Things I miss about Ecuador:

• The cheap food.
• The beautiful scenery
• The “I’m in the southern hemisphere feeling.”
• The mountains
• The clouds
• The excuse not to carry a cell phone.
• The flowers
• The people
• The taxies – no really, taking a cab is fun.

Things I don’t miss about Ecuador:

• The bacteria.
• The trash everywhere.
• The internet “connection.”
• Single ply toilet paper.
• The lack of modesty in advertisements…. and I thought we had it bad in the States…
• The feeling of powerlessness to effect change.

Things I appreciate more now that I’m back:

• Talking to strangers – You don’t know how often you need to until you can’t.
• Drinking Fountains – They don’t exist when no one can drink the water.
• Tap Water – I think I will glare intensely at the next person who complains about American water. I have been thirsty for the last week trying to find bottles of water.
• Naps – Siestas are a wonderful tradition that need to go farther south.
• Debit card machines – going cash only is the pits for a high tech guy like me. No electronic “paper trail” and keeping track of coins is inconvenient.
• Grace Chambers – Sometimes you don’t realize how amazing someone is until you can’t see them for a couple weeks.

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1. Ecuador Day 8 – Friday March 21 Today was good Friday, a national holiday which means that...
2. Ecuador Day 4 – Monday March 17 We visited the U.S. commercial services today. And by “we”...
3. Ecuador Day 1 This spring break Cynthia and I are going to Ecuador...

Today was good Friday, a national holiday which means that all businesses are closed. We visited El Centro de Mundo or the Center of the World. At first I thought that the name was just clever marketing, but on the way we learned that this spot is the center of the metric system.

The metric system takes the distance from the north pole to the south pole, divides it by 5000 and calls each one of those units a kilometer. What is ironic is that the actual Ecuador is 200 meter away, but they can’t move the tower without changing the whole metric system.

We visited a community that lives on the inside of a volcanic crater. It is very pretty.

This is not the true equator, but it is the center of the earth as far as the metric system is concerned.

We visited the Museo Del Sol which is right on the Ecuador. There are several anomalies that happen right on the Ecuador.

The true equator.

Ever wondered what direction toilets really flush south of the equator? I will say that on the equator exactly water doesn’t cyclone, it just goes straight down as it drains out of a container. Watch these three videos I took for a full explanation.

• Equator Line Video
• South of the Equator
• North of the Equator

Cynthia after blow gunning a cactus.

A blue eyed alpaca.

The ability to keep balance on the equator is greatly reduced. Here Josh tries to walk a straight line with his eyes closed. Everyone is drunk on the Equator.

Amanda trying to balance an egg on a nail.
You can, with practice balance an egg on a nail. See this video for proof.

You get a certificate if you do it successfully.

See how the shadow points due west.

A local seller working with his 6 year old son. I negotiated with the son not the father.

I know… I know

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1. Ecuador Day 4 – Monday March 17 We visited the U.S. commercial services today. And by “we”...
2. Ecuador Day 6 – Wednesday March 19 Today we visited a university, radio station and Hospital. Univserdad...
3. Ecuador Day 3 – Sunday March 16 Today we visited a Ecuadorian Baptist church. We missed the...

Today we talked with a hotel manager, a missionary and the operations director for DHL. We also jumped off mountains and drove through downtown Quito in a bus and a private band.

Hotel Quito

We talked with Joseph Sugels the director food and beverage service at Hotel Quito about the challenges of running a hotel in Equator. Last year Hotel Quito was able to maintain 70% occupancy even though the other hotels in town have newer and fancier facilities.

Our meeting with the Joseph Sugels. I don´t take many meeting photos because they look like this one.

DHLcompetes by using a best value strategy. They are less expensive than the other hotels but they emphasize quality service and excellent food. In a country where customer service is all but non existent Hotel Quito stands out as a shining exception where the employees run not walk.

The higher you go the more photos you take.

Turbulence in the political system can cause a drop in demand for hotels and can put a strain on business. Quito is not seen as a destination town (I don’t know why, this town is amazing) which is also a challenge. Of the hotel’s business travelers, 85% are repeat customers. This number is high and shows how much customer service counts for in a nation like this.

Some of the Quito streets are very narrow.

