Leaving Ecuador

Well, tomorrow we are leaving Ecuador! Our bags are packed and we are ready to go. We can't believe this experience that we had talked about, planned for, and waited for for so long is now coming to an end. Looking back on it all, I still can't believe we decided to move to South America for nearly a year with a new baby. It has not been the easiest experience and we've had our ups and downs through the journey, but we can honestly say it has been worth it and we are happy we decided to do this. It really was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and now nobody can take it away from us. The things we have seen, experienced, and learned have forever changed us. Our eyes have been opened even more to the world. We have experienced a new people and a new culture, new foods and new terrains. There really is no way to fully describe our experience here. But we are better because of it.

Things we'll miss:
-the mountains and having a great view from our apartment
-weather that is practically perfect - "eternal springtime" - with no snow
-being forced to walk everywhere since we don't have a car
-having our laundry washed, dried, and folded for us
-all the good food-- the bakeries, the tropical fruit and fresh juices, the empanadas, the patacones, the hot chocolate, the Magnum icecream bars
-super cheap rent
-ridiculously cheap roses
-not needing a prescription to get medication at the pharmacy
-being able to sleep in almost every day
-having Josh around so much during the day and being able to spend so much time together
-all the people who stop to admire Owen and say how cute, precious, or handsome he is and that he looks like a little doll
-all the people from church
-traveling around and seeing new things

Things we won't miss:
-stinky, dirty streets and rough, bumpy sidewalks
-bad drivers
-relying on taxi's and buses to get places
-daily afternoon rains
-inefficiency and lack of organization
-feeling like a walking target for theft
-worrying about getting sick from dirty food or water
-strangers telling us that Owen is cold, when it's 70 degrees outside
-baking at high altitude
-the metric system
-12% sales tax (and we thought Chicago was bad!)

Things we look forward to:
-not having to travel so much
-being able to take Owen to nice parks, zoos, and libraries
-buying new toys for Owen
-having a full-size bathtub for Owen
-having four seasons
-having our car again
-having a gym membership
-not having to worry about the tap water
-being able to use coupons
-eating foods we've missed- blueberries, condensed soup in a can, our favorite brands of foods and candies, better milk!
-our queen size bed (we had only a full size here)
-our full-size couch (we only had little chair-seat things here)
-catching up on movies
-regaining some sense of style.
-having church in English
-Josh having a more consistent schedule
-spending time with family and friends

Good Bye Ecuador, we will miss you!!!

Saying our Goodbyes

The senior missionaries, who took us in and adopted Owen as their own grandchild.

A few church friends.

This is Lydia, Owen's best fan. She asked her mom if she could switch her new little brother for Owen.

Fani and David, FHN employees

Rolando, one of the security guards of our apartment building. He was Owen's second best fan.

And we can't forget Scott, one of our favorite dogs. He lives at the place where we got our laundry done.

Lima, Peru

On our way back to Quito we had a 13 hour layover in Lima. Rather than sitting in the airport that whole time, we decided to go check out some of Lima. Since Josh had been there a few months previous for a Fulbright conference, he knew a nice place to take us in the Miraflores neighborhood which is supposed to be really nice and safe. We walked around a big outdoor mall that overlooked the ocean. It was beautiful, and we saw a bunch of parasailers, too.

Then we walked a few blocks to a big park. They had a large children's playground, and Owen was in heaven! After so much time being strapped up in our baby carrier he was more than ready to be able to crawl around. We were so excited for all the playground equipment for him to explore, but what does he go straight for?? The strollers!! He just LOVES playing with the wheels on anything. It was really hard for us to pull him away from them, but eventually he started to warm up to the slides a little.

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu was AMAZING!!!

I admit it was a bit exhausting getting there...an overnight flight through Lima to Cusco including a 5 hour layover where we tried to doze a bit in the airport chapel (not fun esp. with a baby), a 30 minute bus ride to the train station, a 3 hour train ride to the town of Aguas Calientes (but through beautiful scenery), a 20 minute bus ride up switchbacks, then finally we were there!

