Hatchspace

I'm sure the kids will write more about this weekend's trip to Otavalo and the north, but I wanted to post some pictures of the amazing waterfall in Peguche. Apparently this place has some sacred significance to the Quechua communities here, and I can understand why. The water from Lago San Pablo flows through a tunnel and then out over the waterfall. Out of nowhere comes the monster of mist and wind. Spine tingling cool mixed with crashing noise. It is a wonderful place.

We climbed up along the side of the canyon. Edwin (in Red) told us that right along here my sister Madelle was climbing and stepped into some brush only to suddenly dissappear. All involved in the climb started looking around in panic, when out of nowhere my sister appeared, standing up out the green brush, completely wet and spluttering for help. Apparently she was all right, considering that she could have fallen down the waterfall! She had fallen into the irrigation ditch (which was covered in brush) but emerged a litle wet, but basically unscathed...

We climbed over the top of the tunnel and then back down to where one could wade back up the river... Amazing place.

Some other pictures along the road..

Its been 25 years since I last lived permanently in Quito. Its been almost 15 years since I last visited. As they say, In time everything grows - even the corruption. Here are a few ways I see that the city has changed in the last 25 years.

There is a big mall up the hill from where we live called "El Bosque" - or "the forrest" My kids asked me the other day why it was called that? Well, when it was built almost 30 years ago, It was above the rest of the city, on the other side of a bypass highway that hugged the upper edge of the city on the edge of Mt Pichincha. It WAS in the forrest, and we all thought they were crazy for building somthing so big up there. No one would ever go up there. Well within 5 years there were a line of luxury apartment towers alongside the mall, and now the city goes at least a mile further up the mountain from where the mall is. The only forrest now around the mall is a concrete forrest.

I remember the city having 800,000 - a million residents when I was living here. Now there are 2.5 million people here. I remember the trip to the equator monument - it was way out in the country - at least a half hour drive outside the city. Well, now there is realy no break - its all city out to the monument, which is surrounded by subdivisions and housing developments. Not really american suburbs, but the city has grown all the way out there!

There are good things that have changed too. I remember Quito as a jungle of completely uncontrolled micro busses - that all seemed to spout unfiltered diesel exhaust. Well, while traffic is still bad (maybe worse), but now there are three rapid transit bus lines (dedicated lanes) running the length of the city. These buses are fast and very well controlled. Then there is a fleet of large blue busses that seem to fan out off these central lanes. These might not be perfectly clean, but they are better than the old ones. There is even talk of a subway - which would be really cool!

Finallly - there is now a McDonalds in Quito. We've not stooped that low, but its here.
Globalization. GRRRR.

The other day we went to someone's house and ate lunch. they had a patio and a little (kinda big) fenced in place that I did some gymnastics in and Elena, Antonio, and I played soccer in. They also had a dog... who was a lot bigger than sammy, they let him out into the fenced in place. He was very playful, so we (Antonio, Elena, Papi, and I) played with him. But he was kinda scary because he would jump on you and could knock me and Antonio over!
So we played fetch with him with a soccer ball. then me and Antonio would run around and he would chase us and one time he knocked Antonio over! And one time he just about knocked me over and pulled my hair out of its ponytail! He really scared me. So after that we didn't play with the dog. Then it was getting dark so we went inside we had a thing rapped in a leaf it was really good! while the adults talked Antonio, Elena, and I played Xbox Connect Adventures.

Last weekend, while my Grandmother was here, we rented a car and drove to a town outside of Quito called Mindo. On the way we stopped at the Mitad del Mundo (the middle of the world). It was a beautiful day and the place was filled with people. Walking up to the monument we were stopped by some middle school kids who asked to interview me for a school project. I agreed and they asked me some questions in halting English and I tried to answer them as best I could while they videoed me. I think all of us were interviewed by various groups at some point.

Antonio got a picture with the group that interviewed him.

After we did all the touristy things like taking pictures of ourselves straddling the equator

and "holding" the world,

we ate some empanadas and got back on the road.
We stopped by a place called Puruagua that is a crater made by an old volcano.

It was beautiful to look down into the valley with the clouds rushing in and the wind whipping our hair.

We got into Mindo late in the afternoon, checked into our hotel and went on a walk to the river.

Saturday, we woke up at 6:00 in the morning to go hiking. We went to a place called the "Yellow House" who's property is known for its beautiful birds and wildlife. We hiked up a road straight up the mountain and it was exhausting! But we saw lots of birds including toucans and a parrot! There were smaller trails that split off the road into the jungle and we were amazed with how green and lush everything was!

The trees had so many other plants growing on them

So green!!

On our way back, I got a migraine and was pretty miserable for most of the afternoon. We had planned to go on a canopy zip line that afternoon, but it was pouring rain, and I was not feeing that good so we drove over to a chocolate making demonstration.

