Last day :(

Our last day began with broken hearts. We were visiting a local orphanage, and we quickly became attached to a little girl and her brother. The little girl was four, but very small, and her brother was two. They were the most adorable toddlers that any of us had ever seen, and we all just wanted to take them home with us. Most of the children that were living there have been taken from their parents, because of abuse. They all need, and deserve good homes. Oh, and another piece of advice, if you're not planning on adopting, do not go to an orphanage; it will rip your heart out. The kids we met absolutely adored Tanner, and I could tell that it killed him that he could not take them home. The little girl kept asking him if he would come back and see her tomorrow, and the little boy ran after him when he tried to leave. Talk about ripping your heart out. I'm trying to tell my parents that we need to go back and adopt that little girl, but I'm not sure I'm getting anywhere with that argument.

The rest of the day was just a blur, as all my thoughts drifted back to those little faces that we left behind. Unfortunately for Tanner, his adventures for the day were not over. He had gone to pick up his phone, and was going to meet us at a restaurant for lunch. However, his taxi driver failed to locate the restaurant, and decided to drop him off at the edge of the city, alone. Therefore, after rightfully refusing to pay the driver, Tanner was forced to walk through an alley, alone, in the streets of Ecuador, as an American, to find another cab that would take him back to our hotel. Scary much? I think so.

Later that night, we flew to Quito; the first flight of many. The driver that took us to our hotel in Quito was a little sketchy, and obviously did not know how to, or simply did not want to, order us a plain cheese pizza. As a result, to our surprise, we ended up paying $30 for a deluxe, meat lover's pizza instead; awesome.

As we were making our way to our hotel, we noticed an uncharacteristically high amount of military presence. We later learned that it was the result of the arrival of the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He was there meeting with the Ecuadorian President, and exploring their uranium mines. Problem? Perhaps.

The next day, yesterday, began at 3 am, something that had become all too familiar to us. Soon enough, we found ourselves in Panama, and had to come up with ways to entertain ourselves while we sat there for 6 hours. As it turns out, there is not a whole lot to do in the Panama airport, who knew? Then we finally made it to Houston; America! Finally! It was nice to be able to speak English to people, and to see a Starbuck's :) Our arrival in Indianapolis was a bit of a climate shock, if nothing else. That day, we had gone from 70's in Ecuador, to 90's in Panama, to I don't know what in Houston, and then finally to 19 degrees and dropping in Indy, nice. Thanks for the WARM welcome, Indiana; not.

Pictures will be uploaded soon! Stay tuned!