Ibarra

Sorry it's been a while, we've been busy, actually and mentally. This weekend we went to Ibarra. The mental and physical list of everything we want to see and do in Ecuador is certainly getting shorter and day trips like the one we took on Saturday are really helping.

Here's what we did: We took the Elloy Alfaro bus to Carcelen (the bus terminal in the north) and from there caught a bus headed towards Ibarra. Cost - $5 for the pair of us. We asked the bus driver to let us off at Cotacachi, which he did. This is always a little nerve racking, because the 'caller' just kind of yells to the back of the bus and you can never quite hear him. We've found that if you make a point of going us to the caller after the bus has left the station and say, 'can you please tell us when we're at blah blah blah town?' that usually does the trick. Anyways, so we get off at Cotacachi which is a teeny tiny town in between Otavalo and Ibarra that's known for its leather goods. UNESCO has called this town 'the city of peace' because literally nothing happens there. My student had told me that you have to get off at the PanAmerican and then get another bus into the town because it's not right there. So we waited with some guys and a priest for the bus into town, got off at the park and mosied our way to the street that has all of the leather shops. I'm glad that we got off at the park because we got to see some of the town that was indeed peaceful. But when we got to the leather street (10 de Agosto) you would have thought we were in the Wisconsin Dells. There were so many gringos, with big hats, talking loudly, being your typical American. Ryan and I, of course were there just to look so it made our trip quite short. In fact the longest part of the trip was trying to find choclo con queso. Choclo is a type of corn, served on the cob in this instance, with cheese. I really like it! Usually it's served with mayo and then rolled in crumbled cheese, but the place we ate it left off the mayo and served it with slices of cheese instead. I thought this was a much better option! Anyways, after our $1.50 snack we were back on the little bus that took us to our next stop: Autuntaqui.

10 de Agosto (the leather street)

The plaza in Cotacachi

One of the many leather stores

Choclo con queso

Cute and colorful houses in Cotacachi

What I'm assuming to be the crest of Cotacachi

Autuntaqui is another little town, not like Cotacachi peaceful, but more like a super small city. They are known for two things: clothes and fritada. We were suposed to stop at Fritada Amazonas, but we got off the bus too early and ended up going to Fritada Mama Miche. This place was actually in the town so we got to see all the clothing stores, instead of Fritada Amazonas which is on the highway and you don't enter the town at all. I don't like fritada, it's official. I've tried a couple of times and its just not for me. Ryan on the other hand, loves the stuff! What is fritada? Let me just show you:

Here we have tortillas (also known as llapingachos or fried potatoes), salad, avacado, tostado (crunchy corn kernels), and mote (a type of corn and the main reason I don't like fritada), plus a side of cheese. 

The place that we ate: Fritada Mama Miche

After fritada we were back on the bus to San Antonio de Ibarra, another teeny tiny town. This one was just outside of Ibarra (about 2 kilometers). This town is known for wood carvings. The master woodcarver, Luis Potosi, is from San Antonio de Ibarra. You probably think you don't know this guy but you know some of this wood carvings as everyone copies him. We got off the bus on the highway and walked into town, peeking our heads into lots of tiny stores jam packed with different carvings. Then we found the mega studio, showroom, store and we met the master himself. His stuff is amazing. Seriously, amazing. And, all things considered, really cheap! If I were in Ecuador as a tourist, you better believe I would have bought at least one piece of his original work and brought it home with me.

All of the wood stores had a different speciality. This one's was religious ornaments.

This one's was candle stick holders

The Master, Luis Potosi's workshop.

Notice the carving in the middle of the photo, he's the originator of carvings like this.

A furniture shop. We peeked our heads in and got to see the carver in action.