First we roasted the cacao beans

Then we peeled the shells off

Yum!

Then we ground the beans (in a juicer machine!)

Next, we mixed the chocolate paste with milk and raw sugar

It made a wonderful chocolate fondue that we ate with fresh fruit. SO GOOD!

The next day, we drove back to Quito, but hopefully we will return to do the zip line another day...

Our last name is quite a problem in Spanish. Hatch. In Spanish the letter H rarely ever begins a word, and when it does it is silent. Similarly the aspirated gutteral sound made in English with an opening H is replaced in Spanish by Y, J or G.

So whenever our last name is transcribed, the outcome is pretty random. When I was growing up, whenever we got a new phone book it was an adventure to find our entry. How would they spell our name? Once it was Yasch.

This week we got a water delivery and the bil was made out to Alberto Gasth. Things haven't changed.

Last week my grandmother came to visit us in Ecuador. For the first three days we took field trips around Quito, to Museums, Churches, Parks, to the main Plaza and also some really good restaurants. We also watched Harry Potter 4. At one of the parks, there was a huge skateboarding pool that had ramps, pipes, and rails. The skateboarding park also had lots of graffiti which was my favorite part of the park.

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Another thing that we did at the park was paddle boating, and it was really hard because our boat didn't steer right. So we were swerving all over the pond. But while we were paddle boating, everyone had to take a turn in the back. When it was my turn, while i was sitting there I moved the rudder to steer us in the right direction which made Lili think she was a really good steerer, when it was really me. After we went boating, we went home and had lunch. Altogether we took some good field trips around the city.

This weekend we (Mami Papi Elena Antonio My Grandmother and I) went to Mindo witch is a little town on the back side of Pichincha. On the way there we went to the equator a
. When we were almost there we had to stop because there had been a land slide.
So me and Papi got out and walked around. We waited about half an hour. When we got there we didn't do much. The next day we went on a hiking trail to see birds at about six thirty in the morning. We saw some yellow and black birds, and a toucan





. When we were going back Elena, got a migraine headache. Then we got home and Elena laid down. Me, Antonio, Mami, and Papi then went to a butterfly garden and ate there. That night we were going to go a zip line that you hike and the zip down but it was raining and we were unsure that Elena should go so instead we went to a chocolate place. We actually got to make chocolate then we ate it like a fondu with fruit.

On Thursday, we did school and went to rent a car for our drive to Mindo which is in the jungle. Then on Friday, we drove to Mindo. On the way we stopped to eat lunch at the Equator.

For lunch we ate empanadas and sodas. The other place we visited, Pululagua which is a volcanic crater.

At the crater Lili and I walked down the path a little bit and I saw a bunny rabbit and a horse. When we arrived in Mindo we rented a hotel and then went on a walk to the river. While we were on our way back to the hotel, it started raining, and up in front of us there was a guy who was holding a banana leaf over his head. So the next time we saw a banana tree we got a few leaves and used them as umbrellas.

By the time we got back we were all hungry and wet, so we ate dinner. For dinner, I had a trout fillet with rice, french fries, and veggies. The next day we woke up at 6:30 to go hiking to see birds. We walked down to a bread store where we got chocolate pastries and coffee, then we walked to the trail entrance and started hiking along the road to the jungle trails.

After about thirty minutes the road stopped and there was a house. Someone came running out of the house, and told us where to go and gave us a guide. Once we knew where to go the guide left us alone and we started walking on a slightly sloped path up the mountain.

At the end of the road, there was the first trail where you could really see the jungle.

On the hike we saw butterflies and every single one looked different. We also saw a toucan, lots of humming birds, leaf cutter ants, a huge vulture, and a parrot.

Altogether we hiked on three trails through the jungle, when we got back to the trail head where the house was, the same lady who told us where to go invited us in for juice. After we had juice and got back to the hotel, it was only 10:30 so we ate a big breakfast. Then for lunch my mom, dad, lili, and I went to a butterfly garden that was also a restaurant Elena didn't come because she had a migraine . For lunch I had a bacon lettuce tomato sandwich plus avocado and french fries aka a BLT with french fries and avocado. When we got back it was about time to go to the zip-line course, but it was pouring rain, so we went to an exhibit where you could see how to make chocolate.

You own got to make your own chocolate fondue, and eat it. To make the chocolate we took the already dry coco beans and cooked them at a really high temperature until some of them started popping like pop corn, then we shelled them so it was just the coco bean which tasted really good. Then we ground up the beans which turned in coco butter, then we added milk and raw brown sugar and stirred them in until it was ready to eat.

The next day we drove home not having done what we went to Mindo for, but we got to do lots of other cool things.

