At home in Ecuador

Our first week in Shell was spent with Galo, his wife and their three children. Before we arrived my children were very nervous about communicating with kids in Spanish. To their delight, their oldest son knows quite a bit of English. By the end of the night all five kids were running and playing together and sad to say goodnight. They took great care of us by showing us around Shell and feeding us delicious food until our house was ready for us.

 Here is the house we rented in a compound with great neighbors and their six dogs! It was huge- five bedrooms, three bathrooms, a full kitchen and laundry room. A hide-and-seeker's dream. With all that room you'd think we'd spread out a bit, but no. We closed off the extra three rooms and the kids shared a room as always. Twins that are best friends can't be separated!

View from the front (above) and back (below)

The house is one of 10 residences inside a fenced compound behind a mission-built hospital. The homes were built to house the hospital staff, however after a hospital opened in the next town, this hospital was closed and later reopened as a clinic.

Most people in Shell have a locking fence securing their home and bars on the windows. Initially Journey thought there were a LOT of jails in Ecuador. Ha!

4 of the 6 dogs of the compound. 

On a clear day (which is rare) two volcanos can be seen from our house. This perfectly cone-shaped one is Vulcan Sangay, a 17,158ft active volcano that we witnessed sending up puffs of smoke at times.

(Our house on the left, clinic in the background and Sangay in the distance)

The other volcano, El Altar, is the most rugged mountain I have seen. At 17,451ft, it is always snow-capped and is a real treat when the cloud curtain rises to reveal its beauty.

Having a playground in the backyard was a wonderful bonus.
My children enjoyed playing with our neighbors who were close in age. 

It rains pretty much everyday, often multiple times a day, and sometimes for an entire day. It's not the kind of rain I've known in the US, this feels as though the sky opens up and just pours out from the heavens. When you're outside and hear a train coming, you better hope you're less than 30 seconds from shelter, because that's not a train!

This is a photo from our patio looking thru rain at our neighbor's house.

Some of the most beautiful rainbows appear afterwards.