Ecuador 8/3/2023 |
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Thursday, August 3, 2023 - DepartureWe woke up to find that a bunch of the family's chickens were killed by dogs overnight, including the little tiny black chick who was so cute. The chickens roost in the trees but the babies can't get up there. The family has tried putting the chickens into their cement block outbuildings, but they don't survive in there. They need a proper chicken coop to keep the chickens safe. This happens all too often.We went into the kitchen and first things first: Craig got the coffee going. I went into the bedroom to play with a newly awakened Kuri. Yupanki made breakfast this morning: egg-in-the-hole with hot dogs, cheese, and ham, a little ketchup, and a little mayonnaise. He wants to be a chef, and he is well on his way. He learned to make these when Antonio was working at Laguna Cuicocha and Yupanki helped out in the kitchen sometimes. He remembered the recipe, and even argued with Aida when she suggested using vegetable oil to cook them. He insisted that they needed butter, which he then ran to the local store to buy. The breakfast was delicious and we are so proud of him. He has learned a lot about food preparation and food hygeine. We hope that he is able to achieve his dreams. We also had coffee, mora (blackberry) juice and chomburu fruit. After breakfast, we started to pack our bags. We wanted to take showers before our red eye flight, but the water was cold. We worked with Aida to try to get the water heater working, but to no avail. Aida offered to heat some water on the stove for us, and we gratefully took her up on it. She carried a large bucket of hot water into our bathroom and placed it in the shower. Craig took a bucket shower. I wasn't sure that I wanted to go through the hassle, but he really felt refreshed afterwards. Knowing that I would be spending the night on a plane, I decided that I should take a bucket shower as well. There was plenty of water left for me to do so, and I was glad that I did. Thank you, Aida, for making it possible. Lunch was soup, fried rice with hot dog pieces, steak pieces, and veggies. We finished packing up our things, and then sat with the family and talked. They gave us beautiful jackets that Aida had made for us. Mine was royal blue and Craig's was dark blue. They were windbreakers but also had a warm lining. They were very professionally made and beautiful. Sisa made us a card and stuck BTS washi tape and a BTS sticker on it. We wondered where Yupanki and Shina were. It turned out that they were out in the yard, picking flowers by the light of their cellphones. They came in bearing bouquets of flowers with goodbye notes hidden in them. The car was supposed to come at 7:30, but it was 10 minutes late. We said our goodbyes (it is always emotional to say goodbye to the family after spending so much time with them...we always wish that we could stay longer). The driver was Antonio's friend, and he spoke good English. His wife and two daughters were along for the ride. The girls soon fell asleep in the back seat. We got to airport at 9:40 p.m. We had to check in at a kiosk and then go to bag drop. We expected this to be quick, but there was a big line at bag drop which took forever because they checked everyone's documents (again) very thoroughly. Then we had to wait again for a wheelchair. It seemed to be shift change time, so it wasn't the best time to need assistance. So we had to wait patiently as time ticked by. The wheelchair eventually came and we went through immigration and security. We got to the gate which was already full of people. We decided that we should get settled at the gate first to make sure that we had seats. Our gate was right next to Republica del Cacao and Johnny Rockets. I left Craig seated at the gate and went to Republica del Cacao to buy some chocolate bars, and to Johnny Rockets to buy us each a vanilla milkshake. Our flight took off at 12:01 a.m. |
 Chef Yupanki cooking breakfast  Posing with the family in our new jackets See all photos from August 3 |
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