The government keeps trying to help the economy by passing new laws and all they seem to be doing is messing it up. Governments cannot improve economies, they can only remove economic hindrances that they are put in place. One such law that is being discussed right now would make contract labor illegal.

Right now Hotel Quito has about 50 contract employees who only come in during peak times. If this law were passed many of these employees would loose their jobs and the current employees would be forced to work overtime. This would lower quality and raise unemployment.

The view from on top Hotel Quito.

The government is also raising the minimum wage which is causing inflation. Sound familiar? Our congress is making the same stupid decisions. Raising the minimum wage hurts the poor because it causes layoffs and inflation. What the point to getting a 3% raise when the cost of goods goes up by 4% and your brother in law looses his job?

Sigh.

Joseph Sugels is from Switzerland and has worked at hotels all over the world. His wife is from Venezuela and his daughter was born here in Ecuador. Talk about an international family. One thing we learned is that the Swiss often don’t need to get a visa because having a Swiss passport is all they need. Never going to war has cool benefits.

Phil Calvert

Phil Calvert a local home church planter with the IMB spoke to us about the Spiritual condition of the nation. Ecuador has over a 70% divorce rate and a high infidelity rate. I think this explains why the government is in shambles. Staying married even when it is difficult builds good character which is necessary for good leaders.

I don´t know what building this is but its pretty.

Phil has planted over 150 churches in the last few years and he believes that Ecuador will become not only a Christian nation but a refuge for the persecuted church from Europe.

He said the biggest obstacle keeping Christians from sharing their faith is inside their own hearts. Most of us are hypocrites and care nothing for the lost and live in sin. He encouraged us to devote our lives to God completely and talked with us about practical ways we could help the Ecuadorian economy while advancing the Gospel.

It is best not to jump off of mountains when you can´t see the bottom.

One way would be to start a consulting firm for small businesses that teaches concepts like customer service, accounting and marketing. These consultations would also open up doors for spiritual consulting as well. He said one of the biggest challenges for the economy here is that 99% of companies keep two sets of books. One they use internally and one they report to the government. This tax evasion causes taxes to be overly high to compensate and hurts honest businesses.

DHL

DHL has 70% of the international market share in rapid document delivery. UPS and FedEx may be the top togs in the states but internationally DHL is "The Man"

We met with Ivan Donoso, the director of operations, and he talked to us for a long time. Currier services face several unique challenges in Ecuador.

• Lack of security. Like Liquor’s, DHL must send cars filled with guards behind their trucks to prevent bandits.
• Unstable soil. Right now mud slides have taken out several important roads all over Ecuador and this has made delivery difficult.
• The Ecuadorian government.

The Ecuadorian government is continually changing the rules regarding imports and exports. The most recent rules took effect on February 2nd and were released on Feb 15th. That’s right. They took effect before they were released. So importers had to comply with rules when they didn’t even know what they were.

A DHL saleswoman.

Ivan Donoso said he had been at work since 4am and would stay until 10pm or so and that this had been his routine since the new rules came in place. The system is so convoluted that even the customs officials don’t know what is going on.

That superman looking man is actaully just a guy named Josh. My roomate.

If there is one thing I have learned on this trip is that government needs to stay out of the way as much as possible. Tweaking the economy is not a just role for government and it is not one in which governments are well positioned to do.

La Montania

After we visited DHL we went up a gondola to a high mountain sitting 15,000 feet. We could see the whole city and could watch planes land below us, a weird sight.

Going up the Gondala was more traumatic for some.

The view made it all worth it.

Jumping at high altitudes is fun. But, my knees still hurt from the climb. The ninja looking person in the middle is actually one of my professors. I love UMHB.

La Chiva

Thursday night we took a Chiva through the town. A Chiva is the ultimate party buss with its very own band and everything. We did a lot of shouting while we drove through the historic district. This is normally done only in December for Ecuadorian Independence Day but tourists do it year round. It was a lot of fun.

The drummer boy was only probably only 7 years old, but he was really good.

Another important looking building. We didn´t have a tour guide but it kind of looks like a court house to me.

