Not surprisingly, I didn't sleep well the night before the trip. Nick couldn't settle down until almost midnight, and I started to get a stomach ache (stress, of course). I probably got about two to three hours of sleep that night.
The alarm went off at four a.m, but neither of one of us moved until 4:15. Then, it was "go time." Four showers, four breakfasts, and four tense tempers later, we were almost ready to go. Naturally, it wouldn't be a trip for the Aakers if at least two people didn't have a meltdown before it started. On this particular day, it was Nick and Mike who were butting heads, but at 5:45, the car was packed, and we were sitting in the driveway, offerinig up a prayer for the trip and our family. Each person offered a piece to the prayer; it's always interesting to hear someone else's perspective/concerns about such things. Needless to say, we covered each other in the prayer realm, and we were off.
By 6:00 a.m., we were in the church parking lot, loading our luggage into the trailer. I'm not going to lie; emotions, including mine, were running high. It was emotional for me to see Amy, my (for all practical purposes) sister, and Cathy J, who was on vacation and had gotten up early specifically to pray for the team and see us off. I was very aware of the fact that this trip had been bathed in prayer, and even though around thirty of us were physically leaving the U.S, there were many more who had seriously invested - whether through finances or prayer- in this trip as well.
At the moment, I have to laugh because Amy slipped me a card which I was instructed to wait to open until I had gotten to camp. The funny part is that I had mailed HER a card as well, which I figured she would receive a day or two after I had left. We are such soul mates as friends.
After prayer and pictures, the bus pulled out at about 6:20 with 26 of us. This would be the first and only time we would be ahead of schedule on this trip. :) We picked up Mike Buer in Atwater (Josh Carlson had thoughtfully brought Lavonne Watts' dog, Sandy, to the bus stop, so they could see each other one more time). Dan and Faith Johnson had driven separately. There was a bit of traffic as Dale Neal navigated the bus to the Cities, but he guided us right to the terminal. I am especially grateful to Dale for the sacrifice of his time. Prior to the trip, he and Taylor had driven down to the Cities on their own for a "run-through." They had even walked through the airport so that Tay and the rest of us would know exactly where to go with regard to entry and return. What a guy!
We checked in easily and smoothly in our pre-established color groups. Then, we went to Security, which took a bit as the lines were longer (Seriously? For a Wednesday morning?) Once in, we each received our $10 meal stipend from Jeff Winter to buy lunch. Then, we were off to Atlanta at about 11:30 am.
In spite of the early start, the group was pretty lively for the two-hour flight to Atlanta. I don't know what the deal was, but the line to the bathroom was pretty steady throughout the whole flight. I mean, really, it's two hours. These people must have had thimble-sized bladders. Deb Van Buren and Beth Moore invented the potty game. I believe that if they rated you a "1", you had to go badly; a "5" meant not-so-much. I suppose it's a pathetic way to entertain oneself, but it provided plentty of laughs throughout the flight.
Our flight to Ecuador was delayed by an hour due to bad weather, so we didn't leave Atlanta until 6:35 pm. I think I know my parents pretty well, and I'm pretty sure my dad probably knew about the delay since he was probably tracking our progress. . . .
We flew on a 757, which is a bigger plan than I've ridden on before. This time, Nick sat by Luke, and Haylee and Erika sat together (from Mpls to Atlanta, we had been sitting alphabetically, which really chapped the kids' hides). During the first flight, Haylee had sat by a window and had a hard time, so she was by the aisle on the way to Ecuador.Even though we had only been together for a short while, I quickly learned that Jess Bays hates landing while Morgan Davis hates take-off.
On the flight to Ecuador, we each got a blanket and pillow for the flight. We also got a sandwich, chips, and brownie in addition to drinks (Ugh! Who could eat? I had something like four meals in one day, and I hadn't done a dang thing!). Plus, there were in-flight movies, which definitely helped the time go by faster (I watched Just Go With It). During the flight, we also had to fill out paperwork to enter Ecuador, and every time the flight attendant gave instructions, they were given a second time in Spanish. At first, it was a novelty; toward the end, it was annoying.
Observations so far? I believe the group will gel well. Things are going swimmingly thus far. Erika seems to have to touch everyone (annoying for me to watch as her mother), and most people seem to have a sense of humor, which will be invaluable as the week wears on. Some of the more shy ones on the trip, such as Catherine, are starting to open up as well.
We arrived in Ecuador at about 11:35 pm. Everybody was shot from a full day of travel, but we still had to go through immigration (or whatever it's called). The lines were so long. I'm going to estimate that we were at the Quito airport for at least another hour before we even saw a suitcase.
First, they checked and stamped our passports. We went through as a family to speed up the process. Then,we retrieved our luggage and had to have all of it go through the scanner again before we could leave.
As we left the receiving area, we were greeted like movie stars by the Ecuadorians They all had signs for their families and were greeting them as they arrived. Richard Santana was there to receive us, and once we (the Aakers) arrived, the group was complete. After a few minutes, we boarded a coach bus to head to the Swedish house (a hostel for traveling missionaries), which was about six blocks away from the airport. The evening air was cool - like 50 degrees, which was kind of surprise in comparison to the sauna we had left in MN.
The Swedish house easily housed all 29 of us. Girls were on the main floor of the house while the guys were all upstairs. I shared a room with Deb and Beth, which was great. We were all tired, we all wanted to go to sleep immediately, and we all wore ear plugs :). The house itself is in a gated housing complex - you have to be buzzed in in order to get in, which meant that we would be as safe as we could be from whatever crime was happening on the street. I felt completely safe, but we were told that if we gringos were to leave the complex, unaccompanied, at night, we wouldn't get far. In short, we were told that you wouldn't want to wander around in this part of town.
By 1 a.m, we were all settling down for bed. It was weird to brush our teeth with bottled water and throw our waste toilet paper into the wastebasket versus the toilet, and so our adventure begins.
The only SNAFU was Nick, who was almost crying at the airport, due to pain in his inner ear. His ear was apparently killing him, so I gave him Sudafed and Ibuprofen. Hopefully, his ears will pop, and he will be good to go tomorrow. The altitude is very high, and he has such small ear canals; nevertheless, if it's an ear infection, we're kind of screwed at this point. He was pretty darn crabby and angry because he felt bad about being sick; we'll see what tomorrow brings.
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