Dave and Alex Came to Visit!

DAVE AND ALEX CAME TO VISIT!!  On the eve of our February break at school, Dave and Alex hailed from snowy Chicago to rainy Quito for some amazing friend time and touring.  Javier and I were so excited to have another round of visitors come see our fun little spot and beautiful country.  We're starting to get in a bit of a routine with visitors: make lots of fresh juice and take them to Mindo.  Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate as much as we wanted, but Dave and Alex were the most amazing troopers about it.  Actually, they were probably the best visitors ever.  They were so positive about everything and extremely complimentary of this place we've come to love.  It was so easy and wonderful to have them....more of you should take their lead and come see us :)

They arrived super late Friday night, so we thought a more relaxed day at the Otavalo market would be best for Saturday.  It was a bit of a grey day, but the market was hopping.  Javier and I had only been there one time before, so it was nice to return with a bit more knowledge of the food we saw and goods that were sold.  It seemed that everyone was able to find some treasures: alpaca sweaters, hats, Ecuapants and a new rug for the Cabezas house!  I think Dave and Alex also really enjoyed the atmosphere and walking around the food vendors to check out local cuisine and fruits and veggies.  I was happy cause we made a stop at The Pie Shop for some pre-lunch dessert.  We had maracuya (passion fruit) and tried a new fruit pie called babaco.  All were happy with the choices and I particularly liked the babaco that tasted somewhat like a pear custard.  Delicious.

here we are mid-market

After our market fun and lunch, we headed just outside of Otavalo to check out some volcano lakes that we had heard were quite beautiful.  We were traveling up in altitude and the weather grew cold and somewhat misty.  Our first stop was Laguna Cuicocha.  The mist cut down on our visibility, but made the lake and little hostel look somewhat dreamy.

Alex and Dave at Cuicocha

We decided to sit and have some canelazo (to warm up) and enjoy the view
This was not the best canelazo we had, but it worked for the warming up!

There was a little boat that would take you around the lake, but we had a few other places to see and decided to bypass the misty ride.

Then we headed further 'up' to Laguna de Mojanda.  Our LonelyPlanet Ecuatravel book described the trip this way: 'A crumbling cobbled road that seems almost to defy gravity leads high into the paramo to three turquoise lakes set like gemstones into the hills.'  Accurate all around.  The road was nothing short of terrifying, but the lakes were so pretty that I really would like to return for some more serious hiking on a nice day.  Unfortunately, I think the clouds and mist hindered our view a bit.  We also had not worn the proper attire or shoes for any real hiking.  Instead we walked around a bit and took some pictures with the mystical lakes and mountains.

as always...photos just don't do it justice

whole place was simply gorgeous

not sure that we add to the scenery, but proof that we made it up that cobblestone road!

the water in the lake was SO clear, I was tempted to jump in (even though it was freezing!)

crawling mountains in the back

It was still a tiring day, but Dave and Alex agreed to head out to La Ronda for some traditional (aka better) canelazo after dinner.  (Have I said yet how amazingly up for anything and terribly enthusiastic Dave and Alex were?  It made their visit just tons of fun, even though we crammed so much in!)  We had a delicious dinner at Ananke and then took a cab downtown to La Ronda.  We showed Dave and Alex the busy street and bars and the children that always seem to be out with their parents (regardless of the hour!) and then sat down for a pitcher of warm deliciousness.  Dave and Alex seemed to like the traditional Quito drink and the little glass mugs it was served in.  But we didn't stay out long, because there was another full day planned for Sunday!

On Sunday, we headed to Mindo.  The weather, again, was not cooperating, but Dave and Alex still enjoyed the drive.  It's amazing to see the scenery go from the dry dirt and shrubbery just outside of Quito to the lush cloud forest of the amazon.   The rain wasn't too bad, so we decided to start with a ziplining adventure.  Our guests were most impressed that the adventure would include 10 different lines that crossed the canopies of the cloud forest.  

ready to go!

Alex flying through the trees

Dave coming in for a landing!

Luckily the rain held out long enough that we could see some really good views as we sailed through the air.  Even though Javier and I had gone through the route a couple of times before, it seems that there is always something new that I notice or see.  By the end it was coming down pretty hard, so we took a lunch break at the hummingbird hostel to have some entertainment while we ate.  It was a genius idea (my husband's) and apparently the rain doesn't bother the birds at all because there were just as many as usual.  In fact, in addition to the hummingbirds we saw two toucans and a parrot before leaving.

so many birds feeding behind us!

