Ecuador!!<3 Part 1

For anyone who didn't know before, my all the family on my mom's side(except for Uncle Chee) got to spend 2 weeks in Ecuador for a family reunion!=) It was a ton of fun, though traveling almost constantly wears you out. Jane Bloom graciously drove us to the St. Louis airport so we wouldn't have to leave the Hickle's van there.=) After being delayed a couple hours in St. Louis, we flew to Miami, met my grandparents and my mom's older sisters and her 2 boys, and flew to Ecuador the next morning. The Rogers met at at the airport in Quito and we split up and stayed at the Senior & Junior Rogers' houses. O, btw, the Rogers are a missionary family in Ecuador. They fly into the jungle in little planes and preach the Gospel as well as setting up schools for the Waorani natives there. We got to go into the jungle and see one of the villages, but because of our super busy schedule and other stuff, we could only stay for the afternoon.=( I really wanted to stay longer and actually help out w/ something instead of just going to gawk, but I guess I'll have to do that another time. Actually, we might have been able to help out w/ something as it was community workday, but it rained while we were there so everyone had to stop working for awhile. We thought we might get stuck overnight and I wouldn't really have minded..........but, after raining about 45 min., it stopped. and the air cleared enough for the pilots to get through. My Dad just commented that it was a LOT of rain for the short time period. Aparently this happens often, but Dan Rogers(the son who went in w/ us) said he's never gotten stuck for longer a day.

We stayed at the Roger's a day or 2(I don't remember) and saw the equator and went on the cable cars up the mountain, then we went to Cuenca(which I thought was spelled Quenca for the longest time....) and did some stuff......then we got a bus and drove to a resort in the middle of nowhere in this big bus on some really small roads around some very sharp turns and through some super tight places, like only and inch to spare on each side. Seriously! We made it to the resort alive and we were all very thankful that we had such a good bus driver!=)

At the resort we played lots of pool, ping pong and of course euchre. For those of you who haven't heard of that game it's super fun and it's pretty much a Douglass family game.=) According to my cousin Nick, I'm really good, but I think I just get lucky, like in pool.=D There was also a zip-line over a pond at the resort, which was a big hit. Of course it turned into a competition of who could do the coolest most creative thing and I'm not sure who won. O, it was kinda like a swing seat, so there were more options. I was the first to try 'superman'(or woman) and that got me lots of points even though I didn't put it far enough down on my body so I had to bail before I hit the dock.......O yeah, we were doing all of this in our clothes w/ life jackets over. Even though it's Ecuador, I suppose they do have some rules.=) I can't remember all the other cool things everyone did except for one. Zach(my cousin, about 12) would lean back and dip his head in the water while holding on w/ his hands. Being that it was a competition, I had to do him one better by dipping my head back, hold on w/ my feet and sticking my hands and arms in the water too. Unfortunately, I couldn't get back up, so I had to bail before I hit the dock w/ the back of my head. Everyone thought that was really funny of course, but it wasn't too bad. The water was pretty nice temp-wise, but the wind was cold when you got out...brr.....also at the resort, they had a concrete slide that went down the mountain a little and was super fast! The ending was a bit dangerous the first time, but then you learned real fast how to stop. You definitely have to wear shoes though, the ground is a bit rocky and hurts when you fly off the slide and land w/ bare feet. O, there was a swing too. It went off the mountain. Apparently, when my cousins went last time, there was a bigger swing that went off a cliff and was a lot higher up. I gathered that either they took the tree out, the tree broke, or the swing broke or something......... Wow, this is getting really long! Congrats if you made it all the way to the bottom!! I think I'll save the rest for another time. Of course I'll probably forget...... O well. Good night.=)