I thought I'd throw in a regular ole post (amid all our traveling and galavanting) about some of our day to day. We're not always snorkeling in the Galapagos or repelling down waterfalls (but I'm not complaining either...). So here it is...a random assortment of our life in Quito....
Starting with goodies from the US :) My parents have been ABSOLUTELY AMAZING about sending lots of fun treats that we are missing from the US of A. While they've sent multiple boxes, I thought I'd share one so you know the priorities we have regarding home goods. Prominently featured you see Javier's Reese's. Ecuador has some decent candy...mostly I'm referring to Manicho which is a Mr. Goodbar-esque candy that also makes for a good ice cream...but it's really not the same as the candy of our childhood/college years. Honestly, I don't remember eating that much candy in DC, but now that I can't have it (they do sell Snickers and some other US candies here but with the import tax their prices are absolutely astronomical...like $2 for a Snickers....which is the price of most cab rides in the city....) candy seems to be all I want! You can also see (still in the box) an assortment of snack-sized Hershey's mix candies too! In addition they send peanut butter - another insanely expensive Ecuador purchase and clearly must-have item. They keep me stocked in Cetaphil (needed for my bad skin!) and impossible to find here. Plus some new shirts, fun napkins, and grading pens (which have come in handy more times than I'd like...) It's always the most exciting day when packages arrive at school :) THANKS MOM AND DAD!
I know that you guys are sick of it....but we're kind of jealous of your snow....particularly the snow days. Believe it or not...I feel 100% confident saying that we will not get a single snow day this year....BUT we have seen some snow at the top of Pichinicha a few times....(can you see it?)
We've also been trying to check out some restaurants in Quito. Ecuadorian food is delicious, but we miss US Tex-Mex and US Asian (Thai and Chinese) a bunch. We had heard from other teachers about a decent Mexican spot in the north of town, La Michoacana, and decided it was worth the trip one Saturday to check it out. We knew it was a hole in the wall, but often had waits for lunch on Saturday. We went around 3pm and still had to wait! But the wait meant we could scope out some dishes before ordering and both landed on the tostados....Good. Choice.
We also live very close to the Catholic University in Quito. They often have an exhibit that is free and open to the community. The past few months the exhibit has been on Yasuni, the national park and rain forest in Ecuador. The exhibit included pictures of plants and animals in the forest and the people that live in the forest. It was so interesting to see how the people have combined modern technology and amenities with a more traditional way of life. The animals were amazing too and made me want to visit immediately....except for the jumping spiders....oh dear....the jumping spiders...
And oh the view. We never get sick of the view. I sometimes have to get up early to finish my lessons (*cough* nothing's changed *cough* *cough*) before school. While I hate getting up early, the sunrises are often so beautiful it makes it almost worth it. The view NEVER gets old. We enjoy it everyday.
I took this picture in the morning... |
and this picture that same night at sunset... |
Did I mention the view? Pichinicha here with the bright moon.
This post is making it sound like we only go out to eat, but I promise we're cooking at home too....But this was our most recent restaurant adventure. We decided to try Urko, a new spot very close to our house that we heard had elevated Ecuadorian food. We showed up on Saturday night and learned that instead of having their typical menu, they do tastings every Saturday. We learned that each Saturday's menu includes a theme and that tonight's menu was a twist on traditional Ecuadorian dishes. The restaurant had two ladies from a traditional food market working as guests in the kitchen producing 5 dishes. Urko's chef was taking the same ingredients from each dish and preparing his own version with a modernized/refined twist. If the prospect of a 10 course tasting menu wasn't enough to win us over....Urko also chose to make a game out of the dinner (game = Javier won over). They provided us with a menu, but had left several ingredients off that we were supposed to fill in as we tasted. Lastly, they decided not to serve the ladies' dish and the chef's version of it back to back. Instead, they had randomized the order and we had to pair up the matching courses. This meal had Cabezas written all over it, so we stayed and enjoyed 10 amazing courses and a WIN for the game aspect!
We've been doing a terrible job of taking pictures with friends...but I promise we're making some. This past Saturday we went to the house of two of our friends for a paella feast. Javier (left, and yes his name is Javier too) and Poppy (right) are both from Madrid and promised to make some teachers from school a paella masterpiece. (You may remember they attempted one at the beach when we went....that I thought was delicious, but they swore could be better...) The day turned into a big celebration because Michael, a teacher at school, got an offer for a job for next year (super important when you're moving back and have no prospects on a source of income) and this Spanish couple accidentally got married. It's a long story, but the short version is that they were going to sign some papers to try to get Poppy on Javier's insurance and seemed to have gotten Ecuamarried along the way....kind of strange, but they were okay with it! Either way, the day was enjoyed by all with good friends and good paella!
Don't worry, I still have several exciting trips and adventures to tell you about (I'm still behind with my blogging) but am happy to share some of the boring-old day-to-day, too!
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