought in a couple of benches and a table, which they covered with a cloth. Everyone greeted us, eager to shake our hands and say hello. Some of them were quite shy. I was reluctant to take pictures, because everything I'd read in preparation for this trip said that the indigenous people did not like to have their pictures taken. But Raul told us to take pictures before we even asked. Some folks were eager to have their picture taken, while others slipped away. We listened to their stories about the church, the diocese, and the village. For most of them Spanish is a second language, their first being a Quechua dialect (I'll check the spelling of that later). Raul told us that there are no materials available in Quechua, not even the Book of Common Prayer. They served us a light lunch of potatoes with scallion sauce, cheese that tasted like cottage cheese but had the texture of mozzarella, and guinea pig. Yes, I tried guinea pig. It doesn't taste like anything else I've ever eaten. I was a little anxious about eating what we were served, but accepting their gracious hospitality outweighed any potential intestinal problems--and we have things to take for intestinal problems, if they should occur.
Because of the meal, we were late leaving Nueva Esperanza and so were late arriving at Mission Resurreccion. The Senior Warden arrived and announced our arrival over a loudspeaker that could be heard throughout the community. A handful of people showed up, mostly children. We toured the small church. The church is finished, but they are in the process of building a parish hall, which will also provide a place for the priest to stay overnight when he comes.
The third mission we visited was San Lucas in Pilahuin, although no one from the congregation was there. Lastly, we visited San Isidro in the village of San Alfonso. Once again, the Senior Warden used the church's loudspeaker to broadcast to the community that visitors had come. One of the women said that we should have let them know we were coming so they could have prepared (more food probably!). The showed us their little church and the new health clinic, built with assistance from the Diocese of Atlanta. Unfortunately, the clinic is not yet open because continued funding ceased due to problems in the Diocese of Central Ecuador that are only now being cleared up with the presence of Bishop Ramos as the diocesan bishop.
After leaving San Isidro, we dropped Heydi and her daughter in Ambato and then returned to Quito at about 7:00 p.m., smack in the middle of rush hour.
My overall impression of the churches and the people we met today is one of hospitality and a wish to be a part of the larger church. Our parishes at home could learn a lot from these mission churches.
More tomorrow, if I get a chance.
Peace,
Jeffri
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