Then we were back on the bus for our final destination: Ibarra. We got into town around 5 and wanted to  leave around 7 (Chuki was at home), so we were on a mission: see the sights, get a feel for the town, eat ice cream and various other treats Ibarra is known for and then get out of there. And that's exactly what we did. We walked past the market, saw a handful of fine churches, explored gorgeous parks and plazas and ended the visit with paila ice cream in the park while we watched the sky change colors. Then as it was getting dark we headed back to the bus terminal and caught the 7:15 bus.

Cathedral of La Dolorosa

Beautiful Plaza

Beautiful sun on the mountains

Another church

Ryan and I having a great day exploring!

Supposedly the originator of Paila, a famous ice cream here. 

Me with both of our cones. On the left (mine), Mango and Mora and on the right (Ryan's) Maracuya and Tamarind.

Sitting in another plaza at sunset, eating our ice cream.

This photo doesn't do the colors justice!

At the end of our trip!

We made it back to our apartment around 10:15 with $5 still left in our pocket. It was a great trip! Its days like those that make me so thankful I live abroad. But they also remind me that there are adventures to be had anywhere and everywhere. Even if it's just an hour or two away from home!

MULUB,
Taylor

Success in Quito

Yesterday was a really productive day. For having two pretty stressful 'issues' going on simultaneously, I've been really proud of my level of calm. Those two 'issues' being the landlady and Chuki's hurt leg. Anyways, back to yesterday. I had two classes in the morning then Ryan and I took Chuki back to the vet because he had eaten his whole bandage off during the night. We were hopeful that our regular vet would be there and we were so thankful that she was. She happily changed his bandage and called around to locate a vet in the area that had a cone collar big enough for Chuki. She found one and Ryan was able to pick it up that day. Plus it cost $10 less than we were expecting!! Success #1: Chuki now has a cone collar! While Ryan went to the other vet to get the cone collar, I went down to Old Town to get a universal charger so we could finally charge the camera. I wasn't sure where to go exactly, but I had an idea. The first place I popped my head into had a charger that worked and I bought it for $5! Success #2: We now have a camera charger! I guess it doesn't take much for me to deem a day productive any more!

Things you have to look forward to: a post on Chuki's craziness with this injury, photos from Papallacta, a dinner party post, and maybe the most perfect pumpkin scone recipe.

Things we have to look forward to: free LIGA game tonight, Ibarra this weekend, the beach (hopefully!!) for Carnival, funesca and and Oscar party!

MULUB,
Taylor

PS. I forgot about this success. I finally made friends with the maid of one of my kids classes. She has never been very nice, blah blah blah. But yesterday, I stayed an extra 30 minutes so her husband could drive me home. She made me a snack (bread and cheese) and hot chocolate. PLUS, an added bonus, it was amazing cheese. It tasted like brie! Success #3: Making friends with the maids!

To Do List

1. Bake bread
2. Pick up the apartment
3. Do the dishes
4. Sweep and mop the floors 
5. Blog
6. Upload photos
7. Catch up on emails
8. Run
9. Shower
10. Class
11. Free LIGA game

This is my day. You'll be hearing from me later! 

Before I go, I just thought I'd tell you what Chuki is doing RIGHT NOW. He's looking in the mirror with his cone on, just staring at himself. And he's been there for about 5 minutes. I don't know if he thinks there is a strange dog in his house with a strange thing on his head or if he just feels bad for himself. Either way, it's pretty pathetic and precious, all at the same time.

Weekend Recap

We were in Quito this weekend, which is always nice and relaxing. We've developed a lovely Saturday morning routine that I really look forward to whenever we are at home on the weekends. Since Chuki doesn't really 'sleep in' all that much, we're up around the same time as normal (usually more like 7:30 instead of 6, but still). Saturday morning is a futbol morning. So Ryan will turn on the TV in anticipation of the Chelsea game, while I make coffee and catch up on blogs. Saturday morning is really the only time I allow myself to read Pioneer Woman, so I always look forward to that! (Her recipes always look so yummy but are never healthy and usually contain ingredients that we don't have.) While Ryan is watching the game before Chelsea, I look for something new and yummy to make for breakfast. This past week I made Banana Whipped Oatmeal! OH MY WORD! So good!

