Ecuador: Week 3 & 4

Hi Everyone! I can´t believe we´re closer to going home. We´ve done a lot since the Jungle. We got back from the beach in Esmeraldas on Friday and now we´re enjoying some time in the city and just outside the city with family. We´re having a great time. By the-way, it´s Father´s Day! Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there. You guys are really important! So here are some of our updates:

After the jungle we headed to downtown Quito to an old colonial path called ¨La Ronda¨. It was really cool to see how Quito used to be hundreds of years ago when the Spanish had just conquered it. On Sunday we headed to Esmeraldas by plane to an apartment-resort type beach house. My great uncle was kind enough to let us use it and we enjoyed some days of relaxing and beach time over there. We ate excellently thanks to Maria, an esmeraldian cook who we hired to prepare delicious meals for us while over there. This really was a treat since we can afford this here, but of course not in the States.

We arrived in Quito on Friday and had a great night just relaxing with my aunt Marines, we cooked together and ate well that night, and it was fun just vegging.

Yestereday my great-aunt, my grandmother´s twin sister, invited the whole family over in honor of us, and we had ¨fritada¨ a traditional Quiteñan dish. It involves fried pieces of pork served with hominey, avocado, ¨llapingachos, which are potato cakes made with cheese, and a delicious homemade hot sauce, and fresh vegetables. Mmm.. it was so delicious! And it was so wonderful to be able to see a bunch of family and her gesture to make us feel welcome. It was awesome! Finally today we are here still with my great-aunt Lucy, we slept over, and since all her kids (my second aunts and uncles) and my secound cousins all live nearby, they all took me to the Telefirico today, which is like a ski-lift that takes us up to the top of the mountain that surrounds Quito, Pichincha. It was great! It was a great sunny day and we were able to appreciate the great view of all of Quito with the family. Then we ate at a typical restaurant. And right now everyone is watching the Ecuador vs. Argentina soccer game. What a day! And it´s not over yet, we´re still going to eat some more.. haha.. Can you believe it? Hopefully I don´t weigh 10 pounds heavier when I get back! Well, this may be my last update before we return home. We´ll be leaving for home on Thursday evening. Until then!