Online in the "Cloud Forest"

Today is our second full day in the village of Guadalupe.   Our journey from Quito to Guadalupe took  eight hours.    The plane ride from Quito to Loja was less than an hour and then we travelled 2 1/2 hours by taxi pickup truck to our new home.   We opted to travel by plane rather than spend 13 hours on a bus.    The taxi drove us through steep and winding mountain roads and we passed by evidence of recent mountain slides which routinely interrupt mountain travel.   The passage from urban to rural living is marked by the style of housing.   Loja is a city of 30,000 people and much of the housing consists of homes built on hills connected to each other.   Many do not have windows but use metal or wood shutters.    Nearly all of the houses have clothes lines with daily laundry on display on roofs or decks.     Here in Guadalupe the houses are one or two stories and are very much integrated with the neighborhood.   Due to the hot weather, many of our neighbors socialize outside in front of their homes.   Some lunch and dine outside at makeshift stalls where soup is served.    I have learned that pigs are butchered occasionally outside our apartment near the river which we surely will hear.
Guadalupe is a village of approximately 800 people and is situated on a river.   Life here is very much    different compared to the big city of Quito.  The people of Guadelupe depend on the land and animals for their livelihood.   In the very early morning we hear horses hooves and roosters and dogs barking.   Most people we see early morning are carrying machetes.  
We now live in an apartment building located near the river.    There is a foot bridge (with some missing boards) that connects the village to the Catholic Missionary compound.   Emmett and Annalise have met the neighborhood children and seem to be having fun.   We arrived at our new home at 9 in the evening on Tuesday and Kate started working on Wednesday morning.   She had a busy day seeing 12 patients until 3 pm.   Then all of us got in a taxi pickup truck to travel to the Catholic administration building in Zamora where Kate saw another 15 patients.   Emmett, Annalise and I helped dispense over a 100 reading glasses.    We helped with cursory vision tests and dispensed  glasses for $5 each.   Emmett was courteous with the customers and I was pleased to see him experience the challenges and rewards of helping others.   We finally arrived home about 8:30 that night.
Today, Kate had another busy day in the clinic but has the evening off.     The clinic staff has been very gracious and welcoming.   Father Jorge, who manages the Nuestra de Señora Guadelupe Mission, is on vacation until next week so we have not had the pleasure of meeting him.   We have waved and said "hola" to a few of the nuns but have not met them.   Our apartment is new and clean.    Our neighbors all seem friendly and everyone seems to know each other in such a small town.  We have not decided where Emmett and Annalise will go to school but all of the options are within walking distance.    Emmett has been playing soccer with some new friends on a covered concrete court in the center of town, one block from our apartment.    Annalise met some new friends and went over a playmate's house today to paint an "Ecua-Oso" which is a bear painted in the colors of the Ecuador flag.
John

Kate's first day at the Mission Clinic

Annalise climbing on their bunk bed

The foot bridge across the street from our house leading to the Mission compound

The river separating the village from the Mission compound

The house across the street from our apartment building 

Annalise and Emmett on our deck (notice the people carrying leaves across the bridge)

Our neighbor's truck 

The foot bridge leading to the Mission compound

Annalise and Emmett walking toward our apartment building

Our apartment building (we live on the second floor)

The Mission chapel 

house next to our apartment building

Emmett making friends