Related posts:

1. Ecuador Day 4 – Monday March 17 We visited the U.S. commercial services today. And by “we”...
2. Ecuador Day 5 – Tuesday March 18 Today we visited a flower plantation a coffee company and...
3. Ecuador Day 3 – Sunday March 16 Today we visited a Ecuadorian Baptist church. We missed the...

Today we visited a university, radio station and Hospital.

Univserdad San Francisco de Quito

The university has 5000 students and no dorms. Students either live on their own, with their families or with a host family. Since there is no where to sleep during the day the campus has a lot more activity than UMHB where students go to their dorm between classes.

Some students at USFQ sitting in a circle on the Quad. They look like they are in class perhaps.

Students take public transportation to get to class which is not bad but not as sophisticated as New York. The university is in constant contact with the foreign exchange students. It is like a big brother for them. It help with everything from family problems to finding good places to go dancing to finding good places to visit in Ecuador.

Here we are exploring campus. It was very nice and somewhat intimidating.

Applying for a Visa is complicated but not hard. Tuition is $4000 per semester. You can come just for a summer semester. Living with a host family costs about $13 per day. That includes breakfast a room and dinner.

The goal of the university is to help students start their own businesses. We students the tools to make Ecuador a better place. We prepare our students for all sorts of jobs.

The university blends cultures. To that end each building is built in a different style. This building is named "Buda."

There is also a satellite campus in the Galapagos island which focuses on Evolutionary sciences and social sciences.

Cynthia posing in front of one of their many statues.

To gain entrance to USFQ you must have a 3.0 GPA.

Radio Station

We visited a Christian radio station known as the voice of the Andies. They have been advancing the Gospel over the radio waves since the 1930s via short and regular radio transmissions. This is one of the first shortwave stations in the world I believe.

We have found that you must negotiate the price of the ride with the taxi before getting in. Otherwise they will charge you twice as much. I think ownership and position are 70% of negotiating.

The satellite up-link and down-link for the radio station.

That black thing on the bottom row is something called a record.

¨

Jose, Josh, Cynthia and Juan pretending to host a radio show.

A boy manning a booth at the market. Children work here a lot more than in the states.

The Jessicas posing for a photo for our scavenger hunt. Our team had to find a product that started with each letter of the Spanish alphabet and pose with two team members in the photo. We also had to find six products from other countries. We won but not by much.

I don´t know who this guy is but he is very famous and his photo is everywhere: cars, shirts, stickers on light polls you name it.

I´m sorry I don’t have any photos of the hospital but it didn’t seem right. The hospital was started by the missionaries working across the street at the radio station. It is a self sustaining hospital that charges reasonable rates. It targets the middle class but does emergency work for free for anyone.

If you have a friend or family member on this trip feel free to leave them a note in the comment section of this blog and I will get it to them ASAP. Don’t forget you can have these posts delivered to your email inbox . You can unsubscribe at any time.

Related posts:

1. Ecuador Day 8 – Friday March 21 Today was good Friday, a national holiday which means that...
2. Ecuador Day 3 – Sunday March 16 Today we visited a Ecuadorian Baptist church. We missed the...
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Today we visited a flower plantation a coffee company and a plastics factory. We also almost fell off a mountain in our bus. Some of the roads here are crazy. Some drivers are too.

Flower Plantation One of the most interesting things about the flower industry is its relation to the drug industry. Flower farms replace drug farms.

A new experimental rose called autumn breeze. Not yet available for sale.

In fact the U.S. has no duty on flowers coming in from Ecuador in order to encourage them not to grow cocaine. The thinking is that if people can make just as much or more growing flowers then there will be less desire to grow drugs. The farm hands actually make more working on a flower farm than on a cocaine farm.

Oh the potential…

Flowers can be bread for longevity of life, size color and scent. Flowers release oils (essential oils?) which makes them smell. The challenge is that as they release these oils they become depleted and wither much faster. This is why most flowers available in the store have little smell.

Dawson and Ashley enjoying one of the rare scented roses.

.Most Americans would rather have a flower with a little scent that lasts a week than one with a strong scent that lasts a day. There is a high end market for scented roses but these are generally only purchased by the wealthy.

Even I could smell these roses.

Flowers are packaged at low temperatures because it helps them maintain freshness. Flowers are shipped dry because shipping water is heavy and expensive and because wet flowers continue to bloom in transit.