A side note about oatmeal: I grew up eating oatmeal for breakfast, especially in the winter. My mom would always say that it would stick to your ribs. I think she meant it would keep me warm. Anyways, I grew up eating the stuff from the package with all the flavors mixed in. You know, the add water and put in the microwave stuff. While I really liked that oatmeal then, I wouldn't really dream of ever buying it now (especially in Quito)! Regardless, we've been rediscovering oatmeal and eating it more and more. We always have oats here in the house because we usually always make our own granola (thanks to Ryan's mom). But just recently we've started using the stuff to make oatmeal instead of just granola. And boy is it delicious, so so so versatile and SUPER DUPER easy.

Anyways, I digress! This Saturday morning's oatmeal was inspired by Kath over at Kath Eats Real Food. Make it! Seriously, probably this week. Especially all of you back home that are freezing in your snow and ice storms! It's seriously yummy, filling and takes about 10 minutes from start to finish.

Here's what I did:
1 cup milk
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup water

Bring these three to a boil.

Cut up a banana. Cut 1/2 of the banana in really small pieces and the other half in bigger chunks. Add to the boiling oats and whisk, whisk, whisk until banana is dissolved and oats are fluffier than normal.

Add a splash of vanilla and cinnamon.

Divide the oatmeal into 2 bowls. Top with homemade granola (recipe coming soon), homemade almond butter (recipe coming soon), frozen raspberries, dried cranberries and a spoonful of honey.

ENJOY with a great cup of coffee!

Then once breakfast is ready, the three of us watch the Chelsea game together. I'll admit I come and go while watching at least the 1st half of the game, between the computer, the kitchen and the couch! Then usually, we take Chuki for a nice long walk after the game. (You all know what happened to Chuki on this week's 'nice long walk'! It wasn't so nice, instead it was more bloody. Poor bear.)

It's really a routine that I've come to look forward to on the weekends!

MULUB,
Taylor

Chuki's Boo Boo

Yesterday we had quite the adventure with Chuki. We decided to go to the park yesterday morning, all three of us. I have found this new entrance into Metropolitano but instead of being forestlike, it's all prairie. Chuki loves prairie type fields, so whenever I have extra time I try to incorporate this part of the forest into our walk. Anyways, Ryan has taken him up there once or twice but I wanted to show Ryan what Chuki and I do. So we walk up there and Chuki's off the leash running in the prairie and LOVING it. I love it too because it's like a mini-hike and Chuki seriously is so happy up there. Usually it's a great way to start the day. There is this small ravine in the park that I've never let Chuki go down into before but for some reason when he went over there yesterday I didn't call him back. He jumped down into the ravine a couple of times and then loved climbing his way out until... bah bah bah. He came out the last time and Ryan and I were a bit behind him when I thought I saw blood on his paw. We called him and he wouldn't really come all of the way, which isn't like him. That's when I realized he was gushing blood from somewhere on his front right leg.

Ryan took off his shirt (he had a sweatshirt on too) and wrapped it around Chuki's paw then we put a plastic bag over it. But that was covered in blood in seconds. We panicked and after getting ourselves together we decided we had to get to the vet and fast. We knew that no taxi driver would drive us so we started the run down the hill to the vet. Luckily, we were pretty close. About 10 minutes away. Chuki bled and bled the whole way there. People were stopping on the street and staring. Ryan tried to carry him part of the way but he's just too heavy. We finally get to the vet and Chuki just collapsed. That was probably the scariest part. Luckily (again), we have extreme confidence in our vets ability whenever we take him there. So we get there and bring him into the back. They immediately put one of those things on the upper part of his leg to stop the blood flow so that they can see what happened. And then they told us to wait in the waiting room. We waited and about 20 minutes later they came out and told us he had cut a vein above his paw with a large piece of glass. They were able to remove the glass and control the bleeding but he would have to stay over night to have fluids and antibiotics administered. So away we went, shaken but not scared.

