As usual the time flies by too fast for me to take some time and write in my blog..then it's so late that I have to take like HOURS in writing everything... The main reason why I've been wanting to write is to update on my Family's VISIT!!! I can't believe that it's almost been a month since they were here. We were all so excited to see each other and then they came and now they are gone.
The trip was really great. They took awhile to get here, due to flight problems but finally arrived on saturday night (instead of saturday evening). We decided to stay until sunday and went to a soccer game in the morning. Ruth of course didn't believe me when I told her that the sun was really strong so she instantly got burnt...she realized hours later. We then left on sunday afternoon for Ambato. We arrived in Ambato around 6ish, took all the luggage out of the car, only to find that my backpack was no where to be found....the weird thing is we were in Chino's car driving back and my backpack had been on my lap the entire time. It somehow was left or stolen in the TWO times that we got out of the car. My keys, Ipod, all debit cards, my Peace Corps cellphone and Id's along with some clothes and all my make-up were gone. That night we were supposed to eat over at Chino's house. I was a complete mess because I had lost practically everything that was super important to me. We luckily cancelled the cards and could really do nothing else that evening. We had dinner and my parents gave the gifts to Chino's family. I believe they all went over really well.
Monday was a day of more chaos for me because I had to run all around the city getting police reports and make phone calls to Peace Corps in regards to the robberies. On top of that my parents wanted to see Ambato. I felt so bad that I had to send them loose on their own in the city, but as good well traveled people they did just fine. Later that afternoon a friend of ours took us to Parque de la familia. It's this large park wayy up on one of the mountains, and has a great view of the city!
Tuesday morning we left for Misahualli. I was so glad to get out of Ambato and have vacation ACTUALLY start. We arrived to the same hostel that I had stayed at with some peace corps friends. It was sooo nice and relaxing. We did two different tours each of the two days we were there. One of the nights we also went into Tena and walked around. There really isn't much in the town itself, kinda hard for me to believe that I lived there years ago.
On Thursday we headed back to Quito because Ruth had to leave us to go back to school... :( :( we arrived on time and were able to go to "La Ronda" for dinner. It was Howard's birthday so we went to this nice restaurant and even had some people sing for him! The funny story of this night was when I left for FIVE minutes to go put money on my phone. I left the family with an idea of what they wanted to order. There were also menu's in english so it didn't appear that they would have any problem ordering the meals. I come back and asked how everything went and they said just fine. When the food comes, it turned out that Mom and Ruth had ordered PIG FOOT. Literally the hoof of a pig. Apparently the translation on the english menu had been wrong and said pig leg instead of foot. They had to order something else....lol
Friday early morning we said goodbye to Ruth, sad but I know that very soon I will be seeing her again. On the way to the Airport I realized that I was not feeling the best. Ya know, one of those, "what did I eat? Im going to pay for this in a couple hours" type of feeling. I was able to go to the airport and say goodbye but once we got back to the apartment I was up practically all night in the bathroom. I ended up staying back all day friday while mom and Howard did a walking tour of the city. I was able to rest and get some books read! It was a nice relaxing time that was much needed.
On Saturday we left for Ibarra/Otavalo. I had never been to Ibarra so I was excited to see what the city was like. We stayed at a hotel that Peace Corps uses and were given a reduced rate which was nice. That evening I met up with Portia and some other volunteers, it was really good to see people and hear updates on their lives. Sunday we walked around the city and went to one of the lakes nearby.
Monday we went to a really neat AfroEcuadorian community where Portia works. It was in the middle of nowhere. The weather was very very hot with desert like conditions. The woman that we talked with works at the school teaching art and also does some of her own mask and jewelry making. She also works with teen girls in the community making different dresses. Portia helps out with different Youth groups. We made our way back in the afternoon to a old famous ice cream place where they make the ice cream by HAND. They put down ice and hay and then on top have a wooden bowl where they stir ice water with whatever flavor (usually a fruit juice-all natural) into what we call a type of sorbet.
Tuesday we did Otavalo. I had been there the last time I was in Ecuador but I didn't remember it being so pretty! It is a very indigenous community, and very clean and pretty. We walked to some famous, magical tree. The map that we were given was very VERY misleading because the walk was supposed to take around an hour. Well after an hour and half of walking uphill and not finding anything we luckily ran into a taxi. He gave us directions and we decided that it might be easier to just let the guy take us. Thank god he did because it was another 15 minutes to the tree....all up hill. We finally got to the tree, that looked over a different community on another lagoon, very pretty. How we were going to get back we had no idea, walking would take hours....and we had to be back for a tour of surrounding communities... Another taxi was driving by with some people and said that he would take us on his way back down.
We arrived just in time to do a tour of surrounding smaller indigenous communities where different artesian crafts are done. Each community had something a little different. We ended up back in Ibarra around 7ish to eat.
Wednesday we did more touring of the city and saw the different churches. Ibarra is very colonial and there were several different churches and old buildings. We then headed back to Quito that afternoon because mom and Howard were leaving on Thursday morning. We went to eat at this really good italian restaurant and then went back to the apartment to rest. We played a card game which was really nice, to "be family" (as mom would say lol) for the last hours together. We got up early again on Thursday to say goodbye....So weird to think that I won't be seeing my family again for another 9-10 months.
All in all the trip was really great!!! I had a blast showing them around and giving them a look into my life here in Ecuador.
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