The workers here are well paid and well treated. This "cart" is suspended on an elaborate system that covers the whole plantation.

You saw it here first folks. A new breed of heart shaped roses. These will be available in the U.S. market soon.They not only look great but they last a long time too.

Other than the duty free shipping the Ecuadorian Flower industry gets no support from either the Ecuadorian government or the American government.

Each rose has dead petals taken off by hand. Ecuador is has the best climate in the world for growing roses and this natural advantage requires no government assistance.

This machine strips the leaves and thorns off the roses in a matter of seconds.

Mr. Rule telling us about the international flower industry. He is one of the most knowledgeable people I have met so far on this trip.

Mr. Rule is also a tent maker which means his primary purpose for working in Ecuador is not to make money but to advance the Gospel.

Quality inspection.

Instead of relying on support from a mission agency or a local church he uses his expertise to make a good living here in Ecuador. he uses his position of influence to create opportunities for the Gospel. His wife runs a summer camp for the children of the farm workers where they do arts and crafts, sports, field trips and learn about things like hygiene and health. They also learn Bible verses and hear the Gospel. They also have a doctor who comes and checks the children for health problems and they also watch the children for signs of abuse. All this is done a a benefit for those employees who have worked at the plantation.

Roses packed and ready for shipment.

Mr. Rule and his wife also teach parenting skills to the employees trying to help them build better families. This man without being a burden on a local church financially is able to fight poverty, child abuse, drug use and advance the Gospel. And you can help him by buying flowers made in Ecuador

The girls making their own flower bouquets. The guys made some too but no photos of that opperation were permitted.

Every time you buy a flower from Ecuador you are helping an Ecuadorian family. Flower plantations provide jobs away from the cities where crime and the cost of living are both high.

Proof guys can arrange flowers.

The flower plantations also help other businesses. The one we visited feeds their employees two meals a day. In order to provide food they started a bakery in the local village and hired a couple of elderly women to run it. So not only are they feeding their own people but they are also funding local micro entrepreneurship by selling bread to the local village.

Proof girls arrange flowers better.

Coffee Company
Ecuadorian coffee is some of the best in the world. We got to visit a coffee factory but were not permitted on the factory floor. Part of what makes each coffee brand unique is their mix of coffee bean types and qualities. This “secret sauce” is a trade secret and so strangers are not often given access to the factory.

The coffee company didn’t let us inside the factory.

The factory vending machines in the lobby that would grind, brew and customize your own cappuccino, latte or espresso. I think there would be a huge market for these machines in the U.S.

Dr. Merriman must really like coffee …

Plastics Factory
We visited a company makes plastic bags and shrink wrap. The employees are paid well and there is a company doctor who gives free medical care to employees and their families. Turn over is very low.

I´m not sure what this man is doing but the machine is still running. Doesn’t look safe to me.

Safety while an issue does not seem to be as important here. This is likely why they are able to make things cheaper. OSHA mostly just forces U.S. companies to layoff their workers and leave the country.

I have heard several times that there are a lot of opportunities for women in the workforce. Here a woman supervises a man.

I think boy cots and free market forces are better suited to setting safety standards than heavy handed governmental regulation. No one wins when a factory closes because it has been regulated out of business.

Here we are learning about plastic bag production. This factory does a lot of cross training. No one is indispensable not even the CEO.

The left over plastic (right) is recycled and used in other plastic goods.

Heather Gates showing off a freshly printed bag. The bags had to be custom made and custom printed.

Here is a Graphic Mechanic, or as we would call her, a graphic artist. She designs what will go on the plastic bags.

Our wonderful profesoras

I just can´t take enough photos of Quito.

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We visited the U.S. commercial services today. And by “we” I mean everyone else because I was as sick as a dog with a bacterial infection in my stomach.

The U.S. commercial services is a business that works with American companies helping them do business in Ecuador. They talked to “us” about the advantages and disadvantages of doing business in Ecuador.

Ecuadorian countryside.

Advantages of doing business in Ecuador:

• Labor is plentiful and inexpensive.
• Ecuadorians like the U.S. generally. They like our products but they don’t like our big businesses. Coca-Cola is cool. Wal-Mart is not.
• The U.S. dollar is the national currency so there are no exchange rate adjustments.
• First mover advantage possibility. Few other developed nations are doing much business in Ecuador.

