Our Family Adventures 2018 / 2019

So after almost 6 months of different homes, bus stations, mercados, and so on and so forth, we are heading home. My three favorites at the Quito Airport.

For our last day in Quito we decided to stay close to home and visit the Botanical Gardens located about 3 blocks form our apartment. I am glad we decided to take it easy, since we are all walking around like zombies. You see, except for Terran, no one could sleep last night. I think we are all anxious, and excited to get in that plane, and head home. I have really enjoyed our trip, we have seen, and done so much, but we are 100% ready to come home. Wyatt has been planning home improvement projects for around 5 months now....hehehe. I am excited to help with that, and see our home change, The kids have missed their friends, family, and their school, so yes we are ready to go home. Orchids from the Botanical Gardens

For our very last Saturday in Ecuador we decided to go to Otavalo. I have heard about this place since I was a child, and I was just so excited to go. Throughout our time in Ecuador I have observed the beautiful people of Otavalo at all kinds of markets, at church, and specially at the LDS temple.I don't know why, but there was something about this town that drew me to it, and here we are now walking the markets, and experiencing it live! Woman in typical Otavalo dress in the Mercado de Ponchos 

My side of the family, and specifically my Mother's side of the family is HUGE! My Abuelito Lama had (that we know of...) 29 kids! and so in our travels so far we have met a lot of family. My Mom is very close with a few of her brothers, and sisters, my Tia (Aunt in Spanish) Neli, my Tia Anita, my Tio Lucho, and my Tia Maruja. I was fortunate to see my Tia Neli as she happened to be visiting her son Aldo, who lives in Quito. Karen, Dylan, Caroline, Rosie, Aldo, Tia Neli, Terran, Wyatt, Maija, and Monica all with big smiles after enjoying a yummy chicken dinner.

Yesterday we arrived in Quito, our last major stop before returning home. As we mentioned before, we had no idea that we were travelling during the busy Easter long weekend, but I have read that Easter is really cool here in Quito, so in the end it all worked out. A view of the Panecillo from the Historic Center in Quito

All throughout Peru and Ecuador, the locals use available building materials in all sorts of creative ways.  One of my favourites is their use of rebar.  In addition to its normal use as concrete re-enforcement, I have seen it used as bars on windows, as furniture, as fences, in art, as tools, as BBQ accessories (and grills themselves), as wagon frames, on decorative railings in churches, as car ramps up curbs... the list goes on and on.  Here are a small fraction of the places I have seen it being used: This entire market stall is selling stuff made from rebar Car Ramp Window Bars Drain Grate Restaurant Grill Cart Frame Collapsible Street Vendor Display Table Decorative Railings on the Largest Neo-Gothic Basilica in the New World Catwalk Structure in the Basilica

Due to a "lack of forethought and planning" (the phrase which comprises my middle name), we didn't realize that we were scheduled to move on Easter Saturday until we had booked both the Cuenca and the Quito apartments.  Too late to change things up, we decided to make the most of it and do as much Easter stuff in Cuenca as we could. On Tuesday we hit Feria Libre - a large market on the west side of town.  There I found a hairdresser willing to buzz my head for $2.  She seemed leery of my request for 'numero zero' buzzers, and asked us multiple times if we were sure.

So far in our trip almost every time we leave a city, I am left with a feeling of happiness for our experiences there, and a little sadness too, wishing I could spend just a little more time there. Generally this feeling is related to sites I did not get to see, but in Cuenca it had more to do with the people. Please don't misunderstand me, Cuenca is beautiful, and there is still so much more we could have learned, done, etc, but the biggest thing I will miss are the people we met there. Terran, Monica, Nancy Kelsey, Maija, and Chuck Kelsey outside their home in Cuenca As I mentioned in a previous post, while preparing for this trip I joined many Facebook groups, in hopes of getting as much information about the places where we would be staying, and in one of those groups I met my friend Nancy Kelsey.

As you know, we are a part of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. On Saturday we went to the temple. This was my first time there. It was a great experience. I was very happy to be able to do this. Because this was such an amazing experience, I want to share it with you. So, this is it. My first time going to the temple. Imagine this: Me in front of the temple Artist’s rendering (AKA Mommy) of Templo De Guayaquil  Beep, beep! Beep, beep! Beep, beep! Beep, beep! Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep. Your alarm doesn’t wake you up. “Wake up! It is time for the temple!” That woke you up. You are filled with anticipation as you change into your best church clothes. It is 3:05 am. You race down the stairs, ready to eat anything.. even oatmeal.

During our stay in Cuenca we were lucky to be here for Cuenca Days. This year Cuenca celebrated it's 462 anniversary. She looks good for 462. Everyone we talked to told us to check our Cuenca days, "Cuenca days is fun," "a lot happens during Cuenca days." We of course had no idea what we were supposed to be looking for....Ok, they were right, there were street markets, concerts, and parades, Cuenca days was fun! Our first event was a night parade. The night of the event we had a choice between the parade, or a choral concert, poor Wyatt got outvoted because 3/4 wanted to check out the parade, which was schedule to begin at 7 pm....in true Ecuadorian standard time the parade began shortly after 8 pm.

We are now counting down our weeks until our return back to Canada. 6 months seemed like such a long time, yet here we are basically 3 weeks away from our return date. This is basically our last Saturday in Cuenca, as next week we will hopefully join the Tarqui Ward temple trip to the LDS Temple in Guayaquil. Going up to the Bell tower of the Iglesia de Todos Santos

A few times a week, you get these vendors driving by our house with loud speakers in a small pick up, advertising "Vecinita compre la buena naranja! 30 limones por un dolar! Compre la buena Sandia! (Neighbor buy good oranges! 30 limes for a dollar, Buy good watermelon!)" I am never fast enough to catch them because A) they are usually driving by. B) I have to unlock three big doors, and run down 2 levels just to get out of the house C) I have not tried too hard. But today I caught them! My purchases this morning....the pineapples sure look round here.

We of course knew we would get rain, after all we chose to come in the rainy season, but this week has been particularly rainy, and we have mostly stayed home, snuggled in our pjs, and reading, or checking out Ecuadorian Netflix. I know, I know, we should be seizing every moment, and absorbing the culture, but I bet even super cool Ecuadorians too hide from the rain once in a while. The view from our balcony after a particularly rainy day

Another post by Terran....a letter to his class. Dear Mrs. L-J, How are u??????? I was happy to see your letter. How cold is it there? Guess what? The Leprechauns came to Ecuador! Did you get any chocolate from your leprechauns? I got a lollipop (Plop!!), gum, and a caramel. A picture of the candy the leprechauns left me I ate all my candy already. What are you doing in school? What did you do for your spring break? I made a doll, and named him Luke, after Luke from STAR WARS. This is LUKE, Maija made him a vest, and he has a cast because he recently broke his leg I made an Imperial Shuttle (out of toilet paper rolls). My Grandma has a new dog, she named him Finnigan. This is Finnigan and his stuffie on his first day at my Grandma's farm in Rocky Mountain House, AB I rode the new Cuenca train (you can read about it here ), Anything weird happening in Canada? Your friend, Terran