Happy Christmas

Thought we'd better get a photo on this sunny day in Loja! Don't worry, it didn't last for long. Evie loves this christmas tree, so we stop and look at it every time we pass. I made some christmas stockings, so we are busy filling it up with little nonsensical presents, bemoaning the lack of ham and thinking about what are good alternatives for this christmas feast.

John is planning one last fishing trip (fly fishing) before baby no.2 comes, maybe this time with a bit of sucess. Evie said today she wants a brother, lets see what she wants tomorrow. And that about sums up our plans for the next little while before we head up to Quito.

And you wonder why we go thru so much Vegemite!

You can't say that Evie isn't a faithful little Australian!

We just celebrated Evie's second birthday at the end of October, I think we all enjoyed ourselves. She was spoiled with presents and well wishes from around the globe, so thank you to everyone who remembered us and made us feel very loved!

We only have 3 months left of our official language and orientation year, so really need to get cracking on the rest of our orientation manual...please pray we'll stick at it! Good timing too, as our second baby is also due in 3 months, nothing like an enforced deadline I guess.

But don't worry, we still are managing to have some fun, like chilling out at the park, playing futbol with friends. Evie's developing a good kick.

This is a picture of Fabricio and us on the morning of the recent world cup qualifiers. Let me tell you, he wasn't out of place on this day! People are passionate about their team and proud to show it!

Bolivia, Peru and Home

After three weeks of separation, we were finally rejoined and happy to be that way too. Evie is still mentioning the fact that Dad is home and often gives random hugs for being here. I thought it would be good to share of some of the things that I did while away. Where did I go? Cochabamba, La Paz and Copacabana in Bolivia then to Arequipa and Lima in Peru. Let's say that Cochabamba had great food. It was great to see Latins preaching exegetically. It was also encouraging to see other missionaries in action who had been in action for many years in a Latin context. I was given some great ideas for our future. I think for both of us to hear that there are people out there doing siustainable projects, working with pastors and doing these things well was a great thing for us to hear so early on in our time here in Loja. I look forward to being able to call on them when the time arrises.

The random photos are of the Christ statue in Cochabamba, which has a hillside around it covered in thorns, quite appropriate. A bus flying through the streets of Cochabamba. The bus that flew off the road while I was on board and finally the scenery at the main plaza in Arequipa, stunning.

Loja Trembles...

With John away and all, there I was reading away at the happy hour of 12 midnight last night when suddenly everything began to move. Not just a gentle sway but a significant rocking. The bed was moving, the windows were making noises in their frames, it felt like the whole building was creaking.

The normal few seconds of a tremor passed, but the shaking continued….oh my word, when was it going to stop??? It felt as if the ground was alive! So I jump out of bed, deriding myself for not keeping up to date our ‘emergency kit’ and run to Evie’s room, in which she continues to sleep peacefully oblivious to all. Do I wait a few more seconds? Do I grab her and run outside? By the time these thoughts had whizzed through my mind it seemed as though the tremor/quake had stopped, praise the Lord! So I make my way back to bed with my heart pounding in my chest.
Apparently it was a tremor of 5.9 with the epicentre not too far away from Loja.

All I can say is that the novelty of feeling the earth move under my feet has definitely receded and I’d be happy to be on solid ground the rest of my days (you’ll be happy to know that about 12.15am a friend who lives across the road buzzed a couple of times on my door to check that Evie and I were OK)!

Karine learns to drive...the Ecuadorian way

After 3 weeks of driving school, including discovering the major potholes of Loja along with lurid depictions of the accident injuries, a few tests in Spanish and my driving instructor practising his english with me I have come out the other side almost with a local license. Almost, in that now I need to wait for the driving school to put together the necessary paperwork in order to take it all to the police who will hopefully award me with the final product (who knows how long that will take)! Will keep you posted!

PS E for experienced! Not really, 'estudiante'

SIM Ecuador Team Conference

This past week saw us at 'Las Lagunas' (30min south of Loja) for our annual SIM team conference. It was a good time of getting to know our team mates some more and to be humbled as we looked at the lives of some courageous people of God.

There was also a pool to be enjoyed with a great view of the Andes every which way you turned!

We are now back in Loja where it has rained solidly for 2 days now, not a great incentive to spend much time outside!

Celebrating in Sheffield

We've just come back from two and a bit weeks in Sheffield, England to celebrate Julian and Beth's wedding on July 30th (K's younger brother). I think John did a great job as the official photographer!

We had a super time, meeting up with Jodie the afternoon we arrived, and spending a few days with one of John's old friends from his Oak Hall days, and his family. Evie absolutely loved playing with Meghan, their little girl.

We stayed in two little cottages in the middle of green rolling hills, managed a walk in the Peak District and generally got ready for the wedding (plus stocking up on some asian and indian spices...). Evie couldn't give her little cousin Mya enough cuddles! It was hard saying goodbye to family but we are so glad we were able to go.

