Part of the culture of Youth World is transition. There are always people coming and going, but lately it seems like there’s just a lot of going. Quito Quest officially ended yesterday afternoon. The last of the summer teams has been gone since last week, and our summer hosts started disappearing yesterday. Even knowing the calendar dates and all of their flight schedules doesn’t really help that to sink in, though, especially with the range of emotions and activities that have taken place over the last 48 hours.
Saturday evening, after a day of games, debriefing, encouragement, and a brief frightening moment when we thought we had nowhere to sleep, we went to the famous (for good reason) hot pools in Papallacta, Ecuador. For three hours, we just got to relax and hang out in a way that just doesn’t happen very often in the craziness that is Quito Quest, and in stark contrast to the hectic schedule after we returned to Quito. We had just over two hours to prepare for our Youth World Picnic with all of our in-country staff (a strangely low number right now) and groups from some of our partner ministry sites.
I planned on making a dessert for the picnic, but on the way I to pick up some ingredients, I ran into Juan Miguel, Jose Luis, Alejandro and Alejandro, four of the guys from Casa G. One of the things that I’ve learned here is that you don’t just wave to someone you know from across the street as you continue along your merry way. You stop and talk to them, no matter where you’re going, what you’re doing, or how late you are. Especially the Casa G boys. They were trying to get into the girls’ house, but apparently nobody was home. Fortunately, nobody in the entire building was home either, because instead of giving up and going home, they were just hanging around buzzing every doorbell at the gate and hollering at the building. I stopped and hung out with them for a while, and discovered they thought the picnic was an hour earlier than it actually was. They were bored and starving, so I took them to McDonald’s. For those of you who don’t know these guys, you can’t imagine just how scary and hilarious that statement should be.
Rene Bryans told me one time how many funny looks she gets driving the guys around. People stop and stare as if to say “Why does that gringa have 10 black boys with her, yelling and hanging out of her SUV?” I’m at least around the same age as some of the guys, and I’m a guy, but still, being a gringo with a pretty feo accent, we did get some strange glances. Nevertheless, it was pretty great to hang out with the guys, most of whom I haven’t seen much of this summer since teams started showing up. We talked about guitars and language and how things are different here than in the U.S. Alejandro M. sang Miley Cyrus songs and asked me how to say phrases in English (a couple of which I refused to tell him for fear he’d say them to some unsuspecting teenage girl on a team). It also always impresses me that these guys are completely ridiculous 90% of the time, but will jump at any opportunity to share their faith with the people around them, and I love listening to these guys pray1.
Juan Miguel, Alejandro, and I eventually headed back up the hill to hang out at my house and help watch the girls finish making their dessert their before heading up to set up and welcome people at the Picnic, which Quito Quest was hosting. It was really fun to hang out and say hi to everyone as they showed up: the Short-Term department staff that I know really well, the El Refugio interns that I’ve maybe spent a total 20 minutes with all summer, friends from Carmen Bajo and Emaús. It was also incredibly weird knowing that as much as this was a celebration of everything that God has accomplished in and through all these people this summer, it was also a good-bye to many of them, including me.
I’ve said a lot of times this week that I’m really tired of despedidas2, and this new round would already have done me in if I hadn’t had to talk. We said farewell to the El Refugio interns, most of whom are heading out at the end of the month, and then to Quito Quest summer staff, who for the most part only had hours left in the country. Then it was my turn, and my brain wasn’t functioning well enough for me to even express my plans and prayer requests in English, so I have no idea how Cameron managed to make in coherent as she translated to Spanish. We broke up and prayed in groups for the QQ staff afterward, and then the party was over. All of my friends from ministry sites came over and hugged and talked to me before they left, and I managed to stay emotionally shut off, fake smiling and laughing until Queña from Carmen Bajo came and gave me a hug. She whispered her good-bye and a prayer in my ear, and something about that made me realize “Wow… this is done…” And even though I knew it already, it really sunk in right then that I wouldn’t be seeing any of this crew for a while. I was really glad that I did get a chance to talk and say goodbye to her and Rosa and Rocio and Rueben and Esperanza and everyone else, but I’m choked up even writing this just thinking about the past year almost that I’ve gotten to spend with them (and knowing that I’ll say my real goodbyes at Emaús this Wednesday and Sunday as well).
I was glad to have a few minutes to pull myself together after that, but then we headed over to Christy’s house to spend some final official Quito Quest time together and get our traditional QQ team photo, which turns out to be super-cool this year: Jose Manuel3 from Carmen Bajo made all of the picture frames for us (and if there’s one footnote out of this you want to read, it’s that one). Definitely a cool touch. There were some really funny moments, especially Rachel’s downhill string of comments starting when she took until 3/4 of the way through passing them out to realize that all the gifts were the same. We watched a couple of episodes of Friends (the oddly super-popular TV show in Ecuador) and hung out with each other until the chiva arrived.4
A chiva is an Ecuadorian party bus that you can rent, and which drives all over the city and plays music at decibel levels that would warrant a citation for disturbing the peace in the US. We piled in, and although there were seconds where you would think “how bipolar I’ve been today…”, we had an absolute blast singing, dancing, blowing whistles, drinking canelazo4, and generally being total high-profile gringos for our last ridiculous night together.
When we finally made it home, we were totally exhausted, which didn’t stop some of us from staying up several more hours, watching movies and talking, until one by one the guys had all crashed. This morning when I woke up, three more of my friends were already on airplanes heading home, and the rest of today has been a smaller-scale version of the same thing: shopping, hanging out, laughing, talking, hugging, and airport runs. I’ve gotten to talk to some friends who are in the States and in the jungle, and tried to figure out what I’m supposed to be feeling as I enjoy the little time I have left with each of my friends here and mourn each of their departures.
The culture that we’ve developed here necessitates all these despedidas. And again, I’m really really ridiculously tired of them. But, like the friend I jokingly hollered at least night to “pick an emotion!”, I’m thankful for the opportunity to celebrate each one of the friendships that I’ve gained here, and I’m thankful for each of those people having been and continuing to be a part of and an impact on my life.
1Especially with Spanglish phrases like “Thanks for Danny, porque tuvimos full hambre.”
2Despedida is a Spanish word for “goodbye” or “farewell” or “goodbye/farewell party”. It’s a tradition at Youth World to do a despedida for anyone at the end of their time with our team, to celebrate them, to hear a little bit about what’s next, and to pray for that person.
3Jose Manuel is an awesome friend and a part of the community in Carmen Bajo. He has been confined to a wheelchair for a number of years now, and has to do all his work from home. He is an incredibly gifted carpenter, and makes beautiful and intricate wooden doors, among other things. I was really glad to know that our frames had his personal touch and that Quito Quest was able to support his work. Ours also have the distinction of being the first picture frames he has ever built.
4I stuck with the non-alcoholic version.
This post originally published at www.dannypeck.net