Quito by day

Disadvantages of doing business in Ecuador:

• Ecuadorians have a bias against “Big American Businesses”
• The Political situation is unstable. Ecuador has had 9 presidents in the last 8 years. The president they have now is trying to dissolve the congress and write a new constitution that might make him a dictator.
• Ecuadorian president is a friend with our enemy Heugo Chavez.
• Ecuadorian legal system is complex and corrupt. If you want to do business here you need a good lawyer.

Quito by night.

Liquors Distributos
The hotel doctor paid me a visit Monday morning and put me on an antibiotic. My fever broke and I felt up for going to Liquor’s that afternoon.

These bottles are from damaged cases. They are used by the marketing department for promotions.

We visited Liquors, an import and distribution company that imports liquor, shoes, clothes and Monster Energy Drinks. Jaun Carlos one of the executives, is a recent alumni of UMHB and he gave us the ground tour of their wear house and Quito HQ. As much as some of the students wanted we did not get any samples.

These guys unloaded this dolly in no time flat.

Juan Carlos talked about some of the challenges to doing business in an unstable country.

Challenges to Doing Business in an Unstable Country:

• Delivery trucks need armed escorts to make sure they are not hijacked and robbed.
• Inventory must be kept at a high level because new deliveries are uncertain. If there was an international crisis Liquors could continue distribution for 4 months. Wal-Mart on the other hand would start to have shortages within 18 hours and would have nearly emptied their supply chain within a week. The inventory costs here are much higher since just in time inventory is not an option. I would suspect that this is one of the reasons the prices are higher here.
• Taxation here is very high and unevenly enforced. Juan Carlos said that 78% of their competitors products are contraband products that were smuggled into the country in order to avoid paying the astronomic import taxes. In order to compete with their competitors Liquors must operate on thin margins and high volume.

That evening we went to a restaurant in the old city. The view was amazing.

Related posts:

1. Ecuador Day 7 – Thursday March 20 Today we talked with a hotel manager, a missionary and...
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Today we visited a Ecuadorian Baptist church. We missed the regular service and only got to visit the Sunday School which didn’t make a lot of sense since it was in Spanish.

Yes. This is Popcorn and dried banana slices. Its an appetizer and not that bad

Iglesia Means Church

People leaving the Baptist Church.

One interesting thing about the church was that a dove had somehow found its way into the sanctuary and was flying around during the service.

The dove.

The dove was desperately trying to get out of the church but it couldn’t find an exit. This reminded me of churches back in the states where the Gospel is desperately trying to get outside but is trapped inside the church walls.

Josh, Amanda and Jessica hiding from the cold rain.

That afternoon I took a nap because I wasn’t feeling that well. One group of students visited the mall which had a grocery store built in. They compared prices between Ecuador and the U.S. A bottle of fine liquor was less expensive than a six pack of American soda. For the most part, they found that the prices are higher in Ecuador than in the states. Yet, the food at restaurants is cheaper. The only explanation I can think of is that labor is much cheaper in Ecuador.

One of our group meetings where we share what we learned that day.

That evening we visited a restaurant that served American style food. I got food poisoning/a bacterial infection in my stomach. The moral of the story is only eat American food in America.

Our Hotel

Spiritual Food Poisoning

That night as I knelt in front of the toilet I asked the Lord what the Spiritual lesson was in this. I thought about it and realized that food poisoning to the church is bad doctrine. Our bodies have systems in place designed to process and filter out unclean foods. The body of Christ also has these systems. I think one of the roles of the Prophet is to protect the church from bad doctrine and false prophets.

Occasionally, we eat something that is beyond the ability of our body to reject. Our whole body becomes poisoned and In order to become clean it must to go through the miserable process of flushing these toxins. I don’t know if the word miserable is strong enough.

The temptation in this situation is to treat the symptoms and take medicine that will limit the diarrhea and vomiting. This Pepto Bismal approach is dangerous because it keeps the poison in the body causing long term damage. The body must know the danger of the toxins and not be fooled into thinking they are ok

When the Body of Christ consumes bad doctrine the process for removing it can be just as miserable. I think many Christians, particularly those with pastors hearts, do everything they can to make an artificial peace. They apply spiritual Pepto and cause the problem gets worse instead of better.

