Lima

We had to head back to Lima for a couple of days because that's where our flight was leaving from. It wasn't the best experience we ever had, Lima is sort of a dump, but we were still able to have some fun.

Probably the best thing we did was go to La Parque de Agua which was SO awesome and surprisingly it wasn't at all touristy. We heard about it from some Peruvian friends so we were some of the only white people there; it was great.

We also found the awesome Universidad de Weiner!As you can tell by the end of our trip our clothes were pretty darn hashed! We were pretty darn pooped ourselves and so excited to head back to the USA, but we sure had fun!

Ecuador!

Tyler and I had the FABULOUS opportunity to go to Ecuador to visit his mission. We went to all of his areas and visited many of his friends and converts. The first place we went to was Playas, a darling little beach town.

We first went to visit Beatrice and Modesto, Tyler's first converts in the mission. We had such a sweet experience visiting with them.We also had the opportunity to stay with a couple who lived in the United States for several years and had a beautiful beach house and were kind enough to let us stay with them. Walker and Margarita were so hospitable and sweet.

Tyler was SO excited to be able to FINALLY swim in the oceans of Ecuador.

I forgot my swimming suit so I collected sand dollars but they broke on the way home :(

Daule

From Playas we caught a train to Daule aka Mosquito heaven! We went to visit some of Tyler's converts that lived right by the river, Hipolito and Cristina, and I got eaten alive but we still had a great experience.Tyler had to get a picture with his beloved mangos even though they weren't ripe yet. Hipolito took a couple of pictures for us and he had never held a camera before in his life and didn't think he could do it. We taught him how and the first one was a bit fuzzy but the second one turned out great!Daule was absolutely beautiful!These are all of my mosquito bites the next day.

Duran

Sunday we went to Duran and had lunch with some of Tyler's closest friends and converts, Sara, Miguel and their new son Joshua. She made us a delicious meal and then we went to church with them.Tyler was so excited to see many of his other friends and converts at church. We had lots of fun but it was hard to say goodbye.

Quevedo

Monday we headed to Quevedo to visit some more converts. We first visited on of Tyler's mamitas and she was kind enough to make us lunch. We swung in their hammocks while we were waited for lunch and Tyler was in heaven.From there we went to visit some other converts......and then headed off to Quito and drove past Dole banana farms on the way.

Quito and Otavalo

The view from the bus on our way to Quito was breathtaking in and of itself.

We had thought Tyler's mission companion lived in Quito but we found out he actually lived in Otavalo, 2 1/2 hours away. We hopped on another bus and almost missed him but we were fortunate enough to find some people to help us. Tyler stayed up until almost 2am chatting with his companion and then he showed us around the next day.

We woke up early and went to a beautiful waterfall.

Through a small tunnel......is a beautiful view.From there we went to a breath taking lake.Said our goodbye's.And then headed to Quito where we went to Mitad del Mundo: the equator.
We then went into the historical center of Quito and saw some breathtaking colonial architecture, including the President's house.