We just got home from the vet with Chuki! He has a big old bandage on his foot but no cone. He just walked into the bedroom and he's eaten the bandage off almost. So I'm on my way back to the vet to get a new bandage, some more tape and a cone! Plus some sandwiches from Mega.

We'll post picture hopefully today when our friend Ross lends us his camera charger! Cross your fingers its the correct one!

MULUB,
Taylor

PS. We were able to get a cone for Chuki yesterday. He hates it, but it does its job!

Men can be so oblivious!

We just watched the Family Stone. We get to the end when the next year's Christmas is taking place. And I say, 'Is this the next year?' Ryan says, 'I don't know. Oh ya that couple has a baby. It must be.' The couple walks into the house and Ryan says, 'Wait why does that girl have a baby? She wasn't pregnant last year!' And I, of course, say, 'YES SHE WAS!'

How can he just have watched that whole movie and not realized that this woman was pregnant? Good gravy!

MULUB,
Taylor

Random Musings

Ryan's Valentine's Day present was a pressure cooker. I LOVE IT! Make sure you read the first sentence correctly. It wasn't a present for me, but for him. But I think I might love it more than he does. It's simply amazing! I made dinner in it last night in about 10 minutes. If you don't have one and you live at altitude you should probably invest. I can't wait to see how fast it cooks beans!

I think we're really becoming Ecuadorians. If we don't have rice for at least one meal a day something is wrong. Last night I made the most Ecuadorian of Ecuadorian meals. Seco de pollo, rice (and Ryan made) tree tomato dessert. I forget the name but its the one where you peel and then boil the tree tomatoes in sugar and water until soft and delicious. Seriously I could eat that meal every day.

Apartment Update - In the throws of 'talking' with our landlady (and her husband/boyfriend lawyer). I'm not letting myself stress out about it. It's not worth it. We'll keep you posted when we have something concrete to report. Right now they're trying to get us to pay rent and then (probably) keeping the guarantee in the end. Why didn't I study Ecuadorian contract law in college? Oh right, because my school had 1400 students!

That's about it!
MULUB,
Taylor

Chuki's Pretty Amazing Routine

Chuki in Banos!

It's been a while since we've posted any updates on Chuki. I think the last time was when we majorly overhauled our training techniques. Well I'm very happy to report that he's doing SO SO SO well. We started with NILIF towards the middle to the end of January and that has been the single biggest help. If he doesn't have toys laying around, he doesn't wine to be played with. Don't get me wrong, we still play with him! But now, it's on our schedule, when we want and for how long we want.

His walks are 100 times better. He still doesn't like to walk in the rain and will go a little crazy when he's had enough. But really, who likes to walk in the rain? Also, he's doing a million times better running with me. The trick is to only go for a short run because he gets really hot (if it's sunny) or really wet (if it's raining) and he doesn't like either one. So I usually only take him when I'm going to do a quick 5k and he does great!

The thing I'm most happy about is the jumping. He's slowly but surely learning that jumping is NEVER allowed on people. I think this is a pretty common problem with boxers. Here's what we've done to train him... Whenever we're coming home (whether it's just one or both of us) we open the door and stay outside of it and tell him to sit, lie down and stay. It's pretty cute because he does this crazy wiggle but he's still lying down. Then we come in the door, put down our stuff and go pet him for like 1 second. He can't get up until we've pet him first. If he does, we go back outside and start the whole thing over again. We tell him sit, lie down, stay. Then we come in put our stuff down and pet him. The key is to not pet him for a long time and give him lots of praise. It's just for him to associate our touch with when he can get up and greet us.