I think many church splits can be traced back to the pushing important disagreements into the background and letting them fester. By treating the symptoms we ignore the disease and to damage to the body. There is a time to make peace but there is also a time to detox. Tranquility is not always good.

Some words like Internet are universal.

Sorry if my commnts today are a little off topic. Day 4 will be more business related.

If you have a friend or family member on this trip feel free to leave them a note in the comment section of this blog and I will get it to them ASAP. Don’t forget you can have these posts delivered to your email inbox . You can unsubscribe at any time.

Related posts:

1. Ecuador Day 8 – Friday March 21 Today was good Friday, a national holiday which means that...
2. Ecuador Day 4 – Monday March 17 We visited the U.S. commercial services today. And by “we”...
3. Ecuador Day 5 – Tuesday March 18 Today we visited a flower plantation a coffee company and...

Today we studied micro entrepreneurship by visiting a local open air market.

The breakfast bar at our hotel. The food here is good and amazingly inexpensive. I got a fillet mignon for $6.

Permission
Permission based marketing may be a new concept to us westerners but I know a couple of Ecuadorian girls aged 7 and 10 that are masters of it. We stopped at a rest stop on the way to the market. They offered to ride with us the rest of the way and sang to us in a native Indian language.

The older girl had and a half year old brother on her back and they were adorable. They sang well too. After serenading us they then asked if they could show us their handcrafts. Those girls made more money in that 20 minute buss trip than most American college students make in an entire week.

This girl was six years old and could count back change without the need for a computer.

They built trust and gained our attention with their singing. After that, making the sale was easy. I think American companies could learn a lot from this idea.

Family Business

Two sisters working at the family booth.

One of the things I have noticed here in Ecuador is how integrated the families are. The fathers work along side the sons and the daughters work with their mothers. The people seem to be happy here.

An Ecuadorian woman with her family.

They have enough for food clothing and shelter and on top of that they have strong families. In a way they have more than most Americans who have food, clothing and families that get along best when they give each other lots of distance.

An Ecuadorian boy sweaping the ground in front of his fathers mechanic shop. His mom is out back with a child on her back working as well.

Supply and Demand
One we got to the market Cynthia and I set out to look at the vendors. I had no idea my sister was such a good negotiator. Apparently, she learned how to drive a hard bargain in China and now that she new the language she was going to town on these vendors. We did a lot of bargaining in the market which was a lot of fun. We tried not to get anything for “Gringo Prices.”

One of the interesting things and bargaining for a price is that it dynamically and automatically finds the equilibrium point between supply and demand. The less you want something the lower the vendors are willing to go on the price. I bought a hat and I could have gotten and even better deal on it if I hadn’t wanted it so much.

How to Bargain
The key tactic of bargaining as a seller is to read the body language of your customer to judge their demand. Don’t lower the price unless you think it will help you make the sale.

The key tactic to bargaining as a buyer is to hide your interest and even fane disinterest. A good tactic is to walk away once you have gotten them as low as you can and there is only a little space between your positions. Another tactic is to get prices from multiple vendors and to tell them you could get a better ganga (bargon) at another booth. That gets them to drop their prices like a rock.

You can buy all kinds of things at the market.

These vendors could move the merchandise on their booths very well. Far better than what I see at the Belton Flea market. It may be because these people are selling their wears to survive and the flea market folks are selling their wears for fun.

Photos
In Mexico the children and even some adults begged us to take their picture. Here if you ask someone if you can take their photo they will ask for a tip.

One of the girls on our team pay fifty cents to take this photo. This girl makes her living posing for photos.

God’s Garden
Imagine a place where the ground rises up and touches the sky. This is what Ecuador looks like. I have rarely seen beauty like this anywhere else. Unlike the Rocky Mountains, the Andes are filled with vegetation and farms. We saw a cow grazing on a hill that had at least a 45 degree slant to it.

Roses are still everywhere.

We visited a volcano that had turned into a 6000 foot deep lake. One of the pretties sights I have ever seen. The sides of the lake rose up into the clouds which reflected on the water.

