Our journey to Ecuador was lots of fun as Brock drove us to Miami. Here are a couple photos to laugh at:

We arrived at the airport at 11 AM and were met by Dan & Teresa Susong who are missionaries from Tennessee. They greeted us with roses! All our bags were safe and we made it through customs with no problems.

On our way to the seminary we drove by a couple houses that are for rent and looked at them from the outside. We also got our Ecuador SIMM cards for the cell phones. Our phone numbers are strange looking … they start with 08.

At the seminary we hauled all 15 bags up the stairs which was tough to do being winded from adjusting to the altitude. Immediately, we met up with some folks who wanted to show some rental apartments to us. We viewed several today (details below).

We were all exhausted, but still so excited to be here that we just kept going. At one point during a 5 min. drive, Jordan totally fell hard asleep… snoring and all. That’s just not like her! We got so busy looking at houses and meeting different people that we totally skipped lunch. Finally we went to the mall and ate at Crepes & Waffles with the Susong’s. The kids really enjoyed the food and especially the ice cream treats.

We settled back into our rooms and are hitting the sack early tonight. We are excited for another great day tomorrow.

Here are some photos of the houses we viewed:

The first house is in a gated community right beside the seminary. Most of the professors live here. It is really a bunch of jumbled up houses all stacked together. I wish I had taken a photo from the outside, but I forgot. The rent here is only $120 per month. It reminded us a lot of Richmond Oaks.

This is a shot of the front room. I suppose it would be the den area although there is a small office area in the back.

The only bathroom has an electric heater attached to the shower head. This is something very common here in older places. It is nicknamed “the widow maker” because of the danger of an electric appliance in the shower.

This shot is taken standing in one bedroom and looking into another (there is no door).

This shot is standing in the dining area looking into the kitchen. There is no space in the kitchen for a refrigerator so it has to go in the dining room.

The thing the kids loved most about this house was the terrace on the roof. It was a big concrete area where they could ride scooters or skate.

The second place we looked at is right across from the mall. It is a very nice, gated community with a full time security guard. There is a large community playground and basketball court. There is no individual yard space for the home, but a huge shared backyard garden with all the units that is beautiful with lots of winding paths, trees and other landscaping. There is an avocado tree and a lemon tree back there. This place is newly renovated and very nice.

This is the view from the back patio.

This is a large family room/den area (larger than the photo shows)

Jordan claimed this as “her room”. But each room has a wall of closets which is wonderful meaning we wouldn’t have to buy furniture for that.

The kitchen & laundry area adjoin. That is Teresa standing in the laundry section. The hole is where the stove goes. Most rentals here do not come with appliances … you bring your own.

Nice counter space!

This is Jonathan & Jordan’s favorite thing… a storage closet underneath the stairs.

We looked at one other house that was just too extravagant to even consider so we didn’t photograph it. It was a large, brand new home, with a huge enclosed back yard. It is in a gated community with security guards with a pool and recreation fields. The house was beautiful and not terribly expensive by US standards, but way to extravagant for this family.

There were more places we went to look at but they were rented out already. They seem to turnover so quickly here… if you like it at all, you don’t have much time to think about it. We will see more places tomorrow.