Las Grietas

Sorry it took me so long to get another blog post up. My life since I've been back, like everyone else, has been crazy. But I don't mind reminiscing about my trip. I can't believe I got back two weeks ago.
This next place we went to was amazing. The name is Las Grietas. We walked there, no big surprise. To get there you have to pass this salt sea. Kinda like the Red Sea. It was really neat because the water evaporates out of the salt water and all thats left is editable salt. I tried it, its good. Everything there is volcanic rock. Its neat because its just different scenery on an island.
Finally we reached where we were swimming. I don't even know how to describe it so your just going to have to look at the pictures. This opening in the island got filled with salt water and the fish were huge there. We brought our snorkel and goggles and were able to check it out. It was so deep you couldn't see the bottom and kids would jump from the top of the crevice into the water. I didn't have anyone to force me to do it so I only jumped from halfway up. There were also these cool little tunnels that you could swim through that would pop you up in other pools of water that you had to climb over to. There is nothing like that here.

This is a sea Iguana. They remind me so much of Godzilla. They even swim the same.

The Salt Sea

Las Grietas

Do you see where they jump off from? Yeah... I didn't go that high up. I kind of wish I did now just to say I did it.

These cacti are one of the over 100 species of plants that only grow in the
Galapagos. I don't remember the name but the Tortoise's eat them so while they are young, the trunk if full of spires and as they age it gets as hard as an actual tree trunk.

Bienvenido a Galapagos

I'm finally getting to the pictures of my Galapagos trip. You cannot imagine how beautiful it was there. Its really different from anything you would ever expect. The island is naturally barren but because of non-indigenous plants it has gotten more lush. And there are so many plants and animals there that are found no where else in the world. Its really neat. The water is so clear and its turquoise on the beaches.
It was a two hr flight from guayaquil to Galapagos. And the airport is on its own island and there is nothing else there. The airport looks like a warehouse. Its so small. From the airport you have to get on a bus which takes you 20 min to a boat. You cross the canal, then you get in a taxi and drive another 30 min to the town, Puerto Ayora.
And you would think, its a touristy city, this is on the main island in the Galapagos, its going to be huge with big hotels, but no. Its a tiny quaint town with paving stone and brick streets. And everything closes at 10.
Our plane got in at 11 a.m. and as soon as we put our stuff down at the house we left again to go to the beach. We went to the malecon or harbor, and guess what was lying on the dock, sea lions or lobos, in spanish. It was so cool. Then we took a water taxi to another spot and then walked to the beach. It was just one stop on our way to Las Grietas. That place was awesome but it will have to be another series of photos. I took too many.

And the people I went with, and the friends that we stayed with spoke no english. The entire 5 days were all spanish. So I pretty much didn´t talk the whole time I was there.

The Airport

This was a first for me, I've never gotten off a plane like this before.

This is what we took from the bus to the taxi. All the luggage went on top.

This is the sisters house we stayed at. she lives there with her son, her daughter, her daughters husband, and their 3 little girls ages 1 and a half, 3 and 5. And then we added 4 more. So it was a full house.

The Malecon

The water taxi

Bethel and the park over run by iguanas...

We went to bethel last monday and got a tour. The sister that gave us the tour is from Patterson and she and her husband have been here for 3 years. Bethel is beautiful, like they always are. It has expanded 3 or 4 times. Because the growth here is so immense. They even have built a water treatment plant on the property so all the water there is safe to drink. This is the first year they started holding classes here. Before that all the classes for the elders or couples of circuit overseers were in Peru, all the brothers are so excited about this.
After, we went into the city and there was this huge park there that was full of iguanas they live in the trees there. Interesting fact, the only parks here are in front of churches. I dont know why. But they are huge churches.

Here is a neat experience for you. There is a sister here in the congregation who lives by herself and lives on 10 dollars a week. She regular pioneers and I think her house was kinda falling apart. Her grown son came to her and said, come live with us and we will give you a house and food. She didnt want to because she knew it would make it more difficult to get out in service and to the meetings because she would have to watch his kids and she wouldnt be able to pionner anymoe, so she told him no. He was furious at this and yelled, If you are turning on your family and sticking to your religion, have your God Jehovah build you a house. So two weeks after this happened, a brother and his family who are just bible students and now unbaptised publishers, went up to her and told her they wanted to buy her a house. So they spent 800 dollars out of their pockets and had a little one room house built for her. While this was happening her son called her again and told her he wanted to take her to lunch, she asked him which day and he said he didnt care and asked why. She told him it couldnt be on wednesday because Jehovah was building her a house and she was moving in that day. At this her son started to cry for the fact that he couldnt do anything for his mother but people in her congregation who arent even related to her can give her a house. Jehovah has surely blessed her for her many faithful years in his service. How heartwarming.

P.S. Sorry for my bad punctuation, this is a spanish computer and I dont know where anything is, like apostrophies and quotations, anyway, thats my excuse.

Bethel, Ecuador Branch

This is the water treatment plant and the school classrooms are to the left

Sister Janet, I forget her last name...

I thought this was such a pretty painting because it is native to Ecuador. A woman in her native garb

This tree had at least 30 iguanas in it

No matter how much I shook his tail, he didnt want to face the camera.

This is the stangest looking squirll Ive ever seen