The Middle of the World

We got to "sleep in" today and woke up at 7:45. In Terri's words, "I've never seen this many high schoolers so excited to wake up at 7:45." We were off to El Ciudad Mitad Del Mundo, pretty much The Middle Of The World! The equator line is red, by the way. After a million pictures straddling the equator, we shopped and had Ecuadorian ice cream. A las doce, we were off to El Refugio - a retreat center in the middle of the mountains. It was one of thee most beautiful places most of us have ever seen. We had our millionth orientation to learn about the purpose of El Refugio and then headed out to the field for some team bonding games. We played a live version of rock, paper, scissors; we ran through a jump rope of fire, made a human pretzel, and fell off a baptismal into each other's arms to practice trust. Then we had some solo time to take hikes into the mountains on various trails. I took the blue trail that overlooked the whole valley and its splendor. It was beautiful despite the lack of breathing air, a blessing from the altitude. With the cue of the bus honk, we met back up to hike BACK up to the zip line. Ask Steve sometime to see the view from his video camera or from our designated camera girl, Quincey. At six, we traveled down to the campfire to roast hot dogs and CUYYYYY!!!! (a.k.a. guinea pig) Everyone except our animal loving friend Katie tried a piece. Our talented bus driver, Fernando, roasted a nasty chunk on his ridiculously long skewer. It was an experience. After dinner and s'mores, we talked around the campfire about our day. Brian, our host with a big smile, suggested an encouragement game. In it, someone would hold a staff and pass it on to a friend with a word of encouragement. Brian had to stop us because we had so much thanks and encouragement to share. Fernando flew us home and Zach did not have to tell us twice to head to bed.
Written by Jenna or Chayna (as the little kids call it)






The ever infamous guinea