When there are guests coming over the method is slightly different. We put his leash on. The doorbell rings. Our guests wait for a minute outside the door while we tell Chuki to sit, lie down and stay. We tell the guests to not pay attention to him. When we tell him he can get up one of us holds the leash. As soon as he jumps on one of the guests we put him into the bedroom and close the door. He stays in the bedroom for a couple of minutes and then we let him out. And the process continues for as long as there are guests over. Every time he jumps he goes into the bedroom.

Now this may sound a bit exhausting for the guests and for you as the host(ess). It was in the beginning. Either Ryan or I had to be with Chuki for at least the first hour of people being there and Chuki spent most of the night in the bedroom because he would jump so frequently. But we had people over this past Friday and he only was in the bedroom 3 times in the very beginning. Then he calmed down and just wanted to sniff and check out our guests. Eventually he fell asleep on the couch while we were all eating dinner. MAJOR PROGRESS!

Plus he's learning new tricks, which is keeping his mind stimulated. He can kind of roll over now! And we're working on touch still. Actually we're working more on no touch.

His pretty awesome routine looks something like this:
6am breakfast
sleep
10am walk
sleep
12pm lunch
sleep
3pm walk
sleep
6pm dinner
sleep

Now maybe this is what most dogs do all of their lives... But Chuki has NEVER had a routine like this. It's more like 6am breakfast, play/whine/bark until you play with him, 10am walk, play/whine/bark until you play with him, etc. So this is a big and welcome adjustment for us!

Last but not least, the crate training is going. It's not going well and it's not going poorly... it's just going. He eats in the crate. He gets in the crate on his own to see if there's any food left over. When we put him in the crate he sits patiently and even lies down. He doesn't really whine in there or try to escape. But he's certainly not going in the crate to take a nap on his own accord. So we're happy with the progress. It's not important to us that he loves it, but just that he's comfortable in there and that he's able to stay in there for at least 6 hours.

That's about all we're learning right now, well at least when it comes to Chuki. Can't wait for everyone to meet him someday!

MULUB,
Taylor

You probably want to make this...

Interested in extending the holiday of LOVE? Make this for dessert tonight and you'll feel like it's Valentine's Day all over again. I followed the directions exactly and didn't change a thing, so I'm just posting the link. Warm Chocolate Raspberry Pudding Cake

2 suggestions I would make:
1. Don't strain the raspberries. Just mash them up and be done with them.
2. Don't take it out of the oven too soon. Make sure you wait until the pudding part all comes to the top. It will, just be patient!

Enjoy!
MULUB,
Taylor

Valentine's Weekend Recap

Ryan ended up taking me to Papallacta! It really was a surprise up until we got off the bus at Supermaxi in Cumbaya. By then I realized there must be only one place we were going.

Papallacta is a small little town (if you can even call it that) far up in the Andes. It's a tourist destination because of the thermal baths. See, Papallacta sits near Antisana, a volcano, that heats the natural springs. Ryan could sit in a thermal bath for hours. Me on the other hand, I get a little too sleepy in them. Papallacta was the perfect place for both of us because in addition to thermal baths there is GREAT hiking in the area. We did absolutely beautiful two hikes! What's better than a thermal bath after a nice long hike? It was really great! We both came back feeling rested and relaxed.

Photos to come!

MULUB,
Taylor

Valentine's Day

This is our second Valentine's Day here in Ecuador! Last year we went away for the weekend to Otavalo. It was our first little trip outside of Quito. We had a great time, except for the part when Ryan got sick for 3 days because he got dehydrated on a hike. Oops! We've learned a lot since then about traveling together and about hiking together. To celebrate Valentine's Day last year, my parents graciously (as always) let us go out to dinner at ZAZU on them (you all know how much we love ZAZU).

We were talking about Valentine's Day this year and we realized that our Valentines 2010 weekend was the last time that we've gone away just the two of us. In March we got Chuki and since then we haven't traveled too much just the two of us. So we decided that we'd go away again just the two of us this year!

