Sunday, May 24, 2009

Sabbath in Otavalo





We had another wonderful Sabbath in Ecuador! This was our first time attending church in Otavalo and we loved it. The church is really strong here- they even have two stakes! We had a really neat discussion about the three degrees of glory in Sunday School and a good lesson on prayer in Relief Society. The members are so sweet to us and excited to have us there. It was fun too to see some of the members in their traditional Ecuadorian dress.

After church we mostly relaxed and enjoyed our lakeside hotel! First we ventured over to our hotel's pet llama collection! We discovered that my roommate Mykel is a llama-whisperer. She seriously charmed those llamas. I, on the other hand, was not so good with the animals. This picture pretty much captures my interactions with them... 

My roommate Katie and I laid out on some lounge chairs looking over the lake, took a nap in our room, and then ventured outside some more to take some pictures of the beautiful view. 

The surroundings are seriously gorgeous. We are in the middle of the Andes five feet from an alpine lake. This is such a contrast from the crowded, polluted city of Guayaquil. The air smells so good! No trace of dead fish, rotting garbage, or even exhaust. Here's a bunch of the photos we took. 




That night we were craving Mexican food so we headed into the city of Otavalo to see what we could find. Katie and I led the group to a little restaurant we had seen at the market, Tabasco’s. It hit the spot! Although we have rice and beans almost every day, I still craved tortillas, chips, salsa, etc. It was definitely one of the more satisfying meals of the trip. 


The water costs just as much as soda here so I treat myself to a Fanta probably a little too often. Funny how I rarely drink soda in the States but here in Ecuador I LOVE my Fanta! Only sad thing is there's never free refills. Mother would not survive here. :)

I think that's all that happened Sunday. It was a much needed day of rest. Hope you had a lovely Sunday too! 

2 comments:

Jensen Family said...

It is beautiful there. It sounds like you are having a great time and incredible experiences. love ya,

Mark and Debbie Holt said...

You are right...I would never survive there!! I was visiting Ridgeview the other day and randomly there was a new teacher there that lived in Brazil. She said that she heard that I visited Brazil and we started chatting at lunch. I told her that I LOVED the drink, "Gradanara!" She was excited and said that she and her husband drive down to a Brazilian market in Elk Grove once a month to buy Gradanara drink and that she has some in her fridge in her classroom. So when we stopped by her room to visit after lunch she ran to her fridge and pulled out a Gradanara and gave it to me! I was way excited and brought it home! But to my disappointment, it was yummy but not quite as amazingly yummy as I remember it being when we drank it in Brazil! Kind of like chocolate macadamia nuts taste tons better in Hawaii! And Fanta is better in Equador...Weird huh!?