Crossing the Line (0˚ Latitude that is!)

Our days have slowed a bit in terms of “touristy” stuff… which might explain my lack of blogging! (So I apologize to those of you who thought I had been abducted into the Amazon by some local tribe… although I’m not sure they would want me. I’m a lot of work!)

While we lost Brian- Steph arrived last Friday. After a slight scare (we thought she was stuck in Colombia!) she got here safe and sound. Most of our time these days has been spent with the boys or working on various projects. One of my favorite days so far though, might have to be this past Sunday…

I often wonder sometimes what heaven would look like… I’m sure my dogs will be there and most days they’ll serve either macaroni and cheese, my moms spaghetti, or biscuits and gravy. But more than that, I’m quite sure it will look something like the top of Mt. Pichincha.

On Sunday we took a tram up to the top of Mt.Pichincha, a volcano that has been fairly quiet in recent years- but in 1999 erupted, covering the city of Quito in ash. I don’t think we were really close to the part of the volcano that actually erupts, but we were still pretty high up there. (Although, the only real picture I have of what a volcano should look like comes from science projects and the movie Joe and the Volcano… where the Volcano proceeds to spit Tom Hanks out after the local tribe sacrifices him into the boiling pit of molten lava- or something like that. So with this background in mind… I didn’t actually see any lava pit.) Anyway, from the peak where stood you could see the entire city of Quito- which was more vast than I had previously thought.

It is interesting how the Lord has been setting up our shots for this documentary. The sun we had hoped for was not as easy to find as we had expected. Low lying clouds drifted through the peaks and over the city in every which way, providing an ambiance unlike anything we could have set up. With the occasional sunbeams reflecting off of the clouds, surely there must be a part of heaven that was like this. At times the fog was so thick it might seem like we were all alone, while ten minutes later the sun would peak through and show us once again vast beauty that surrounds the city of Quito.

We spent several hours on the top of the world, the Andes of Ecuador- taking it all in with our cameras and souls. By the time we left night had covered the city and glow of the moon was accented only by the sparkling lights illuminating the city. We ate dinner that night at a restaurant situated on the side of one of the hills surrounding the city, giving us an equally brilliant view of our home for the last week.