Ryan has been planning the whole thing! I'm super excited because I love surprises! Chuki went to Sebas's for the weekend and we're leaving right now. I thought at first that we were going to the beach but a few nights ago at dinner Ryan said I needed to bring warm clothes and a swimsuit. So I'm not sure where were going!

Instead of trying to figure out where we're going, I've been trying to figure out what to bake to bring with. We're going to bring some food, because the place we're staying at is a little pricey. I'm thinking heart shaped cookies and red velvet cupcakes, but I'm not sure. I also made this awesome chewy granola when we went to Quilotoa for us to munch on during the hike. It was supposed to be bars, but they fell apart. I'm thinking a repeat attempt is in order.

Other than that, I'm just excited to be going someplace new, just the two of us! Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!

MULUB,
Taylor

Chicken (almost) Marsala

The dinner duties have been divvied up depending on who has night classes. It's been changing a lot lately because of our schedules changing. Often times, one of us gets home and we have a conversations something like... R: "I thought you were making dinner tonight."T: "I thought you were making dinner tonight." You get the picture. It's late and we're hungry and there's nothing made. Last week we had one of these nights and I decided that I would go ahead and make dinner, as Ryan had been making dinner a lot lately. I was completely uninspired to make anything, but of course we were both pretty hungry. So I consulted the usuals (smittenkitchen, 101 cookbooks, budget bytes, and sing for your supper) but nothing sounded oh my word, i have to make this right now good. Plus we didn't have too many ingredients in the house. I decided on Chicken Marsala after browsing Taste Spotting for inspiration (always does the trick). But of course, we don't like mushrooms and we didn't have actual Marsala. So I took a little from this and a little from that and the result was delicious!

Here's what I did for the two of us:

CHICKEN - Salt, pepper and flour two chicken pieces (bone in and skin on). Heat oil till hot. Sear on each side for 3 minutes. Remove from heat but keep them warm (I put ours on a plate in the toaster oven).

BACON - Reduce heat of the oil. Add chopped bacon. Brown. Remove from heat but keep warm (I put the pieces on the plate with the chicken in the toaster oven).

VEGGIES - Chop 1 onion and 3 peppers. Mince lots of garlic. Put veggies and garlic in the pan over medium low heat. Season. Add chicken. Cook until veggies are tender and chicken is almost done. Add a big handful of spinach, the bacon and about a cup of red wine. Cover. Simmer until ready.

I served this garlic mashed potatoes and lemony green beans. Everything was ready in about 30 minutes and it was delicious. Make sure to enjoy it with the rest of the wine! Even we were fancy and had wine from the bottle (not a box)!

Ryan's Back

That's right! Ryan is back to blogging. He should be posting at least one blog a week. So all y'all who prefer him to me, give him a hard time when he doesn't post enough!

MULUB,
Taylor

Taxis

At the behest of Taylor I am writing a blog. Lets start of with a little poll to see what people know of the subject matter:

So? How'd ya do?

Really, in Ecuador, this is more of a philosophical/metaphysical question than an absolute. As such, there are no right answers, so be prepared for some SOCRATIC METHOD to be thrown at your candy ass!!!

The Macho Man is not impressed with your faulty logic,OHHH YEAAHH!!!

I'll just tell you that from my layman's knowledge, a taxi driver is someone who picks you up and drives you where you to go.


Now from my experience this is not always case. Say, for example, I have an empty tank of gas and I want to get up the hill to the bodega so I can refill it. I'll put out my hand to hail the taxi and the driver will look me in the eye and go all Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo on me.

REJECTED!!!

Typically in this situation, I have to take an unregistered cab (and by unregistered cab I mean "guy with a car who wants to make a few bucks"). Which is fine, but I usually have to wait a little longer and often wake up in a bathtub full of ice; but you gotta bite the bullet. Sometimes you just need gas.


