36.4 mile ride from banos to shell

well today, 10 of us...a random mix between ecuadorians and american missionaries who live in shell took a bus at 7 am to banos, about an hour away...with our bikes tied to the top of a bus, for a 50 cent extra charge...and then to get on our bikes and ride back to shell....by car, this journey takes an hour and a half...and its about a 4-5 hour bike ride...with tons of hills...a constant climb..but i was proud of myself bc i didnt stop to walk once! God was my strength...no doubt!

here is a picture of the sunset this morning, before we took off for the bus stop...the building is the hospital here!



here is a picture of one of the beautiful scenery...this picture does not do the ride justice one bit...but i didnt to stop and take pictures of everything...i just enjoyed the ride..it was so great! its so great to ride down a ride with small waterfalls just trickling down teh sides of the mountains...you just have to experience it on your own!










this man was walking down the side of the mountain carrying a lot of thick grass on his back that he just finished hand cutting with his machette...ecuadorians are very strong and have a lot of endurance! this picture was taken when our journey was halted by a huge landslide that happened about a week ago..that blocks the road...so we were waiting for the guys to let us go..they let cars go by one by one...while one guy checks to see if rocks are falling :)







a picture of me resting for a small bit before i was going to tackle the next hill!
needless to stay that i was very happy to be back in shell after a long and hard jouney...id say it was one of the most physically challenging things ive ever done! praise god for endurance and strength! maybe when my parents come...ill be ready to do it again and well see what my dad thinks about it :)