Today we went to The Carolina Park which is HUGE! First we walked around a little bit and found a tree that had sooooooo many knobs on it.
We saw a tower thing so Antonio, Elena, and I went up in it.
Then we sat down again and Antonio and I tried to climb it. But we never got it though I could touch the top at one point.
Then we walked around a bit more and saw some paddle boats and we rented one and rode it around a little track. Antonio kept steering with the rudder in the back when some one else was trying to steer in the front. We also went to a HUGE skateboard place there, and I mean its HUGE!!!!!!


My favorite part of the skate park was a big (HUGE!) bowl and I went down into it and ran around. Then, when we were going to go to a different part of the park, I had to get out of the big (HUGE!) bowl, but I couldn't get out! I tried and tried but I just couldn't get it! then finally I got out and we ate some crackers. We gave the crumbs to some pigeons.

This is me after trying to climb the tower.

On Tuesday the 24th we visited the Cultural Museum in Quito. The biggest exhibit was of the indians who first lived in Ecuador and the artifacts that have been found from that period of time. It was mostly ceramics, in all sorts of shapes and sizes, ranging from cooking pots, to masks, there was a lot to see.

These are some ceramics....

And these are some of the things made out of gold...

This is actually the symbol of the Central Bank of Ecuador

Earrings!

Mask made out of silver

I thought that it was really neat that this jewelry was made so long ago, but it is still beautiful!

And some mini llamas

This is what a tomb is supposed to have looked like back then (check out that nose ring!)

A mini indian village

After we were "museumed out" we stopped by the El Ejido park to get some energy out. It was a beautiful day to be out and about and we were SO glad to have a sunny day after so many days filled with rain. We were on our way to get something to eat when we noticed a man selling friendship bracelets, and so, because I am very interested in crafts and know how to make some kinds of these bracelets, we stopped to talk to him. He offered to teach me how to make one of the bracelets so we hung out there for a while, me making different kinds of bracelets, and Tita talking to him in spanish. His name is Andres, originally from Argentina and he has been traveling South America for the past 18 years, never staying in the same place for more that a year or two. He was very nice, and ended up making us all wire sculptures, mine with my name on it, Liliana's said "Hola" and he made Antonio an awesome scorpion. We bought a necklace from him for Antonio, and as we were all getting hungry, headed home... These are the experiences that are the most special, the chance meeting with a vendor on the street, hearing his story and learning something new. These are the things we are going to remember.

After a few weeks of rain, we've finally been getting sunny days. It's been really nice to eat lunch out on the steps in the sun, and finally warm up a little. You have to be careful because at 9000 feet, it doesn't take too long for the sun to burn (and Dr Kovi gave me stern warning about the dermatological effects of high altitude exposure).

Anyway - some shots of the afternoon sun on the city and the mountains behind.

Saturday night, our grandmother arrived here in Quito, where she will be staying for a week or so. She has been taking us around the city, and we have been exploring many of the museums and parks that are here in Quito. Monday, we took a taxi down to the center of the city where the Plaza Grande is. We visited this plaza the first Sunday we were here, but there wasn't much open and it started raining soon after we got there. The Plaza Grande is surrounded by the Cathedral, Presidential Palace, Archbishop's Palace, and the Municipal Palace. We toured two of churches, the Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus, that was built by the Jesuits in the 17th Century, and the Iglesia San Francisco, which was built in the 16th Century and is part of a convent. Both of the churches were beautiful, the ceilings were intricately carved and covered in gold! One of the churches was built using 7 TONS of gold! There were paintings, carvings and statues of Jesus and Mary. The Iglesia San Francisco had a museum that we visited that had many paintings from the School of Quito (many anonymous natives that were taught to paint religious scenes) they were so detailed and beautifully painted! We were not allowed to take pictures inside the churches or in the museums, so you can look the churches up on the internet or just imagine the beauty of them. But these are the few that we took...

The outside of the Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus

A representation of Jesus' tomb

Outside of the Iglesia San Francisco

Statue of Mary on the hill, getting a clean

Inside the Iglesia San Francisco

Beautiful ceiling!

A courtyard in the convent

A bird in the courtyard. Nice Hairdo!

Lili talking to me using the awesome acoustics of this arch!

A yummy restaurant where we ate lunch!

The other day my grandmother came. So on Monday we went to two churches. They were HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They were both entirely painted with real gold. Sadly, most of the places we went to you can't take pictures. There were museums also. Then we went to a park. At the park there was someone doing friendship bracelets. He taught Elena how to do one. Then he made Elena a thing out of wire that had her name and a star. He made me one that said Hola and had a butterfly on it. And he made Antonio one that was a scorpion. And then it started to rain. We went to a lot of museums that week. These are some of the pictures we did get.

Inside of the churches.

