LOST in Ecuador

This is part 2 of my saga: Adventures and Sojourns through Ecuador 

New this year was a trip to the Municipal park in Quito. A set of exercise machines were installed next to the wooden playground, swings and slides. How convenient. Since I wasn’t visiting the gym while traveling, I hopped on a few of them and did some reps. Though a bit old and rusty, metal on metal, they worked well and I got in some needed exercise. Afterwards, we explored the nearby trails and I enjoyed the local flora, taking may phots pictured here. The real adventure began on our return trip.

We had a pleasant walk down the 

path that lead to the gardens at the Quito municipal park, but we didn’t want to return the same way and hoped we could loop around down another path.  My daughter in law, who is a native of Quito, pointed to another path and asked the guard if it went back to the parking lot. He nodded and showed her it connected, so we took off exploring this section. We looked for any diverging path to the left or right, but I only saw one that was closed off and dangerous with several fallen trees and a steep descent, so I kept going. Behind me followed my family—my son, two grandchildren, daughter in law, mother in law, brother in law, grandmother and husband. When I came to the end I stopped. There was no place to go, so my husband scouted it out. He found a path that lead up a very steep incline that followed a fence, but it didn't look promising to me!                

My son said he would scout out the path and to stay behind. I’d been listening to my husband, so I guess I didn't hear my son's

instructions. My husband and I climbed the steep incline partway, but I thought it led to a completely different area. He said he’d wait there for me. I figured I’d follow my son half way, stop, wait and then call to see if it was the right path, being within earshot of both parties. It was a nice warm day and I enjoyed being in  the woods. After about ten minutes, I called to my son to see if he found the right path. I heard nothing. I waited five more minutes, then called again. I heard someone yelling back, but I couldn’t understand them. 
                                                                    After fifteen minutes, it sank in. I was all alone

 in the Ecuadorian woods, by myself in a strange place in another country on a different continent. I began to yell louder. “Aaron, is this the right path?” I was waiting for a simple yes or no answer, but didn’t receive one. Instead I heard a garbled message, which I wasn’t sure was my son. Time to get out of there! I turned around and headed back to the original spot. I thought I’d see my husband, but he wasn’t there. I called for him. NO answer. Panic set in. I called over and over again. The woods began to look unfamiliar, and fear followed me.

I started to pray a very simple prayer, “Lord, help me!” Just then a small path to the 

left opened up, which I figured would lead down to the trail. I descended it and it led me to the secondary pathway. I used my pitiful sense of direction, which said turn left so I did. I found myself passing a familiar small bridge, but I was confused. This was much further along in the opposite direction than the dead end where the women were supposed to wait. I kept going, glad to be in familiar territory. After a few minutes, I spotted most of my family waiting further up ahead. They had moved from the original place and my son was descending a different hill.

 As he came into view he called. “Why didn’t you stay where you were?” He asked with a tinge of annoyance.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I didn’t know you wanted me too.” I hesitated. “Why didn’t you answer whether this was the right path or not.

My son reached our level. “All I heard was someone bellowing like a heard of wild hyenas was about to descend on them.”

“Well, I got scared.” I said sheepishly.

“Well, you should have been! You’re in a foreign country wandering the woods by yourself.”

I felt admonished, but I was the mother here. “I was trying to help.”

“Help? My son questioned. “I circled the woods at least twice looking for you. You should have stayed where you were.

“But I got frightened by myself and then your father wasn’t where he said he’d be.” I looked around.  “As a matter of fact, where is he?”

As we walked back, we debated whether or not Frank, my husband, would be back at the parking lot. I was concerned because if he headed along the fence, he was likely to wind up into another town, and he didn’t know how to speak a word of Spanish.

As we approached the misdirecting guards, my daughter in law asked if they had seen him, and one of them answered. “El hombre grande?” Translation: the big guy.

“Yes, him.”

He pointed down the infamous path “Si, esta aye, over there.”

“He has a great sense of direction,” I added. “But mine is terrible.”

“Yes mom, don’t ever do that again. Listen to me and don’t budge. When we’re in the jungle don’t you move one inch away from us.”

I stood corrected. “Yes, of course, not in the jungle!”

As we continued to walk back, I was confused. My son had never passed me by on his treks, and I only moved a few minutes before I found them. I also thought about the strange path that opened up for me. None of us had seen it before and my daughter in law asked the other walkers if there was any other way back off that trail. They all said no, except the guard who probably didn’t know that the crumbling steps to the left had been closed, for what looked like a couple of years. The pathway I walked down was to the right and it brought me back on the loop a lot closer to the initial way than I thought possible. The thoughts rolled around my head. Did I just have an experience like Phillip, when he was walking along the road in Jerusalem and teleported to Egypt? Of course, it wasn’t that dramatic, but it sure was an adventure!

When we returned close to the playground, I saw my husband's tall figure waiting for us. He said he’d been waiting for about a half an hour. Aaron declared. “My dad just followed the sun and got back to the right place.” Later on, while walking in the woods where we live, my husband confessed that he got a bit nervous himself. “I hadn’t looked where we were initially, and here I was on a mountaintop in Ecuador without a notion where to go. On top of that, the only thing I know to say in Spanish is Hola!” It had been quite the adventure for both of us!