Today I got to visit with 3 girls I sponsor through Compassion International. They live 4 hours from Guayaquil so I didn't get to see where they live or their project center. I paid to bring them down to Guayaquil and they got to spend the night in a hotel. The girls and their mothers had never left their town so they enjoyed seeing the city. Their mothers said the girls rode up and down in the hotel elevator because they had never seen one before!
Compassion's representative, Leo, picked me up at 9:30 and we went to meet the girls at the boardwalk area near the Ferris wheel where I was yesterday. Nicole is 13 and came with her mom and 1 month old baby brother. Cynthia is 11 and came with her mom and they were very proud to be dressed in traditional clothing. Genesis is also 11 and neither of her parents came, but the project center director and the girls' pastor both came. The girls were all friends and two of them go to school together. It was nice they got to experience it together.
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| Nicole's mom, Genesis, Nicole, Cynthia, me, Cynthia's mom |
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| Security wanted their picture with us - I felt like I was in India |
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| Cynthia, Nicole, Genesis |
They were really nervous about the ferris wheel (one of the moms refused to go), but ended up enjoying it.
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| Cynthia's mom was nervous, so was the director |
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| The girls were nervous too |
After the ferris wheel, we went to the zoo. None of them had ever been to a zoo. I'd say 2/3 to 3/4 of the animals were local animals - birds, iguanas, crocodiles, tortoises, etc. Many of the animals were taken off of the Galapagos by Ecuadorian tourists an then rescued and put in the zoo. There were also some exotic animals - zebras, jaguars, mountain lions etc. The girls loved the animals.
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| riding in the bus to the zoo |
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| largest rodents in the world. Real life RUS |
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| coral snake |
We went to a mall foodcourt and it took them forever to decide what to order - they never get to eat out at restaurants.
After that, we went to a small park known for iguanas, pigeons, and turtles running around. The girls all told me what their favorite part of the day was and they mom's, the center director, and the pastor thanked me for supporting the girls.
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| Cynthia petting an iguana |
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| We watched these turtle try to climb up and repeatedly fall for at least 15 minutes. |
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| Iguanas everywhere! |
Cynthia sat with me on the ride to take them to their hotel.
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