Ecuador is a land of incredible food and lots of variety. Its been fun to see my family explore new things and learn to love the foods that I remember so fondly.

There are plenty of hole in the wall restaurants in the working class neighborhoods near our house (by the bread store the kids go to every day), but we haven't worked up enough bacterial resistance to enjoy those spots. (A seafood spot with 4 tables in a garage is tempting me sorely..). So on Friday night we went to one of the more touristy spots in Quito - a really nice restaurant called "Rincon de la Ronda."

After walking down a recreation of Quito's most famous colonial street, there opens a pretty fancy restaurant. The kids said it was as fancy a place as they had ever been.

My kids amazed me by each trying something very interesting and adventurous. Liliana had Goat Stew (Seco de Chivo), Elena and a Tongue Steak (yes tongue) and Antonio enjoyed the shrimp cocktail that we all ordered (Ceviche de Camaron). It was all very tasty.

I had the very typical roasted pork plate, that came with Avocado, Fried Bananas, Hominy Corn and Potato pancakes (in a peanut sauce). So good.


The other attraction was the music. Two different sets of troubadours took turns serenading the guests. A typical indigenous band with pan flutes and guitars provided a high energy display, while a more romantic guitar trio brought traditional colonial Spanish culture to the fore. An interesting interplay of cultural streams that make up this country. I caught the end of the guitar trio's last song.

I was glad when the soloist saw me recording and turned a little to show off.

Today we started with a beautiful sunrise...

Now after a long and gorgeous day of sunshine and blue skies it is dark, stormy, and hailing at 4pm. Usually the rain comes by 10:30 or 11am. Rob left early this morning and was able to get the process started for our identification cards, which we need for our extended stay here. So thankful we didn't have any problems !

Rob's mom Alice, who arrived late Saturday evening, planned to take the kids and I on a field trip today to Old Town. Here are some pictures of the Plaza De Grande, Iglesia de San Francisco, and the Convent connected to it. The pictures of the birds, flowers and courtyard are at the convent.

The Iglesia de San Francisco was built in 1536! As we learned today, the beautiful art was done by Ecuadorians who were trained in European style art forms at the School of Quito. Very few pieces have the artists signature. This church was covered inside with gold leaf and stautes. One thing I found interesting, yet very disturbing, was the models painted were all of European descent. I only saw one painting in the church that had a child that looked like the indigenous people here. I wondered what it would be like to be ruled by a few Spaniards, made to build and paint this magnificent church in your own country, yet never get to paint anyone that looked like your people. Then, to worship and hope to know God in a place that had no one that looked like you in all of the story telling art. What has this done to the generations of Ecuadorians that have worshiped God in these churches? Do they really have a sense of belonging or has this contributed to the distance and not really believing in a loving God who went to great sacrifices to identifiy with us? And all of this by the church that thought they were evangelizing...things to ponder.

Here is a link is to a picture taken inside the church. We were not allowed to take pictures inside.

This is where we stopped for lunch. Elena and I shared the yummy sampler of emapanadas and ceviche!

Since we got here, we have been visiting various churches on Sundays, mostly spanish churches, but on Easter Sunday, we went to the English church. The worship there was good and it was nice to be able to understand the sermon. But after the service we talked to the youth group leaders and they invited Antonio and I to come to the youth group. So that night we decided to go to the youth group. We had a lot of fun. Most of the kids that come to this youth group, are Missionary Kids so they are from all over the world! It is nice to be able to talk in English and hang out with other kids that understand what I am saying! We had a great time, playing some games, and then settling down for a discussion. ( It was a LOT calmer than COLORS! ) This week we went again and after the discussion time, we all went down to the park in the middle of the neighborhood. We have been talking about ways to reach out to our communities, and so we went out in pairs and prayed out loud while walking, trying to cover as much of the park in prayer as we could. It was really neat, and I am really enjoying the outreach aspect of this group. I hope to continue to go to this youth group and make friends with some of the girls.

Today we went to the playground. There was a zip line, monkey bars, a slide, a rope swing, rings, bars and a seesaw. I had a lot of fun. on the zip line I would sit on the knot and then at the end the rope (that your on) slams into a tier and you sing up the go back the other way a little bit. I didn't really do anything on the monkey bars and the slide. on the seesaw, Antonio, Elena, and I would have seesaw wars. I swung around on the rings and the rope swing . On the bars I did all sorts of flips.

We've been in Quito for just more than 2 weeks and I think it has rained every day we've been here. If you look at the weather you'll see that every day the high is 65 and the low is 48 and rainy. That seems like a nice spring season in the US, but you have to remember that there is no central heat and air in Quito. So 48 and rainy outside means that its not exactly 78 and toasty warm inside. Its been cold!