Another time we were waiting with our cart outside our friendly neighborhood Megamaxi, which looks like this during the day:

.... and this when danger strikes:

So Taylor and and I were waiting by the curb and I hailed a cab. He drives into the circle and sees our cart and motions "no not you, them" and points at a couple of bimbos just walking out of the store with just a few bag. Well, you can guess where this is headed. The bimbos entered the cab. It was obvious that we had been waiting and had also hailed the cab, but why should they worry their pretty little heads about common human decency or an unwritten code. This isn't Nam. There are rules.

The next cabbie to pass me up is going
to enter a world of pain.

To conclude, if you are a cabbie and you have no fare and I hail you. Please, don't pass me by. Pick me up. You're making me feel like Danny Glover.

Quilotoa Weekend

Last weekend we went to Quilotoa with Sebas and Chuki! It was a great time, seriously a great time, but you probably wouldn't think that due to the lack of posting about it! Well, Ryan and I have been super duper busy with classes lately so, at least for me, there's been little extra time as I get used to my new schedule.

Let's start with last weekend -

Sebas came and picked us up from our place on Friday night and took us to his awesome house in Cumbaya (the valley). Ryan and I are both pretty sure that he likes Sebas's house more than he likes our house. He's no fool either, at Sebas's he has a big kennel, a big yard and more people to play with him. He basically loves it!

Sebas's Yard

The Kennel at Sebas's House

We spent the night at Sebas's because we were getting up early to head to Quilotoa. His Aunt made us dinner and it was delicious guatitita! Something we MUST learn how to make before we come home, which I believe will involve purchasing a pressure cooker which in turn will make Ryan SUPER happy!

Saturday we got up and left around 8 or so for Quilotoa. The men strapped Chuki's crate into the back of the pick up and off we went. This was the longest time Chuki's ever spent in his crate (by a lot!) and he did OK. He sat for most of the trip, which I can't imagine was comfortable but whatever! No crying, no whining, no trying to escape and actually no potty breaks.

Chuki's crate in the back of Sebas's pick up

We got to Quilotoa and it was just as beautiful as I expected. We hiked down to the water, ate our sandwhich lunch that I had made that morning and then hiked back up to the rim of the crater.

Quilotoa

The clouds coming down into the lake

A little bit later in the afternoon

As we were getting ready to leave one of the other dogs in the parking lot stole Chuki's big knuckle bone that we had bought him in Chicago! Ryan chased the dog down for a bit but without success. We left knowing we probably had just made that dog's year!

On our way to Banos we stopped in Salcedo for ice cream. According to Sebas, it's an Ecuadorian tradition. Every family has 'their helado' spot. This was his family's place!

Then we went to Banos because Sebas's Aunt has a house (different Aunt then the guatita making Aunt) there. It was such a cool old house! We both told Sebas that he needs to fix up the house and start renting it out, it was that cool!

The entrance to Sebas's Aunt's House

We went for dinner at Luna Runtun, which is a beautiful hotel on Tunguragua (a currently active volcano) that over looks all of Banos. It was really beautiful. Then we spent the night dancing in a couple of the different discos in downtown Banos.

At dinner at Luna Runtun

Downtown Banos

Sunday morning Chuki and I got up and went on a hike in Banos to the Virgin.

The city of Banos from above. 

Not a bad way to start the morning, with the beauty of the Andes. 

Then we drove home but the drive was INCREDIBLE. The way between Banos and Quito is called Ruta de los Volcanes because you're supposed to be able to see all of the volcanoes. The problem is we've gone that way tons of times and it's never been clear enough to see all of them. Well Sunday, we were in luck and we got to see every single one CLEARLY!

Chimborazo

Cotopaxi

Illinizas

Antisana

When we got home we were so tired that we just watched movies and napped all day. Chuki slept straight from when we got home (about 11am) until the next morning at 7am. It was an amazing weekend! THANKS SEBAS!

MULUB,

Taylor