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| Fun fact: Tulcan is home to one of the largest topiary gardens in the world |
Things have changed. Oh, how things have changed! I’m
probably going to need the next 3 or 4 letters to explain exactly how things
have changed but that’s ok. Let me just start by filling you in on the things
that I have been doing and have been happening to me over the last 3 days. I’m
just going to apologize up front, this isn’t going to be incredibly
inspirational or emotional because I just really need to get out the details.
Tuesday morning I woke up before the sun and finished
putting all of my belongings into my two bags for about the 10th
time in the last 4 months (exaggeration). The destination of my day’s journey
was far away and I was excited. Elder Fernandez and I flagged down a taxi and
made our way over to the bus terminal to meet up with about 5 other
missionaries from the coast who all had their belongings in their 2 bags as
well. We all bought tickets for Quito and climbed aboard our bus despite the
fact that we all had pretty different places to go when the day was to finish.
Two missionaries were headed to the jungle, 2 more were headed to Otavalo and I
was heading to Ibarra – to the town of Tulcan. I slept most of the way to Quito
feeling like I had gazed out the window enough already on this leg of the trip.
When we arrived, I bought bread with some queso fresco inside of it and another
ticket with an arrival time of 8pm, some 6 hours later. Elder Bermejo and I
realized that we were both heading into the sierra so we worked out a plan that
we’d buy the same ticket to Tulcan but he’d just get off the bus 3 hours sooner
than me when we were passing through the town he had been assigned to. (They
cut him a break of $5 on the ticket when we explained the plan to the bus
lady). We were all set and boarded on our new bus, still excited.
Three hours down the road we pulled into Ibarra and I said
goodbye to Elder Bermejo. I was now alone but I wasn’t afraid. It was a weird
type of empowering confidence that I had that I was out on my own in a bus full
of Ecuadorian culture as we rolled along the hilly, wet, mountainous landscape.
Some kid fell sleep on my arm in the seat next to me and had been sleeping very
well for the last 2 hours. He was holding a Spanish plants vs. zombies version
of Monopoly, presumably a gift he had received for Christmas just 2 days
earlier. Since he was sleeping, his grip on the game wasn’t very tight and, in
fact, loosened with every bump. This of course made me antsy because the last
thing I wanted to do was pick up monopoly monies in the crowded bus. But we
rolled along.
I arrived at the last stop of the bus line, my stop, around
7:35. When I climbed down out of the bus, I was immediately hit by a rush of
cold air, and a frenzy of money exchangers persistently pressing me to convert
my dollars into Columbian currency. I was (and now am) very close to the
Columbian border. After fighting them off, I collected my bags from under the
bus and started the hard part: waiting to be picked up by my new companion. The
first 25 minutes were easy to wait because I was fairly certain they knew I was
supposed to arrive at the scheduled 8pm. The following 45 minutes were not so
easy to wait. Some wayward fellow asked me, rather told me, to give him some
money so that he could grab a taxi. Now, don’t forget that I’m still very much
a Spanish language learner but I told him that I was a missionary and didn’t
have any money despite wanting to help him. When he heard this his demeanor
changed and he grabbed my right hand with both of his and beckoned “Bendigame,
Protejame.” It was slightly humorous but I’ll take it over a demand for money
anyday. At about 8pm a small family of Otavalenos arrived in the terminal. It
was real cold and I felt exposed out on my own with my luggage so I huddled
near to them to pretend I was part of their group. We struck up a conversation
and they were very nice.
At 8:30 I told myself and the Otavalenos (they were very
concerned that I really didn’t know where I would be staying or who was coming
to get me) that I would try to call the zone leaders to ask for the phone
number of the missionaries en route to me but in the exact moment that I turned
around to start looking for a phone I caught a glimpse of them unloading from
the taxi. I was so ecstatic to see them and we embraced in handshakes and hugs.
Putting my bags in the tax, we departed. We rushed to the missionary house to
drop off my bags because we needed to get to the church talent night that was
already in progress! It was a really quick turn around if you were wondering.
When we walked in the door of the chapel that had been converted into a stage,
I was greeted by the friendliest, handshaky-ist church gathering that I have
ever witnessed and boy did I really need it. I was working the figures in my
head and realizing that there are only 4 missionaries in Tulcan (me plus 3)
that I’m now 6 hours away from Quito and President Murphy and that my town is 3
hours north of any other civilization let alone other missionaries. But, like I
said, the friendly branch members here really welcomed me in and for that I was
thankful.
Right as I walked in they handed me a piece of paper with
some words on it. Apparently there were lyrics and apparently I was going to
sing in a trio with the other missionaries less the one playing the piano. I
promise you when I woke up that morning I had not the slightest hint of an idea
that I would be singing in front of my new ward that night but it actually went
pretty well. I’m happy about it. After we sang they served us some rice that
kind of tasted like fried rice if I had to describe it and it was warm and
delicious. After we ate, we missionaries left back to our apartment ahead of
curfew but word is the party didn’t end until about 1:30am – just to give you
an idea of how lively the new branch is. We walked back to the apartment and I
crashed hard after a long day of traveling.
So, to sum up, I’m now living in Tulcan and you can take
everything I’ve ever mentioned about life as a missionary in the coastal town
of Esmeraldas, imagine the exact opposite of all those things, and get a pretty
good idea of my new surroundings. The people are shorter, the air is chilly,
most streets aren’t dusty, I’m shivering instead of sweating, I’m eating lots
of every part of the chicken, and we’re wearing sweaters as we cruise around
town. It’s pretty much all changed and I think I’m going to like it here. I’m
staying happy and positive. Stay tuned next week to hear more about all these
changes. Have a great week everyone and Happy New Year!
Much affection,
Elder Ericksen
Tidbits from other letters:
- Adam was sad leaving Esmeraldas right about the time “I finally figured out how to do the coast.” He’s really going to miss the church members in the Aire Libre area who were so kind in helping him acclimate to Ecuador, particularly Hmo Enso who “saved him from loneliness early on” and Hma Leslie who kept them well fed and brought he and Elder Fernandez tacos for dinner on Christmas night (she served her mission Baja California, Mexico.) Even more, he’s really going to miss the incredibly delicious food. The one thing he won’t miss: dust and sweat.
- Ecuador parties hard for New Years Eve. Men dress up like women and wreak havoc in the streets, lying down to block cars with their bodies or with ropes. Then they dance “inappropriately” in front of the traffic jam they have just created until the drivers give them money. They’re pretty aggressive and drunk so we have to be in by 3pm. They have also been selling paper mache dolls in the streets all week. They’re different sizes and many represent famous people (president of Ecuador, movie stars, cartoon characters). People attach them to the front of their cars and drive around. Then at midnight they take them to the streets and burn them. Look up “AnosViejos Ecuador” – I bet you can find some fun videos.
- The transition from hot and sweaty coast to cold and damp altitude (Tulcan sits around 10,000 feet) has Adam fighting a cold. That said, “from a parent’s perspective” Tulcan is much calmer and safer than Esmeraldas. “Four days in and not a single weird thing has happened here.” (Hmm – makes me wonder what else was going on back at the coast?)
- Tulcan “feels European” and during the cold evenings reminds Adam a lot of Spain. The town is right on the border with Colombia, so there’s “5,000 flea markets and everyone is selling something ‘for a really good deal’”. It also sometimes feels like I’m walking around the set of Lord of the Rings.
- “I sleep with 3 woolen blankets and its kinda perfect.”
- “I think you guys would be really touched by the reaction of Elder Fernandez to all the candy from the United States. He LOVES it and always takes pictures of the trash. It’s so great.”
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