Over spring break, I went on a mission trip to the city of Tabacundo, Ecuador, a small community about an hour and a half bus ride northeast of the capital city, Quito.

We arrived at the camp we would call home for the next six days at about 1:00 a.m. Sunday and woke up around 7:30 to eat breakfast and attend a worship service. The worship service took place in both English and in Spanish, and it was really amazing in that even though I could not communicate with some of the people in the audience with me, we could experience and understand the same service at the same time in our own languages.

The next day, we traveled to the local public elementary school to build a new playground for the students. While we were there, some of the students were on recess and grouped up in big crowds to ask us questions and play games. They tried their hardest to ask us questions about where we lived, why we were here, and about our families. The children spoke little English beyond “Hello,” “Goodbye,” and “What is your name?” We tried to understand and answer their questions in Spanish, but we usually had to ask them to repeat the question a few times to really understand or apologize for not understanding.

We continued to work on the playground throughout the week. Each day, the children grew more and more restless for the playground to be completed. The playground we built consisted of a rock wall, a rope ladder, a slide, monkey bars and swings, and the children even began to play on it while the paint was still wet.

On Wednesday, we went to a market in the city of Otavalo which was an entirely different experience from shopping in the United States. The market had mostly handmade goods for very cheap prices and most of the goods were made out of alpaca wool. They sold blankets, tablecloths, bracelets, backpacks, wallets, purses, scarves, ponchos, sweaters, hand-painted table trays, hammocks and many other items. The vendors seldom spoke English and they gave raised prices for the items because we were American. Bargaining to get a fair price was mandatory.

After we finished shopping, we traveled to the town of Cotacachi to shop at the leather market, but first, we went to a national park just outside of the city for lunch. We ate at a restaurant overlooking a beautiful lake created from a volcanic crater with a large island in its center. They served us fresh fruit juice and plate of either chicken, pork or fish. After the meal, they served a traditionally prepared meal which consisted of a full size guinea pig on a platter. They cut up the guinea pig and gave everyone a small piece to try, and, to everyone’s surprise, no one disliked the way the guinea pig tasted.

While we were in Ecuador, we also visited some local families and brought toys for the kids and some food supplies as well. The first house we visited was in the city of Cayambe which was about a 10 minute drive east of Tabacundo. We walked into a lady’s small apartment and found three small boys watching “Tom and Jerry” in the front room. The boys were acting as if nothing was wrong but the house was unbearably filled with smoke. We walked into the kitchen and found a lady grilling chicken feet for us. We moved the grill outside for her so the smoke could clear, and then went inside and talked with her. She told us she lives in the apartment which consists of a bathroom, a kitchen, and a main room where the family of five sleeps. Her husband works in Quito and can sometimes come home on the weekends to visit them. Her youngest son suffers from a form of paralysis and is expected to walk in two years, but only if he can get an expensive surgery. Because of his mother’s ties to Colombia, she may be able to have the surgery funded by the Colombian government, but government assistance is slow-moving and hard to come by in that part of the world. After she shared with us her story, we gave them the items we had brought. All of the boys were incredibly thankful and each of them gave us a hug for our gifts.

The other home we visited was in the countryside outside of Tabacundo. The family there had a lot of children and their mother was an alcoholic. The children were taken care of mostly by their 19-year-old sister who had a husband and a child of her own. They lived in a small one-room adobe home with a dirt floor and a kitchen constructed out of scaffolding located outside of the house. We sang with them for a little while, took a family photo for them and gave them the toys and cookware we had brought.

On our last day in Ecuador, we visited Quito. The city has a population of approximately 3 million people and was incredibly busy. Cars, motorcycles and buses full of people filled the streets and drove haphazardly. It was almost like people just drove with the hope they were not going to get hit by another car. The smog and pollution was so bad that I could see my breath as if it were freezing outside. We visited a monument and museum on the equator and our tour guide was able to give us a brief history of the country.

We went to a large mall next. However, we first stopped at a supermarket to buy chocolate and other Ecuadorian sweets to bring back with us. After we finished there, we walked for an hour through the four-story mall. I found the mall to be a lot like an American mall except for the car dealerships located in the mall. We then drove for a couple of hours to a restaurant overlooking the entire city. The city was completely lit up at night and it was incredibly beautiful. After dinner, we drove to the airport and boarded an 11:55 p.m. flight and arrived in Houston at 5:00 the next morning.

Overall, the trip was an incredibly eye-opening experience for me. I saw a type of poverty completely different from the American perception of the word. Many people went without many of the things we take for granted, but they were still incredibly joyful and content with what they have. Everyone I talked to there was so nice and ready to help me no matter the fact I didn’t speak the language. I felt incredibly humbled to see a population of people filled with so much joy and kindness towards a group of foreigners.

After traveling to Ecuador, I gained a greater appreciation for the life and opportunities I have here in the United States.