This lake is on the inside of a volcano crator. It is 6000 feet deep and probobly the prettiest location I have ever visited.

We are at 10,000 feet, the hight many planes fly at so the clouds sometimes just float along the ground. It is like a sky forest here.

It rains often with cold rain. Everything is wet and green.

My sister Cynthia. The higher you climb the more air you need and the less you have available.

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I am setting of on one of the biggest, most exiting and dangerous adventures of my life. And I am not talking about my trip to Ecuador.

Grace Chambers and I are now officially courting. And by official I mean Facebook official. After several meetings with her dad he asked her if she was interested in starting a relationship and she said “yes.” If you don’t know Grace yet I’ll just say you’re missing out on an amazing friend.

I don’t really know much about courtship having only observed it from a distance. In other words I have no idea what I am doing. It is fun though, in that top of the roller coaster looking down afraid for you life kinda way that is..

You know when you are about to jump out of a plane and your realize that 10,000 feet is a lot farther down than you thought? You know that as soon as you step off that plane you will feel sheer terror and then either either a happy landing or splat.

Splat is not an ending of the relationship. Splat is dishonoring God. We don’t want splat.

I want this courtship to be fun and God honoring. I don’t think those things are mutually exclusive but blending them is a challenge. We live between two cultures. One values hedonistic pleasure over holiness. The other looks down on others with contempt and pride and sees most pleasure as some form of sin.

I will be blogging occasionally on what I learn as we go. Maybe you can learn from us and avoid our mistakes.

Risk
One thing I do know about relationships is that they are risky. I think the guy especially needs to take risks and that can be hard. When it doesn’t work out it can hurt, a lot. A good friend of mine took a risk in courtship and it didn’t work out. And while he honored God he is still in a lot of pain.

If relationships were easy would we value them as much? Or does the risk and the danger make them special?

Grace and I officially started courting on Wednesday March 12. Since then Grace has the flu and I am leaving for a different continent. The challenges of long distance relationships has just been multiplied by a factor of $2 per minute phone rates and 3000 extra miles.

I can’t wait to get back to Texas

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This spring break Cynthia and I are going to Ecuador for International Business. Part of the course requires us to keep a journal of each days events. I thought I would share the trip with you.

Today I learned that life does exist at 4am. My dad dropped me off at the airport. He is my hero. The flights while early have been uneventful, save for a few spectacular vistas out the plane. I don’t remember the scenery being this pretty before. On the way to Houston we flew just above a blanket of clouds. The rising sun was shining color though the sky and deep shadows in the clouds. I tried to take a picture of the sun rise but it just doesn’t capture the majesty.

Right now we are flying over the Caribbean and the water is so clear it seems that we can see straight down to the bottom. The shadows of the small white clouds are dotting the ground.

The Panama City Airport had a lot of duty free shops. Some of which were selling jail broken iPhones and iPhone knock offs.

This shop sold only M&Ms and related items.

We had a 7 hour layover in Panama. Here we are chilling waiting for the plane. There I am writing this blog… or watching Stargate.

This crowd is actually the line to get through customs in Quito. We waited for 30 minutes just to see this line.

Quito the City of Roses
One of Ecuador’s main exports is roses. It is not hard to find a dozen roses for sale here for a dollar. because of this we found rose displays at the airport and at our hotel that would have 10 dozen roses or more. And the flowers are so fresh and clean. We each get a new rose in our hotel room every night. The restaurant all have fresh roses as their table centerpieces.

The roses in our hotel lobby. There are displays like this all over town.

General Observations:

• You can’t judge a persons nationality by their appearances. I have met many white, black and everything in between talking in Spanish. Panama seems fairly diverse and integrated racially.
• The men here bring their sons to work along side them. I think this is good.
• Don’t let anyone touch your luggage if you are not prepared to tip them.
• Smiles are universal.

Related posts:

1. Ecuador Day 4 – Monday March 17 We visited the U.S. commercial services today. And by “we”...
2. Ecuador Day 7 – Thursday March 20 Today we talked with a hotel manager, a missionary and...
3. Ecuador Day 8 – Friday March 21 Today was good Friday, a national holiday which means that...