This great ancient Inca city is just as incredible in person as it is in pictures. Actually, it's more incredible because you can see so many mountains surrounding it. Not only were we up high (Machu Picchu is actually lower elevation than Quito though), but we could see WAY down the steep mountains to the valley and river below! And we could also see snow-peaked mountains in the distance. The ruins are so impressive! It's just so amazing that the Incas really built this great, enormous city of huge stones on the top of a mountain. It's still a huge mystery exactly how they did it.

When we got there we went on a two hour guided tour, then we had the rest of the afternoon to explore on our own. People are free to just explore and wander at their leisure. There are so many places to sit and relax too, pretty much the perfect place to do so. The weather was perfect and sunny for us. While exploring we came across several llamas as well as a Viscacha, which is in the chinchilla family. It was a cute little thing, it looked like a cross between a rabbit and a squirrel.

The following day we went back to explore a little more before we had to take the train back to Cusco. Josh and his dad decided to hike Huayna Picchu, the peak you see in all the famous pictures. Only 400 people are permitted to hike it each day (that seems like a lot, but there are so many more people that visit each day) so they had to catch a bus at 4:30am to ensure they had a ticket to climb it. They were able to see the sun rise behind the mountains and they said it was cool to see the sun rays hitting all the peaks then everything started to glow. The hike was pretty steap uphill, but at the top they had awesome views of Machu Picchu, and I like the way it looks from the different perspective.

After the boys hiked Huayna Picchu, Josh's mom and I hiked all the way up to Inti Punku, or the Sun Gate. It's up on the mountain next to Machu Picchu, about 45 minute hike along the Inca Trail from Machu Picchu. Again, more great views. You can see Huayna Picchu behind my head in the picture.

This really was the experience of a lifetime!! And how lucky is this kid, he's not even a year and had already been to Machu Picchu! Too bad he won't remember it. Next time Josh and I go, we plan to hike the Inca Trail to it! What an awesome 4 day hike that would be!!!!

Sacred Valley

Day 2 was a tour of the Urubamba Valley, or Sacred Valley of the Incas. We drove through breathtaking valleys behind Cusco (or to the north of, not quite sure the direction) and saw incredible landscapes and villages.

We went to the village of Pisac where there is a large market. Since we were getting tired of markets after being in Otavalo, we chose to hike a little. If we had had several hours, we could have hikes all the ways to the top of the mountain to see all the ruins. Be we got some amazing views and Owen was able to play for a while.

We drove down the valley a ways to Urubamba, where we ate a delicious buffet lunch at a beautiful hacienda that overlooked a river. Owen had a great time chasing the black lab there and climbing the steps.

After lunch we drove to the Inca village and fortress of Ollantaytambo. It was a main Incan city, with lots and lots of terraces. Across from it is a mountain with Incan storehouses built on it. This mountain also has two faces in it. One is said to be natural (the one in the middle near the storehouses), and the other is said to be hand carved (it's on the left outer edge...hard to see in this picture).

The last stop of the day was the Chincero market. Again, there were amazing views from here! We just could not get over the beauty of all the moutains. We learned about the natural method for freezy-drying potatoes that Peruvians in the Andes use: they spread the potatoes on the ground where they'd lay out overnight in the intense cold, then they'd stomp on them to smash them and help remove excess water before laying them out in the sun to dry.

Cusco, Peru

Our last big trip before we go back home was to Machu Picchu!!! We figured that since we're so close to Peru we had better go. (Even though it probably would have been cheaper flying from the USA than from Ecuador, believe it or not. We've discovered flights from Quito can be expensive. To get to Brazil from Quito it's cheaper to first fly to Miami! But anyway...)

Machu Picchu is a place we've dreamed of going for several years now, and it's one of those places that is a must-see before you die, so it was totally worth it. We saw so many incredible things and I think we have around 700 pictures, so I'll have to break up the posts and choose just my favorite pics.