After lunch, Dave and Alex took a quick turn through the Mariposa house before it closed.  Javs and I decided to skip it since we'd been before.  Apparently Alex is not a huge fan of insects (even butterflies) so they didn't spend too much time inside, but said it was cool!  It was getting late, but we thought there was just enough time for a little hike to one of the many waterfalls around Mindo.  The rain was coming down, but slowed a bit under the cover of all the trees.  We did our best to bundle up and walked the muddy trail to the falls.  Javier and I had walked the trail on our first trip to Mindo, but all the rain had made the river so much stronger!  It was really neat to see how the falls had changed with the added water.  There's really no other way to put it....they were beautiful.

we made it! rain and all :)

After such a wet and cold walk, a hot chocolate seemed to be a must so we stopped for some brownies and hot stuff at El Quetzal de Mindo on our way out of town.  You can see Ivan in the picture below.  He drove us around all weekend and was such a trooper about everything (even coming on the rainy hike with us!).  It was a super busy day, but great to be able to fit so much in with these fun folks.

We had to head to work on Monday, but Javier snuck out early (we didn't have kids and were just wrapping up the grades for first semester) to join Dave and Alex in Centro Historico.  They went up the Teleferiqo in the morning, but had a lot of clouds blocking their view :(  After Javier joined them for lunch, they were able to go to Iglesia de Compania, Iglesia de San Francisco, walk through Plaza de la Independencia and the Basilica before meeting me for dinner.  It was raining (again) but Dave and Alex had decided they (and their stomachs) were brave enough to try some Ecuamarket food.  We headed to the Floresta food market (same one Anthony Bourdain goes to in his episode of No Reservations) for some dinner.  We got empanadas with morocho and fritada, but brought them back to the apartment so we could eat out of the rain.  I think both were a hit with our guests and neither was too sick afterwards so we'll call that a WIN.  On Tuesday Dave and Alex had enough time to check out Mitad del Mundo before heading to the airport and their next adventure in Peru.  It was just SO much fun to see them and show them some of Ecuador.  It seemed like they enjoyed the time too (even with all the rain)!

Day to Day

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...

Our school gave us (each of us) a gift certificate to a nice sushi restaurant, Noe, for Christmas! So we picked a quiet Saturday night to make use of one for a fun date night.  While I usually love reading menus (and still do) it has become somewhat more stressful in this country since I only know about 50% of the words on the menu.....I quickly learned that on a sushi menu I know only about 15% of the words.  To top it off, Noe's menu was aptly called a magazine (as in super, freaking long).  Needless to say, ordering became a bit of a stress, but we were SO happy with the rolls we got!  (Don't they look fancy?)  Including one roll wrapped in kobe beef - SO good.  Lucky we got two gift certificates....cause we're going back!

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!

First Trip to Baños and Swinging at the End of the World

Let's just be reasonable...it's impossible to top the Galapagos...it's just never gonna happen...but in mid-January we did get to take another little trip with a big group of teachers to Baños.  Baños is a town about 3 hours from Quito (a bit longer on a bus) that we had heard lots of great things about.  It's known as a bit of an adventure town because you can hike, bike, zip line, horseback ride, whitewater raft, canopy, paraglide, bridge-jump....should I go on?  Baños also has (and is named for) several natural hot springs.  The town is settled at the base of a volcano and several wise business owners have established spas so that visitors can take advantage of the natural hot water after adventuring during the day. Our group had planned on a whitewater rafting excursion early Saturday morning.

We stayed at an adorable little hotel called Le Petite.  It was perfect for our large group because each room had several beds on the lower floor with a loft above to sleep a few more.  Javier and I shared our room with Keith and Mike, two lower school teachers from school.

you can see the loft style here - Javs and I claimed the downstairs bed!

Our room had its own fireplace (which I'm sure is nice sometimes, but since Baños is at a lower altitude, the nights didn't seem that chilly to us).  And truth be told, we didn't spend much time in the room at all.

We had a nondescript dinner in town after arriving pretty late on the bus and went to bed early for our rafting adventure the next day!  We had booked the trip with Imagine Ecuador and cannot say enough about how much we loved the guides.  They spoke perfect English (good for me!) and were the perfect amount of fun-loving and professional.  We even got a safety talk which was a bit surprising based on my other experiences in Ecuador.

here we are getting our safety chat before we enter the boats!

