Otra Visitante del Norte

After my trip to Columbia, it was time to prepare for my visitor coming to Quito, Gee Gee.

Before Geeg came, I got at least, and I mean at least, 1 email from her and my mom everyday. Geeg was a bit worried about various things such as what to bring for the weather, the volcano erupting 3 hours away, and especially of me being at the airport when she got there. I guess Grandpa probably did not help much saying things such as that Geeg was going to need to ride a mule from the airport to get to the house.

But everything worked out and Geeg arrived safely Friday night after Fer, her dad, and I waited a bit since 3 planes arrived at the same time in an airport that has 1 runway and can only handle unloading up to two planes at a time.

Sat, Sun, and Mon we visited as much of Quito as we could, especially the historical center. (I had waited going to some of the places.) We toured many museums with English tour guides though I still had to translate for Geeg since the guides could not speak anywhere near as well as Fer. We also visited the extraordinary churches and watched performances such as mimes who mimicked people as they walked past. One morning we walked through Parque Carolina, which is huge and in it visited the Botanical Gardens. After the park, we went to the artesian market where we did my favorite thing.

Tuesday we went to Mitad del Mundo and Telefetico which I already told you about my first week here.

Wed, the family was very kind to drive us along with Fer, her grandma Mercedes, and her great uncle to Papallacta, a place in the mountains where natural hot springs were. It was cloudy the whole way there (It had been unseasonably cold and cloudy ever since Geeg had arrived --- Aunt Carol must have given her the luck.) but as soon as we got out, it became sunny and stayed that way til we got in the car and literally one minute later it started to rain. Unfortunately though, it was the first time that I forgot to put on protector solar and got burnt pretty good. 4 days later while writing this I can still kind of feel it on my shoulders.

Thursday, we went to Panecillo, the huge statue of the Virgin of Quito that looks over Quito from atop a hill. After that, we spent some time in the historical center again where I got to eat my treasured kimbolitos -- wheat, egg, sugar, and raisins and probably some more things baked together in a huge leaf.

After that, it was about time to pack.

I must say, I really enjoyed having Geeg down here, but there were difficult moments for my brain, such as when I had to try to translate with my limited vocabulary and listening skills what the main dishes were and all things each dish entailed while having the waitress tell me and try to explain the words that I did not know, such as the different ways that the chicken could be prepared. We got through it, but I never knew that Geeg was as picky or more than I used to be. I was just used to trying new things and being surprised. When Geeg asked for diet coke for lunch after pretty much only having that since she had arrived, I finally said she should try something different – she did, some juice of coconuts. I think I would just laugh inside whenever Geeg would just start saying something in English to a vendor or a person on a bus when she was trying to squeeze past. I would, of course, if I needed to, translate after the fact though.

Friday, Geeg left early in the morning and she made sure she would not be late. She woke up and then me nearly 45 minutes earlier than we needed to wake up by banging on my door saying that we were running late – unfortunately for both of us, she forgot she was still on MI time, which is 1 hour fast. But after that, everything went smoothly and we arrived quite early to the airport.

I wanted to mention last week but forgot to that I saw something downtown that I probably wont see again but you hear people using that saying all the time. That saying is “the blind leading the blind.” Well when I was walking around, I saw one blind man with a cane finding his way through the crowded ways of Quito. Then, following blind man by keeping his hand on the back of the blind man’s back, was another blind man carrying a trunk.

Oh, I also enjoyed having Geeg down here because I got to hear or remember stories. Stories like how Uncle Jeff always played with matchbox cars with the neighbor boy for hours on end or all the walks that all her grandkids have taken with Geeg or how Charlie used to never be able to sit still as a kid and could find his way out of anything such as the car seat or how Grandpa did landscaping for a little bit after he quit his job and afte going on strike and being thrown in jail for doing something while on strike at the company. Geeg did not know why Grandpa was thrown in jail though so I guess I will have to ask Grandpa when I get back.

Well I have a lot more pictures of this week, but just could not wait any longer to put any more on that this since putting pictures started taking a long time.

Well, I have tons of picture of the week, but unfortunately when I downloaded them after several hours, the all got erased. And since I am so good with my patients, I am not going to put any up for this week --- at least for now. But maybe when I get home, I will do it.