I remember these days when I was a kid. There would be two weeks every year when we were grateful for the electric blanket, the fireplace and the portable heater. Well, we didn't exactly bring those things with us. So, we've been making do nicely under the blankets. Then a friend loaned us a small heater which should be good for this next week.

The saying here in Ecuador is that April brings a thousand rains (En Abril, Lluvias Mil), so the hope is that May will be sunnier. When the sun comes out it doesn't exactly get hot, but it certainly feels warmer. I guess this might be some of what is culture shock...

Two more pictures down the hill from our house.

Click through to Flickr for larger pictures.

Today Elena woke me up at 8:30 and asked if I wanted to go to the park with Liliana and Mommy. So I jumped up got dressed, got my shoes and socks on, and ate breakfast, as fast as I could. Then we left for the park, which was a short way down the mountainside. At the school park there were lots of fun little things that looked like miniaturized adult workout machines. There were two runners, two sitting down pull-up things, two mini-ellipticals, and all of these used your own weight to go against you. After we were at the park for a while, we sat down and read our school read aloud called Shadow Soinner. Once we were done with our book we had to walk all the way up the big hill to get back to our house. It is the same hill that we go down to get to the Super-Maxi. When we got home, we sat down and I started working on my metal tree which is now done. Then we ate lunch and now I'm finishing school.
Now three days later, we went to a park just up the hill from the other playground. At the park we rode down a zip-line. There was this thing, it was like a tire swing without the tire and the part that you would stand on was webbed rope between a big metal ring. One person would sit in the middle and two others would stand on the outside. The people on the outside would pump it like a swing to get it going. We also played a game we like to call see-saw wars, which obviously has to do with a see-saw. To play this game you stand on one end of a see-saw and have a friend stand on the other end. Then you try to knock each other off by making the see-saw go up and down. The only rules are that you can't cross the middle of the see-saw or get back on after you fall off.

Major Fail OWWWWWW!!!
Yours truly the fail meister

This is a picture of me on the outer ring of the swing

Yesterday we went to the Super-Maxi for the first time without my Dad. Elena and I also went to the bread store by ourselves for the first time. After supper I made some brownies as I was making them I remembered the first time I ever made brownies. My Mom, Antonio, and Elena were gone and my dad was upstairs. I got everything out and mixed them all together and poured it into the pan but something looked wrong "Oh well" I thought. So I put them in the oven, then I saw the brownie mix unopened. So I took the brownies out and added the brownie mix. Then I set the timer for 7 minutes instead of 27 minutes. When the timer went off I kept setting it again and checking on it and finally they were done. This is when I made the brownies here.

Tuesday, April tenth, Elena, my mom, Liliana and I walked to the Super-Maxi for the first time without my dad, Plus it was raining, like it always does in the afternoon. The walk isn't that long, it's about fifteen blocks away from our house. The Super-Maxi is about the size of a Food Lion. At the Super-Maxi, there are lots of different meats in the deli section like chicken feet, frog legs, and even cow tongue.You wouldn't think so but cow tongue is very tender and I like it. After we were done shopping we had the long trek home with our groceries, but we caught a bus thankfully. To ride a bus it costs twelve cents for kids, and twenty-five cents per adult, so for our family to ride a bus it costs eighty-six cents. When the bus past our street we didn't realize soon enough so we had to walk an extra two blocks. When we got home we unloaded the groceries and the ate dinner and read Harry Potter Seven and the Deathly Hallows, a good way to end a good day.

Today after we had finished school, we went on an adventure, without my Dad as a guide...

When we finally decided to get ready to go out, it had started raining (as it tends to do every day at around 2:00) but we donned our rain jackets and umbrellas and chose to brave it. The Super-Maxi (a big store that can be compared to a Bi-Lo) is about a ten minute walk away from our house down an incredibly steep hill. We headed down the hill, watching people walk by, oohing at beautiful flowers, and laughing at the dogs wandering the streets. It was steadily raining as we entered the store, and as we shopped, it started pouring down. We bought some things for the rest of the week while being careful not to get too much, as we have to cary whatever we buy back to our house on the bus. We checked out and then headed to a bus stop where we waited for the next bus. We still have not quite figured out which buses go where, so when the first bus pulled up, we hopped on and hoped it would go towards our house. As soon as we found a seat, the bus made a sharp turn and I knew we were not going the way we wanted to go! I looked out the window to see where we were and I realized that we were going up another hill that met up with our street. I watched for the school that is down the street from us and as soon as I saw it the bus turned away in the opposite direction! We all got up and rushed toward the door and thankfully the bus stopped and we walked back toward our street and got home safe and sound. We were all thankful to get home, but we definitely had an adventure on the streets of Quito.

