This past weekend I visited Chontal with my host mom, Rosa, from last summer. Rosa is from a tiny town in the mountains on the border between Pinchincha and Imbabura which is about 2.5 hours away. Last summer I visited Chontal with a priest I met at her house. This time I was headed to Chontal with Rosa, her son Mateo, her sister Nieve, and Nieve’s daughter Melanie. We had a few obstacles in our path on the way there (take a look at the photos!) but we made it just fine!

Rosa is one of THIRTEEN children and almost all of them were visiting last weekend. Three of the babies in the families were being baptized and one of the youngest brothers is moving to Germany. So it was a Baptism/Good-bye party. I loved watching this family. There was always something going on! They clearly love each other dearly. There are now 25 grandchildren and they are all adorable!

Chontal is HOT in the afternoon so we took a ride down by the nearby river. It felt so cool and refreshing to dunk my feet. But then I slipped and dunked my entire body – whoops. It was a good thing I packed extra clothes! Later on the family had a delicious BBQ and a family meeting about how to handle some family matters. Then goodbye speeches were made all around for the brother heading to Germany. I started crying and I never even met him! It was really sweet and sad. Then it was off to Mass where I got to see Padre Julian again. There were 6 kids getting baptized during the mass. Needless to say, the Padre was busy!!

I slept over in the building next to the church which was built to house visiting priests. It was cool at night and it was fabulous listening to all of the birds and animal sounds that I don’t get to hear while I am in Quito. Also – I could breathe freely – NO POLLUTION!

It was a great couple of days with a wonderful family! I can’t wait to find out what happens this weekend!