Siete Cascadas

This past weekend we went to Ibarra to hang out with Daniela Borja and her family. It was her younger sister's, Cristina, 18th birthday. The 18th birthday here is really the coming of age...what the 21st birthday is for us North Americans. While Cristina and her friends all hung out and listened to Jack Johnson, us "oldies" watched movies.

The next day, we took a drive to the "Siete Cascadas" (7 Waterfalls), just slightly west of Ibarra, towards the coast. It's amazing how everything changes once you leave the Sierra and head towards the Coast. The climate goes from dry to very humid; the leaves change from your average green to vibrant yellows, oranges and reds; tropical fruits grow in abundance, the insects get larger and more populous; the mountains are more green and populated by more trees, even the people are different....they have different accents (they speak very fast)and the women from the coast are famous for thier latin "curves".

When the Borja's said we were going to the 7 waterfalls, we pictured a scenic drive with some stops along the way to take some pictures......that was not the case. We stopped off at a local tourist shop and picked up some rain boots, and hiked up and down through a rain forest type atmosphere for about 3 hours. It was sooo beautiful. A little muddy and messy but beautiful. We ended up only going to 3 of the 4 waterfalls just for the sake of time. To do all 7 means a FULL day. We ate bannanas picked off the trees, which were the most amazingly sweet and delicious bannanas ever! The boys did thier thing and jumped off the rocks surrounding the waterfalls(the picture below is Chris jumping). The girls chilled (literally) in the ice cold water. There was one very scary moment in which Rafael Sr. (Daniela's dad) was climbing the flat faced rock to get to the top so he could jump....well, a minute later we saw him lose his grip and fall, back first, into the water below. It was soooo scary...none of us knew if there were rocks at the bottom of that drop or not. But, luckily, he was okay. A little freaked out and scratched up but okay. From that point on I held on to Chris a little tighter before he attempted his jumps!
We had a great time. Probably one of our favorite days here so far. It was sooooo nice to be out of the city, out of the noise and congestion and just enjoy God's BEAUTIFUL creation.

New Years in Cuenca, Ecuador

New Years in Cuenca was a blast! Chris and I went with Daniela and her family. It was a rough 6 hour drive up and down through the Andes mountains ( and when I say "up and down" I mean UP and DOWN)at an average speed of 45 mph. It was quite an experience...Ecuadorians have no fear on the road...quite the opposite from us Americans. They enjoy passing each other just as the road begins to curve and they cannot see the oncoming traffic ahead of them...it's amazing! Finally, I had to go to sleep just to avoid a panick attack!
New Years Eve was a very fun night. We went to Daniela's uncle house in the country (about 20 min outside of the city of Cuenca). Everyone got dressed up, which is the tradition. I was Pompies from the spanish show "El Chavo" and Chris was una "cura" (priest). It was great! Kinda felt like Halloween. After midnight the guys lit fireworks in celebration while the women yelled at thier husbands for lighting them too close to the house. Chris practiced his soccer with a younger cousin who just returned from playing in Brazil...so he had some new moves to show off.
New Years Day continued the celebration on another uncle's ranch. The afternoon began rather slowly as many were recovering from "chuchaqui" (hangover). We played fusball (which I kicked Chris's butt in, 10 to 6!!!!)roasted a "chancho" (pig) for lunch...I made the mistake of asking for the white meat. Not only did they laugh at me but they ignored me and gave me a slab of dark meat. Picky people like me have NO place here....you take what you get. Chris is much better at this than I am. So, after a large meal we all sat around and listened to a singer they hired for the evening. The singing eventually turned into a DJ wich then called for a community cup of rum and coke to be passed around to anyone old enough to hold it. Chris and I tried to refuse...they weren't having it...no surprise there!!
We spent the next couple nights touring Cuenca, which is a very quaint and calm little city. It's known for it's beautiful churches and cobblestone streets. It much calmer than Quito. Less hustle and bustle and a little safer.
On our way home we stopped off at the Inca ruins. It was really cool. Nothing like Machu Pichu but cool nonetheless. After talking our way out of paying the $6 "extranjero" (foreigner) fee and paying the $2 local fee, we went on a self guided tour. It was interesting to see everything from one of thier temples to thier irrigation "system". It's amazing to think how far back those ruins go.
Our trip to Cuenca concluded with a quick drive through the city of Ambato, where our family lived for a while. It was cool to get to see the streets my grandparents, aunts and uncles roamed at one point.
This week we are back at Casa V taking it pretty easy. The holidays are over and things seem to be settling a bit. Chris is back in Spanish school working on his preterites. Tonight he went to play indoor soccer with the guys in the house, which he loves. I met with the mom's group I'm leading here at the house this past Wedneday which turned out to be really good! 5 moms came, which is a lot...it is soooo hard for the moms to take any time out for themselves when they have so many other things calling for thier attention (kids, work, husbands, house chores, etc.). It's a luxury for them to be able to come hang out with other women for an hour every week. This weekend we are going to a 40th birthday party and hopefully getting some time alone to just hang out.

Christmas

We had a great Christmas! Monday and Tuesday we hosted a special kids vacation school with some volunteers from "Ecuador Mi Pais" (a non profit organization). The kids did lots of arts and crafts, sang songs, colored, played games, etc. On Tuesday, the 23rd, the kids put on a Christmas play of the Christmas story to celebrate the "Novena" ( a traditional Christmas celebration celebrated each night,9 days before Christmas).During the Novena the kids sing Christmas songs and read Christmas stories, etc. That same afternoon a Monk from the local church visited with the kids to share the purpose of Christmas and together we all sang traditional Christmas songs. It was really a fun time with the kids. They LOVE to sing...it was soooo adorable! You'll notice in the pictures an adorable little boy in the very front with glasses, sitting in front of an adult with a striped sweatshirt.....his name is Johan...he is my favorite! Shhhhhh! Johan was on to me because I kept taking pictures of him and by the end he would walk right up to my camera and ask to look inside so he could see my pictures...it was so cute!

That morning Esteban, Ivan, Oscar, and Javie all opened thier Christmas presents before everyone went thier seperate ways. The big finale was a house soccer ball. The guys love to play soccer and up until now have been borrowing the neighborhood baker's (Edwin) ball. Now they have thier own! They actually all went out just today for the first time to play a 2 hour game of futbol!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we spent with Daniela Borja and her family. It was really, really great to get to be part of the traditional Ecuadorian Christmas. On Christmas Eve (Noche Buena) we went to her aunt and uncle's house and ate lots of good food like turkey, mote ( which is hominey), salad, rice, and rilleno de pabo
(more turkey) and to top it off some yummy alfajores( sandwhich cookies filled with dulce de leche), which I (Angela) made for the first time!!

The 26th was really cool because we went about 2 hours outside of Quito to Daniela's uncle's hacienda. It was super relaxing and so pretty....we ate some delicious steak, sat by the warm fire, and just enjoyed the peacefulness of the house. It was great to get some time outside of the city.