The other day we went to a park with some people. There were two girls and there mom there names were Liset, she is the oldest she is 13 and Margor, she is 12 and there mom.
It was amazing! There were all these dogs that were loose and they would run around sniff each other then go back to there owners. One dog, a little smaller than sammy, was really shaggy looked like a miniature lion! And there were these trees! they were so big and smooth and they had soooo many branches right from the bottom. I climbed one but I didn't get that far because I'm not tall enough. After that we went to a shady part and played advanced sprint. You have a medium sized ball, and you hide it on your self (or any one on your team) every one on your team except the person with the ball pretends that they have the ball. You try to get the ball into the other teams goal. The other team trys to find the ball and get it before they get the ball into there goal. If the team that starts with the ball gets it into the other teams goal than they win that round. If the other team gets it away from your team they win that round. to diced who starts with the ball one team throughs it to the other team if they catch the ball they start with it if they don't catch it then they through it to the other team and so one until one team catches the ball. We also played basket ball.

The other day we went to a park with some people. There were two girls and there mom there names were Liset, she is the oldest she is 13 and Margot, she is 12 and their mom.
It was amazing! There were all these dogs that were loose and they would run around sniff each other then go back to there owners. One dog, a little smaller than sammy, was really shaggy looked like a miniature lion! And there were these trees! they were so big and smooth and they had soooo many branches right from the bottom. I climbed one but I didn't get that far because I'm not tall enough. After that we went to a shady part and played advanced sprint. You have a medium sized ball, and you hide it on your self (or any one on your team) every one on your team except the person with the ball pretends that they have the ball. You try to get the ball into the other teams goal. The other team trys to find the ball and get it before they get the ball into there goal. If the team that starts with the ball gets it into the other teams goal than they win that round. If the other team gets it away from your team they win that round. to diced who starts with the ball one team throughs it to the other team if they catch the ball they start with it if they don't catch it then they through it to the other team and so one until one team catches the ball. We also played basket ball.

This weekend me and my family went to a park, with a family there are two girls 12 13 Margot who is 12 and Liset who is 13 and their mom an their dog Cuki. This is the family that we talked to about the house that we are in now. At the park, we played two different games one was basketball 4 on 4 the teams were me, my dad, Liliana, and Margot
, the other team was Elena, Mami, Liset, and her mother. My team won, but it was a close call. the other game we played was called advancement the teams were the same. this is the field where we played. In this game there are two teams to start you need a small light ball, then one team tosses the ball to the other team that team tries to catch the ball if they don't they toss the ball back to the other team who tries to catch the ball. When either of the teams catch the ball successfully that team hides the ball in one of the team members shirts, and the rest of the team acts like they have the ball. The team that doesn't have the ball tries to keep the other team from getting it through the goal. The team with the ball needs to throw the ball through the goal to get points, and then you repeat.
After we played both of the games we had an ice cream sandwich then we went to there house and ate lunch. Lunch was fried chicken french fries and salad. for dessert we had jello which was very good. After lunch and jello we played Uno and Janga which are both easy to play when you can't really speak the same language.

It has been a rainy week here in Quito. I think we need to switch our schedule and get out in the morning when the sun comes out...then hunker down and do some school in the afternoon...all but our read aloud, which we like to do on the roof!

Laundry and cooking are still a challenge. We bought some rope to hang our clothes line and started doing it by hand for now. Goal of the week is to buy a washing machine and get it installed. Here are some photos of the process: Hanging the clothesline.

This is the concrete area outside our kitchen door and then the covered garage area. Cooking is mainly a challenge b/c of the lack of pans and small oven. This doesn't really bother me, but everything takes longer as I have to boil the water for 20 minutes for us to be able to drink it, and wash all the fruit and vegetables in Iodine and water before we can use them. We don't have hot water in the kitchen or bathroom sinks as it is just hooked up to a gas water heater for the shower. Boy do I enjoy that though! We currently have a slow draining, leaking pipe under our kitchen sink so all the water has to be thrown outside. When we get this fixed and the washing machine I think life will be much easier :)

This city is SO big 2.2 million people. It's hard not knowing my way or what bus to take as the kids and I get kind of stir crazy in the house all day. I hope to take the kids and walk down the big hill to the Santa Clara Market and then take the bus back up with all of our veggies and fruit for the week. I hope to make this a weekly trip that we do without Rob. I bought SO much garlic last week....a whole sandwich bag full of fresh, peeled cloves! We are definitely boosting our immune systems eating garlic in everything. We also go to the Super Maxi once a week for our other groceries. It worked pretty well just getting a taxi and putting our things in the trunk rather than trying to haul it on the bus.