First: Cusco, Peru.

To get to Machu Pichu you must go through Cusco. We flew there via Lima. Our first day we took a tour around Cusco. It's situated in the Andes Mountains, about 1,000 feet higher than Quito. It's much drier which means it's dustier and browner than Quito, and it gets really cold at night. It was also quite touristy where we were, which was a big turn-off to us. People come at you at from all directions trying to sell you things or trying to get you to take a picture with them (people want pictures of the locals in their traditional outfits), and people from restaurants shove menus in your face to compete for business. But I guess tourism is probably their biggest insdustry.

First stop was the Plaza de Armas to see the Cathedral of Cusco. It's HUGE, but we couldn't take any pictures inside (it's the church on the left).

Next we went to the Coricancha Temple, or Temple of the Sun. It was a famous temple in the Incan times, and the surfaces used to all be covered in gold. At this temple you can see how perfect the Incan stonework was. Their stones were carved perfectly straight and smooth and fit together perfectly without the use of any cement or mortar, and they have STILL withstood fires and earthquakes after all these years!

Then we went to Sacsayhuamán (or Saqsaywaman), a walled fortress just outside of Cusco. The joke all the tour guides make is that it's pronounced "sexy woman." It is a pretty good way to remember it though. :)

This place is believed it was used by the Incans to protect the city of Cusco. The zigzagged outcrops are said to be the shape of the mouth of the puma. Here we could also get a good sense of the Inca's incredible stonework! All the stones are so smooth and fit together so perfectly, plus the edges are rounded and all the walls tilt inward slightly. These details may be part of why the walls have lasted so long.

We gave in and payed this woman to take a picture of her. Isn't she so cute with her llama and colorful clothing?! All the indigenous women wore bright colors like this.

Last stop for the day: Tambomachay, popular for its fountains. Our tour guide said if we washed our eyes in the water then our eyesight would be healed. Josh tried it, haha. I think I'd rather just get Lasik.

Around Otavalo

Last week we took Josh's parents to Otavalo and spent two nights there. The first day we took a tour to some of the surrounding communities where we saw locals making some of their crafts.

Our first stop was to a house right by San Pablo Lake where we saw this girl weaving mats made of reeds grown at the lake. It was incredible how fast she could weave! All the homes in the area all had bundles of reeds out to dry so they could make these mats. They are used for all sorts of things, and these are sometimes used as people's beds.


This is us in front of San Pablo Lake with Volcano Imbabura in the background.


We also visited the beautiful Peguche Waterfall, which we had been to twice before. Each time we have loved it just as much.

Our next stop was to see how some of their traditional instruments are made and played. This man showed us how they make a 6 tube whistle, then he demonstrated how to play this big horn. It would be used to call local villagers to celebrations or parties, but he said now they just use cell phones. ha ha!



We just loved this next couple!! They weave scarves and other things out of wool, and the man has been doing it for over 60 years! He is the last person to do everything by hand. He brushes the wool, spins his own yarn, makes his own natural dyes, and weaves everything by hand. To make one scarf it will take 5 days, whereas a machine can make 5 scarves a day. So even though he puts so much more time and efforts into his handicrafts, he is quite proud they are all handmade and says the quality is the very best.





We drove up the road from Otavalo a few miles to the town of Cotacachi, known for its many many leather markets. You can find just about anything made of leather here! I couldn´t help but buy a genuine leather purse for super cheap!


Last stop for the day...Cuicocha lake. It's a lake in a dormant volcano crater, with two islands in the middle. It was absolutely beautiful!! You can take a boat to the islands which we didn't have time for, and you can also hike all the way around, a 5 hour trip. It would have been so fun to do that! We also got incredible views of the surrounding mountain valley.


The following day was the famous huge Saturday market where we stocked up on our last souvenirs, and also saw the food markets and the big live animal market in the morning. It was lots of fun!