Lesson 8 -- How to Make a Salad

Salads here are bit different for a couple of reasons. For one, salads here are a broader term referring to coleslaw like things to cooked vegetables to the salads we think of. In terms of the salads we think of, cold and with lettuce, the salads here usually only consist of 1 to 2 to up to 3 different vegetables and is not the great mixture of vegetables we can have. Plus, the main vegetable is not always lettuce. For instance with Geeg, I had a salad of radishes, carrots, and a little of lettuce. (Yeah, I know this is a bit boring, but this is what came to my head)

P.S. See everyone back in MI very soon as I leave Aug 1 in the morning for Grand Rapids!

Bienvenidos a otro país

After an enjoyable weekend of being able to spend time with all the family helping with the garage sale since Rosita and her family were moving to New Jersey and of being able to explore parts of Quito that sat underneath my nose (things that were close by such as the only thrift store in Quito -- I was disappointed though since there was really nothing there --- there is not a lot of donating or thrift stores because so many people need so much plus I have a hunch the Catholic Church plays that role). So once my first restful weekend in quite some time was over, what better thing to do then to go travel again to start the week. Fer's dad, also known here by me as "mi papi inmenso" since he calls me his little son as a joke, (In case you dont understand the joke after translating from Spanish, Fer's dad is not at all tall like me.) asked me to go with him by trailer to Columbia to visit some sites and just to experience what it was like to be in a big-rig since I had never been before. (The family owns the company for the rigs. The transport sugars and I think another liquid compound I cant remember to make candies, beer, and toothpaste.) I said of course I wanted to go and we were off Monday morning.

That morning we loaded up and headed to the Tulcan in the north of Ecuador just bordering Columbia. We passed through beautiful mountainous countryside and when we finally got to Tulcan, we visited a cemetery in which thousands of huge bushes were carved into shapes, people, and animals. Then, we toured a little of the city a went to bed

The next day we drove into Columbia to visit the city there and to see a beautiful church designed with the same style as Notre Dame in Paris. It was very beautiful. From there we traveled back into Ecuador to pick up our trailer in customs and headed our way back to Quito where we arrived that night.
g
The new rig we drove. Fer's dad did a very good job driving and could see his years and years of experience. On the way back from Tulcan, he made a typical 8 hour trip with a loaded trailer in 5 hours! However, we did get pulled over twice. Once for speeding and it being detected by radar and one for passing in a no passing zone. I was pretty surprised to see police pull people over since all the time there are traffic violations occurring. As far as the being pulled over goes, I also got to see how the police operate. Two big things that are different are they pull people over but the police car goes in front and that violations are "erased" by paying the police directly.
A view of the mountain Cayambe on the way to Tulcan
Here is the famous cemetery of Tulcan and here is the single worker who does it all. He is the son of the person who started it years ago. It is absolutely impressive and amazing that one person does this since there are so many bushes that are so big and not only need to be pruned but need to be made sure that they stay healthy. It was about 5:30 and this guy was still working away.
Here is me with a bird


















Ok so the first picture is of the cemetery again. You will have to see the others to get an idea of how many bushes there were. The second is in the morning in Columbia where we had breakfast. The waiter was extremely friendly and was making the whole restaurant laugh. Fer's dad told me everyone was like that in Columbia. Also in the picture is my breakfast. Meals in Columbia are huge and extremely filling. That night before, I had a typical Columbian dinner of beans, rice, eggs, fried platano (fried green bananas), steak, two types of different sausage, avocado, some vegetables, and I think something else all served in big plate. For that morning, I had beans, rice, eggs, a flat bread made of corn, platanos, steak, some shredded cabbage, and french fries along with a huge glass of fresh juice they call here tomato tree juice and a huge glass of hot chocolate. (I have had hot chocolate with milk every morning I have been here to ensure I at least get one glass a milk a day) I left the restaurant very full


















Here we are on our way down to the church in Columbia. On the wall you can see countless plaques, all of which are miracles in which people want to say thank you for after having prayed through for the intercession of the patron saint there, which I want to say is Mary.

A view of the church from far away. It sits in a deep river valley.




















On the right is Fer's dad and on the left is the inside of the church.











So as I said before, guinea pigs are not used as pets here. Try to guess what they are used for.
Here was an interesting sign I saw before leaving Columbia. These people are currently leading guerilla warfare in parts of the country to try to overthrow the government there.
A neat picture of 3 Columbians riding their wagon pulled by horse. There were lots of cars in Columbia, but also there were quite a few horse-pulled wagons.