The highlight of my week was spending lots of time with our friend Lenin's family. My mind has been working in Spanish so much, trying at meals with this wonderful family, to partcipate in the conversation in Spanish. (I laughed at myself in the middle of the night when Rob covered me with a blanket and I said in my dazed state "Gracias".)
They had us over Friday evening for an incredible meal, and then took us to "El Parque de Ingles" on Saturday to walk and play games, eat ice cream sandwiches and back to their house for some take out--fried chicken. What an example of hospitality!

This family includes the matriarch, who raised her children out near the jungle. When the government of Quito decided to develop that area, it was a great opportunity for her husband to get some land and have a better life. It was neat to hear her story of becoming a Christian through hearing Luis Palau, a radio evangelist. Her husband was already a Christian, so their children were all raised in a solid Christian faith. She made a point of saying what an advantage her children had without the confusion of being taught the worship of Mary and other religious ideas. Her husband was a carpenter, who loved and served his friends and neighbors wherever they lived. His children remember him as a man that lived what he believed at home and in the community. What a challenge for me to live consistent and faithful! He sadly died of a stroke several years ago. One of their daughters lives elsewhere, and then their daughter I am getting to know--I'll call her "Bella" lives with her mom, husband, their adult son, and two daughters 12 & 13. They moved to this house after their girls got into a good school here. They all work with their brother's furniture business. I am hoping we can go see where they make the furniture and see his showroom. He does very beautiful work. He is also over all of Ecuador's Inter Varstiy movement. Most of the IV folks here work to support themselves at other jobs and devote 20-30 hours working with students on the side.
Easter Sunday...
Being with mainly Americans and English speakers after 1 1/2 weeks with only Ecuadorians, it was funny that my first thought in the English speaking church was - these people are all so tall! I couldn't see the front of the church and when we are around Ecuadorians we feel very tall, so I felt the height difference first, not the language! The congregation at the English church was pretty diverse. Quite a few Ecuadorians wanting to learn more English attend, as well as many students and their families that attend the Alliance Academy School are from Korea, Cuba, Nigeria, etc. The people felt less warm and inviting compared to the Ecuadorians we had been with, as everyone met us with just a handshake rather than the typical hug and kiss on the cheek. It's funny how quickly a custom of greeting can become what I expect and then miss! It was a good sermon all about communion and community. We ended the service with communion and then all were invited to the basement to fellowship together over tables full of various breads and juices. We saw a family we met the night of the play that we hope to connect with in the future. We asked around about language school recommendations and the churches youth group.
Posting this just so you know there are about 15 pictures like this one before the following!

After church we headed to a park where we were told we could find vendors selling soccer balls, but it was pouring down rain, so we went to the mall across the street. This mall is nicer than any mall I have EVER been in...yes, even in my fashion days of shopping in L.A., NYC, and Miami. Four floors full of European boutiques like Benetton, Hugo Boss, Tennis, etc. I just couldn't take it the contrast of the simplicity of many of those in Quito and the affluence of the mall. Here we were walking around the mall--due to the rain, but we don't ever walk the mall in Chattanooga. We ate our Easter dinner in the food court, not planned, but again, it was just easier than trying to find a sit down restaurant at in the rain. As we tried to decide what each of us would get I just shut down. I couldn't decide what I wanted, couldn't get my head around the contrast of simplicity and affluence, and really didn't want to be eating with my family here for Easter. Once I could verbalize all the confusion and disappointment, the kids ate KFC, Rob got some grilled meats, and I ate some chicken soup. We bought the soccer ball and a 1000 pc puzzle and took a taxi home. Resting, hot tea, and reading more of Harry Potter (we are on book 7) helped us all to feel better. Then Rob took the older two back to youth group from 6-8:30, while Lili and I worked on the puzzle, talked to one of her friends on the phone and read some from "Farmer Boy."

Miss all of you, but glad we are here.

I think that the plane ride was pretty cool. When you go through a cloud every thing gets dark and foggy. Everything looks so beautiful from up there! We got to Quito at about 10:30
P.M. I think my favorite part of he whole house is the roof.
I like to sit up there and read. One thing I like about Quito is that there're a lot of little stores around our neighborhood, and there's a park right down the street. It's fun to go downtown because there's so much to see! I really like going on the buses because sometimes I get to stand up and try to balance! But other times I have to sit down. We have a beautiful view of MT Pichinch especially from our roof. The mountains are so big! Some parts are foresty , some parts are rocky, and some parts are grassy.

Quito is much different from Tennessee, in a lot of different ways. For instance: the layout of the houses, there are sidewalks everywhere--so you can walk almost anywhere,

there's public transportation everywhere including taxis, buses, and trollies. One of my favorite things about Quito is that I can walk to a bread store, a mini market, a fresh food market, and there are soccer fields twenty meters from our house.

