Lindsey: That was a really cool experience and the school teachers were giddy, they were so excited! Here's a pic of the kids shaking our hands to thanks us!
This morning we also helped paint the outside of the school & bathroom and also started some murals on the sides.
The boys continued working on the roof, prepping for the new materials that hadn't arrived yet.A guy in the group, Dan, was quite the talented artist and the school faculty tried to take advantage of his skills by asking for as many images as we had time to paint! He was sketch out the design and we would fill in the rest. They looked amazing!
Now back to Ellie: After the work day Lindsey went with some of our friends back to the wood market to pick up a few more gifts. (Lindsey: We hitched a taxi ride, where we experienced the "3rd lane" epidemic where drivers create a new line right over the double yellow line, in between buses, semis, you name it! It was pretty scary, but we made it!)When they got back I was feeling much better and so we all went with a group of friends down to a pizza restaurant for a dinner to spice things up for a us a bit and awaken our taste buds from the rice and meat options we had been having - although delicious, we all wanted a change. We got 4 super gigante pizzas, which were basically the best thing any of us had ever tasted. We made Andrew, a friend and contestant in American Idol, sing us some songs! That boy does the best Aaron Neville impression I've ever seen!
After dinner, Lindsey took a break in our room and I played a card game (Golf) with some friends downstairs. I was finally feeling well enough to not be in our room and I had to get out. I couldn't stop talking because I had so much energy after laying in bed for two days, which caused some laughter among some friends of mine - good times! (Lindsey: I can vouch for that, because we were on the 4th floor and I woke up, hearing Ellie roaring with laughter in the lobby! Glad she's back to her old self!)
Lindsey: I ended up assisting dentists by sterilizing their chairs after patients were done, but then had to go lay down for a while when things went downhill. Also wandered around the eye clinic but didn't have much energy to offer much help, unfortunately. I probably tried to push myself a bit too much by even go outside, but I didn't want to miss out.
We also got a demonstration about what the traditional clothing meant to their culture. Very fun, and it helped that we just had to sit and watch! We thanked the Stake President for his family's hospitality and headed back to our hotel.
We had planned to sing "Lead Kindly Light" during Sacrament so we were all there ready to sing - it went really well. The men in our group that could speak Spanish sang the first verse in Spanish and then the women did the second verse in Spanish and we all did the third verse in English. The congregation loved it. We also had brought some Book of Mormons with us and gave them to the missionaries who told us it was a miracle we had brought them because they hadn't had Book of Mormons to pass out for two weeks! It was a great day, even though I couldn't understand much of the meeting at church.
This is a pic of Andrew, Ellie & I with Dr. Nantu after church. She is pretty tiny, as you can tell! Or...we're just giants! 
The prices were amazing - at least to us - and we each bought a dozen bracelets (for $1.50 each) among other jewelry, alpaca blankets ($10-18 each), bags and other fun Ecuadorian 
We saw fried fish, but not just the fish you eat - the whole thing - tail, fins, gills, mouth and all. Delicious. After the market we went out to lunch and ate a delicious and filling meal at a Pizzeria. Lunch and drinks for 6 people was $12! I can barely eat lunch for just me for $12 in the states!
It was so much fun! I have never gone that fast, or that long, on a horse and I loved it. We rode for nearly 4 hours and I laughed so hard at bouncing around that I nearly fell off laughing! Although, I have to say Lindsey and I were both a little saddle sore shortly after. But it was worth it! We went down some relatively steep and treacherous hills, through a tunnel where our feet hit the walls and through some streams and we loved every minute. 
My horse was kind of a brat and bit Lindsey's horse as well as made some other enemies but it was all in good fun and only brought on more laughter. Lindsey and I were the lucky ones though because two of our party did get kicked by their horses and one girl lost her camera - we consider ourselves lucky for coming out unscathed!
When we got back Lindsey and I went to bed early in an effort to combat the slight sickness we were both feeling. After nearly a week in another country where you can't even drink the water, it's bound to happen. 
The kids were SO cute! And what was interesting was that the girls were brave and didn't cry as much while the boys bawled their eyes out! 
Lindsey: At one of the schools, there was a darling little girl that just wouldn't let go of me! She was so cute, and clingy! Too bad I can't stow away a child on the way home...they are too precious here!
After a day of work we got to go to the wood market in the Plaza of San Antonio de Ibarra, where there are a myriad of stores with any wood carving you can imagine. We found some great gifts and saw some 'interesting' wood carvings that could bring up some awkward conversations if hanging in your living room. We also got the once in a lifetime experience of sliding down a giant hummingbird slide - who doesn't want to do that someday? 
The evening was, to say the least eventful. We all went to "Beto's Disco" and had our first international karaoke experience. There wasn't a single Ecuadorian in the place and so it was about 25 Americans rockin' out to some good old fashioned American music. We picked about 20 songs and sang and danced the night away. There was a little salsa, a little karaoke by an American Idol contestant and lots of laughs. Greg stole the show with his performance of "Two Hearts" and his constant hip shakin!
We learned how the locals make concrete here, which is quite different than I've ever done it. We first leveled the ground, then layered small boulder sized rocks close to each other to cover the area. We then hauled 32 heaping wheelbarrows full of sand, 10 bags of concrete mix, and 25 wheelbarrows full of small rocks and put them in a pile. They covered the whole pile with water, then made a little funnel and slowly mixed the contents in the center until it was really wet, then filled a wheelbarrow full and dumped it over the rocks. 
Back to the interesting stuff...photo shoot with the kids! We had them do "peace" signs and taught them "head, shoulders, knees & toes" in Spanish. There was quite a bit of time when they only used the guys, for some odd reason, so we entertained the kids and took in the beautiful scenery (that oddly looked like Utah county, with additional animals & concrete shanties).
The concrete process took a bit longer than expected, so we were an hour and a half late meeting the rest of the group, who went to see the 
Several who were there earlier were able to hike up the backside of the waterfall and through a cave which was pretty cool...I heard. After seeing the sites, we headed back for dinner and some killer games of Phase 10, followed by a mob scene where I led about 10 people on a search for chocolate through the streets of 
We literally got in 2 long assembly lines and transported rocks from one location to another for the majority of the morning. It was pretty interesting, because several of the local indigenous women, barefoot and in full traditional clothing, jumped in line to help! They were so willing to help, but it was hard to tell them what we were doing because they didn't speak Spanish, only Quichua. I know Ellie & I are taller than the average US women, but we're like twice as tall as the Ecuadorian women!
After a few hours of working hard, nature started to call. I had to use the scary, dark/unlit, spider infested bathroom with a toilet that didn't flush....joyous. The "best" part about it, was that I got locked in! I started pounding on the door yelling, "Ayudame!" (help me) and finally got let out, much to the "satisfaction" of my fellow friends and workers...good times
After lunch, we went back to the construction site and ended up having to move the rocks we had just relocated, back to an area close to where they came from! Not the most efficient method, I can assure you. We did entertain ourselves by playing, "Sing a song starting with the word ____" and I usually had some way to work in "We're coming to America" by Neil Diamond (not so sure why, but it was pretty funny)! hee hee
After work, we headed back to Cotacachi and went shopping with the rest of the group. I didn't get anything much, but many in our group got custom tailored leather coats for $80! If I was a leather coat wearer, that would be a good deal. We headed back to the hotel for dinner, a bakery run, and movies in our room!