Climbing to the top of the (non-existent) teleferíco

On Tuesday (our day off from language learning) we decided to climb up to the top of the Teleferíco (Gondola), which doesn't look like it will be operational for a long time. All the infrastructure is there, but no gondolas in sight. We passed a family of llamas on the way up, funny to see such a 'wild' animal lin the middle of the basketball court!

It was quite windy at the top, with a great view of the valley and mountains on the other side of Loja. Evie had great fun running back down the mountain, picking up rocks and flowers along the way. I think it will be a while before we try climbing any significant mountains around here, it's hard work!

Silly faces...

Evie is currently making us laugh with all her different faces. We hope they make you laugh too!
This photo below is of Evie's first pony ride in Parque Jipiro. For just .50c you can go for a little jaunt along the river, she loved it!

We had a nice weekend, invited some people over for 'brunch' (bit of a novelty here) on Saturday, and had lunch at a Mariana's house on Sunday (a lady from church). The rain stopped yesterday after a few weeks of constant downpours. The sun even warmed my shoulders for a while as I walked to class this morning.

Out and About

We've had a bit of a social time over the last few days! It feels like all our christmases have coincided. Friday we went to Vilcabamba and had lunch with Jason, a SIM team mate, Saturday was down to Landangui for lunch with Ulric, Natalia and Lelia (of French café fame) and a swim which Evie absolutely loved and Sunday, a picnic in the park with Patricia and Antonio and kids, from church. The Botanical Gardens are just outside of Loja and its a really peaceful place, lots of trees and herbs and little paths meandering through it all. We almost lost the Aerobe but John climbed under a serious barbed wire fence to rescue it. Having a few days like this helps with the loneliness that we feel, which while inevitable, is still hard as you work through the process of trying to build new relationships in another language and culture. Can you pray that we'll be patient in this process and also that we'll keep up the effort of making connections with people? Thanks!

Cycling in the Andes

A pretty regular week, but I did go riding three times. Mariana, the girl I go riding with, tends to take us up mountains which is not too hard to do when you are surrounded by them. But seeing as these are the Andes, they aren't very forgiving. I felt like I was going to throw up the other day as I tried to keep pushing upwards but in the end I decided it was better to just get off and walk for a while. There are benefits, the views are generally spectacular. Thanks God for making such an amazing world!

Discovering Gonzanama

It actually doesn't take too long, it's quite a small town! We spent a few days with our SIM team mates out there (Thurs - Sun), accompanying them on a bible study they do with a family with 8 kids, driving out to El Fundo to do a community consultation and generally finding out what they are involved in to bring the message of Jesus to this area. We also visited the local cemetery which was really pretty with flowers scattered all around and a great view of the Andes stretching away into the distance. This is an amazing country.

¿VIC or QLD?

Living on the equator in the Andes has it's quirks! Loja feels like Melbourne a little, 4 seasons in one day...but descend the mountains and it's as if we are in QLD (minus the coast) - the smells, the temperature, the birds and butterflies. In the space of half an hour it feels like we've done the 10 hour drive up north! So, when we need some holiday feeling it just requires a little drive down the mountains.

On the way back from hot, humid Guayaquil we came home via chilly Las Cajas National Park (over 4000m) then back down to Loja at 2100m!

Trip to Guayaquil

We took a trip to Ecuador's main city on the coast (sort of, the beach is still 2 hours away, but don't worry we made it there too!) from 12-17 April. Mind you, Thurs and Tues were pretty much spent driving, the highway isn't quite like the F3. I was glad we were in a 4WD so that we could mostly negotiate the landslides and gaping pot holes encountered along the way. We got to check out what SIM is doing in Guayaquil and meet some locals (people and reptiles) and sweat our way through days of heat and humidity. Was good to gain a broader understanding of what makes up Ecuador!

Checking out the local cuisine

Last week was a big week as we made our first foray into the world of Loja's local delicacies. The first was Karine checking out 'Caldo de Nervio' (ox penis soup if you really want to know). Probably won't be doing that again soon. Pretty amazing though to watch other people almost inhale a soup which I could hardly touch! For the curious the bright pink drink is 'horchata' a local tea adored by everyone, it's quite nice as long as you get the no sugar version (remarkably difficult to procure, trust me).

The next event was our first 'cuy' (guinea pig) and this was alot better! The teeth are pretty impressive, but the acutal meat was good, and the potatoes underneath excellent. For a much anticipated event we were pleasantly surprised.

Loja has internet...

For those of you who love to spend your time surfing the net, we thought we would give you something to read once in a while about life in Loja. We'll be posting things about what we have been doing, how we are going and show you some pics.
We hope to update this regularly, but if you have a request for specific information about Loja, then please let us know.
Thanks for reading so far and we hope you enjoy!
Love, J,K&E