There are lots of new fruits and vegetables like, papaya, cactis fruit, goose berries, coconuts which we haven't bought yet.
Last Friday on the way back from the mini market we heard what we thought was a soccer game across the street from our house. so once we finished putting away the groceries, me and my dad went to check it out. When we got there, there were two games going on one that looked like an over thirty league they were really good, one guy even did a scorpion ( a scorpion is when you lean foreword and kick the ball with your heel.) The other game was more active, but they didn't do as many tricks. A little while through the game it started raining so we had to go home.
On Sunday we went to a church that my grandfather was the pastor of in the 1980's. In Ecuador around easter there is a spacial soup called Fanesca that you eat. In this soup there are twelve grains one for each disciple, they also eat cod fish in that soup. Last Sunday we ate Fanesca I liked it but wouldn't ask for it if I could.
Thursday while we were hanging up our clothes line we found a little frog in a bucket And I got to hold him

First, I want to thank all of you that love us so well. I know we missed getting to say good bye to some of you, but know we are so blessed in knowing you. One of our friends left a sweet Chinese good bye on our windshield the morning of our trip.

Our travels went well to get here last week. We are so thankful that we made it thru customs and met up with an old friend Edvin Chamorro that Rob and I stayed with 15 yrs ago on our visit here on our way to Carlos & Madelle's wedding in Argentina. Another man came with him, Josue, who is on staff with Inter Varsity here in Quito. They helped us get all of luggage and kids to our new home. Josue's wife, Ruth sent along some yummy food for breakfast.

This is the outside of our house which is owned by the Ecuadorian InterVarsity called CECE (Comunidad de Estudiantes del Cristianos Ecuador)
Our first night, we got to our new house around 11:30pm. As a mom, I was just wanting to let the kids explore the house and then get our beds made, and settle in for the night. I think we all slept great because we were exhausted!

The sun rises faithfully here at 6am, so Rob and I are up early every day. On our first morning, it wasn't long before I found him on the roof checking things out!

We explored the neighborhood, taking in the mountains, people, houses, plants,and found several little "tiendas" where we can buy milk, fruit, and vegetables.

I kind of enjoyed the challenge of finding food to make for dinner with our limited pots and neighborhood markets! We ended with this: Lentils and veggies on rice with fresh bread--Success according to the kids! Friday evening we went to Rob's old school, The Alliance Academy, to see Puss and Boots. The kids really enjoyed this.
 
Our dining room/living room is a really comfortable and pretty room to hang out and play games, and there is a huge Peace Lily in our yard

Saturday morning was when we found out our dog Sam had died, so we delayed our shopping trip an hour and just spent some time grieving and telling stories about Sam. This is the last picture we took before we left as Lili was sad to leave her and snuggling her on her bean bag bed.

In the late morning Josue took us to the Super Maxi (big grocery store) where I needed to buy everything from towels to butter! Then we went to lunch at his house and met his wife, kids and mother-in-law. They all speak English and Spanish, so we asked them lots of questions and took lots of notes. After we got home, it was wonderful to all get hot showers after several days waiting for towels :) We had a pizza dinner, then started the last book in the Harry Potter series...kids have been begging for 6months!! Our answer was always, "Wait until we get to Quito!"

Sunday we went to visit the church where Rob's dad was the pastor years ago, and we were invited to stay for a traditional Holy week meal of Fanesca- which has 12 beans to represent the 12 disciples, cod fish, hard boiled eggs and a bit of soft cheese. I think all of us liked it and Rob talked with family friends for several hours, while I got to know some of the women. It was nice for me that several of them knew some English, so we flipped flopped back and forth between languages quite a bit. We discovered that one of the women, Becky Pinto, was in the same class as my cousin Laurel Pence. She knows my Uncle Don and his wife Lucy and kids as she grew up in Lima, Peru. What a small world!

We took the bus and the trolley to the President's house, Mayor's house that are on a main plaza. You can see why we stick out as you look at the crowd above. Rob and Elena get lots of stares as they wish they could blend in a bit better!

Some of our challenges: we are still trying to figure out how to buy a washing machine, get it delivered and installed, last night the internet was out, and with no phone in the house yet I felt very cut off. The idea of using our home phone # and Majic Jack isn't going to work as we have still have a DSL line connected to it. We'll send out the new number soon. Rob is carrying a lot of stress trying to get ready to work. We prayed in the middle of the night and asked God to work these details out. In the morning today, the internet was working again! We also talked with one of the families from church and we might be able to buy a washer cheaper from one of their stores. In the mean time we'll wash our clothes by hand...oh the things our kids are learning to appreciate! So grateful for our Father who cares about all these things!

Today we went to the larger vegetable and fruit market...these are the veggies we bought for the week of meals! I think I met the lady I will go back to at the Santa Clara, she was very helpful and kind, telling me what various vegetables are called in Spanish.