Javier and I were in the orange boat!  I'm the second blue helmet from the right (I'm the one working hard paddling us through this white water!)

Javier is now in the shot, he is the second blue helmet from the left (you can see his plaid swim trunks!)

I think this pic is seconds after the one above...we're getting crushed a bit by the water!

the amazing part to me, is that our group got all of these pictures FOR FREE!! (I'm second helmet from the right)  The company had a gentleman in a kayak keeping up with our group for safety purposes, but he was also snapping pictures as we went!  The company just told us to bring a thumb drive back to the shop after our trip to download all the pictures! (In the US I'm sure pictures would have been an additional $20 or something crazy like that!)

orange boat teamwork :)

here is our whole group at the end (we had over 20 teachers come from school)

The rafting was a ton of fun.  They told us we went through some 3 and 4 level rapids and plenty of folks fell out of the boats during some intense ones.  Okay....I was one of those folks.  But I think it all depended on your position in the boat.  They allowed one person to sit on the front (Titanic they called it...) and this person seemed to be guaranteed to be air-born on any rapids we hit.  Sure enough, seconds after I settled on the front, I found myself flying into the water.  Luckily it was a hot day and the cool dip felt nice!

In the afternoon, several in the group had booked massages or other treatments at the spas in town.  The rest of us decided to head up the hill to see the view from the swing at the end of the world.  We had heard about the swing from other expats at school and I in particular was very excited to see it!

our bus driver stopped at a great lookout on the way up - here we are looking down on Baños

beautiful view

It was starting to be dusk, but the light ended up being perfect for some pics!  Here is Javs swinging off the end of the world

no hands!

they actually have two swings set up so that you can swing with two different views (Baños is off to Javs' right)

I decided to let loose on this one a bit ;)

as I said, Baños is at the foot of a volcano, which you can sometimes see from town.  On the weekend that we went, it stayed pretty cloudy so we never got a view from the top, but you can see most of it in the background of this pic.

We also had two birthdays in the group and decided that cake before dinner was the perfect way to celebrate!  (Kim on the left is married to Larry who teaches physics at school.  Paulina on the right is in charge of our kiddos that need a little extra help at school.)

After dinner we went out for some drinks and were convinced that we had to try this traditional Baños shot.  It's layered in the colors of the Ecuadorian flag (how patriotic) and then lit on fire.  But for some reason it's called a Bob Marley.

Instead of blowing it out, they give you a straw to stick to the bottom so you can drink it while it flames (I look a bit unsure don't I).  We had heard it was horrible, and while it certainly isn't making my fav list....it also wasn't bad!

We had the whole morning of the next day to get into some shenanigans before heading back to Quito, so a group of us decided to head out with Imagine Ecuador again for a canyoning trip.  They offer two locations; our group opted for the one that was a bit farther out and less traveled by tourists.  Little did we know the course would require / allow (depending on how you look at it) for some waterfall jumping as much as waterfall repelling.  

here is our group all suited up and getting trained to repel!

This is Javier repelling down a waterfall after we had just JUMPED down a 12 foot waterfall (crazy hard to get the courage to jump PS...wish we had a pic, but it was difficult angle and everyone was more worried about not dying than taking pics)

After you repelled for a while, they told us just to JUMP and slide backwards down the rope - it was so fun! (This is Javier jumping)

Thats me at the bottom (I could tell cause of the shoes)  Just repelled down and am about to jump in!

sitting and hanging out while we wait for others to do their jumping

Canyoning was a TON of fun.  It also was pretty intense.  I found the repelling to be quite difficult (it took a lot of arm strength).  I honestly think I preferred the jumping.  It was terrifying to let go, but once you did - it was SUPER fun.  Either way, we all agreed that we were happy to have paid a bit extra and done the more remote trip.  Baños got a HUGE two thumbs up (as you can see in my pic) for the Cabezas.  We are already looking forward to going back and taking on some of the adventures that we missed out on this time.  Its a beautiful town with a ton to do.  It's only down side is the distance....Mindo offers a lot of the same adventure, but is only an hour away....regardless, I know we'll be headed back soon.  It's just too good to stay away from!