Our New View

While I love and miss the mountains and our beautiful view in Quito. It is SOO SOO SOO great to be home. I love being able to pick up the phone whenever I want to call someone and I love being able to hop in the car and visit with our friends and family. My dad suggested I share a photo of our new view, and I think it's a great idea. While there are no mountains, there is the comfort of home. And for now the later outweighs the former. 

Not too shaby!

Financial Freedom

I've gotten quite the response about the money post and I must say this is a topic that people my age are really thinking through. I guess a couple of other observations that I've had after talking with people are...

At some point in our lives we are all going to have to learn the lessons of financial freedom. Financial freedom will look differently for everyone. I would rather start to figure it out now, when it's just Ryan and I, instead of in the future when there are so many more consequences.

Saying no to things is different for everyone. For me and Ryan right now, we're eliminating buying stuff because that's the place we're in. But I have friends that are making decent money and they might have to say no to international vacations but not to buying stuff. Does that make sense? It's about living within your means, not living without just for fun.

And lastly, it seems that a lot of friends are thinking this way and feeling this way. Feeling stress about going out for an expensive dinner or drinks. So, especially in Chicago, I feel like we should try and take more advantage of all of the free events that the city has to offer. That way we can enjoy spending time with each other and still stay within our budget. Or something like that.

It's an interesting learning process and I'm glad we're talking about it.


MULUB,
Taylor

In Chicago

I love Chicago. It's such a great city where everything feels at the same time BIG CITY and SMALL TOWN. It's just a great place to live. I hope to be able to move back some day and possibly raise a family here but that day is not TOday.

Here are some random musings:

Everything is so expensive. My parent's used to say living in the city is just more expensive than not and I never agreed with them. Sad but true, I was wrong. It's expensive. My dad also always used to tell me "Sometimes you just have to say no. You can't afford to do everything." While I absolutely HATE the idea of this, it also is true. Ryan and I lived on such a tight budget while in Ecuador that the prices in the city are absolutely absurd to me. Last night I went out for pizza with girls that I love. Hannah and I paid together and it cost us $45 FOR TWO PIZZAS, tax and tip. We didn't have wine, we didn't have an appetizer, we didn't have dessert. We literally had two pizzas and tap water. Ryan and I could have gone out to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner for two days with $45. The bus here is $2.25 in Ecuador it was $0.25. The cost of living and the quality of living is just so much higher here that it makes it ridiculous.

Here's the hard thing... my friends live here in the city. So dinners like last night are more common than not. And I have a REALLY hard time saying no. But if we ever moved back here we would have to just say no. Which to me just seems counter productive. If we move to Chicago to be close to family and friends but we can't afford to see family and friends, then what's the point?

Another observation... there is such rampant consumerism and materialism here. Now I know that individuals have very little control over it because its a product of the society that we live in. But pizza costs $15 because enough people pay it. Hannah and I stopped into a coffee shop before we met the girls for dinner and I just asked how much a banana costs. The response = $1. In Ecuador I could buy a whole bunch of bananas for $1.50. I know that isn't a truly fair comparison but still. There is so much temptation here in Chicago to spend money on things that really don't matter. In Ecuador we learned to live without things because they didn't exist and so it was easier. Now our lesson has to be resisting the temptation to buy and consume when the options are plentiful. I love pretty things and I used to shell out a lot of money for things that were just pretty. That abruptly stopped in Ecuador because they make things useful, not pretty. Now I have to learn self control.

Which brings me to something I've said before and I'm saying again. People here in the USA have so much stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. This one has been easier for me in our 'home' (read - my parents' basement). We have what we need and all of the extra stuff we either through away before we left for Ecuador or is still in the storage bins. It's a truly freeing feeling. I don't feel tempted to go to Target and buy things just because I want them.

My biggest temptation is when it comes to friends. If a friend says lets go out to eat or lets meet for coffee or lets do this or that, I have a really hard time saying, "I can't because I don't have the money." But I need to get better at it.

Let me preface this by saying, I completely 100% am still trying to figure this out! Which makes me wonder, how many people out there don't have the money to live the life that they are living? How many people are too embarrassed or self conscious to say 'No, I can't' and so they do it anyways and go into debt to continue the lifestyle? I know that I struggle with it all of the time. But it's crazy. I used to have an astronomical credit card bill because of dinner dates, coffee and shopping trips. Not because of anything of substance. I realize that this is probably just more for me now. So with that, I leave you with these two thoughts: Would my friends understand if I said 'no' to an invitation because I couldn't afford it? And would they welcome the idea of a cheaper option, i.e. a potluck dinner at someone's house instead of a dinner out?

Our Engagement!

You heard right, we're engaged! It's all very exciting! Here's the story...

We were at the beach in Ecuador, just a few days before we left to come home. Ryan had been carrying the ring across hell and high water. Well not actually, but he did carry it up a mountain, down a mountain, on many dangerous bus trips, on hikes in which we got lost and then to the beach. Just a little back story, we LOVE the beach. Both of us. And my favorite thing about the beach, any beach, is watching the sunset. There's something very magical about watching nature put on a show for you. So anyways, every time we go to the beach we don't come in until after the sunset. After a day of swimming, laying out, reading, walking and eating the best end is to cozy up with a yummy snack or beverage and watch the sun sink. Our engagement day at the beach was no different, except that Ryan hadn't been feeling well so I spent a large part of the day solo. We thought that it was going to be a cloudy sunset but just in time the clouds rolled away to reveal a HUGE sinking red ball of sun: a truly perfect sunset. But while we were waiting for those clouds to roll away the family in front of us had two little puppies that we played with! Maybe Ryan arranged that too =) So the night started with playing with puppies, then we had these yummy pizza bread snacks (as typical in Ecuador, someone is always walking around selling food), and then the sun came out. Ryan and I had a great conversation about our time in Ecuador. He asked a lot of questions that usually I ask (i.e. What are your favorite five things we did here?). And then he said something about how much we love watching the sunset and how he hoped there would be a lifetime of watching the sunset together and then he got on one knee and asked me to marry him! My response was something a long the lines of OH MY GOD! IS THIS HAPPENING? WE'RE GETTING MARRIED! for about the next 3 days!

So after he proposed we called my parents and his parents and went for a celebratory feast! We decided to try and keep it quiet until we got home so we could tell our friends and family in person. I believe everyone knows now and so onto the blog it goes! We've begun the planning process and already I'm overwhelmed. Originally we were thinking of getting married in the Fall of 2011, so like a six month engagement. But I had one week of that and decided there was no way. It was all too fast and I wouldn't have enjoyed it. So now, the plan is to get married next late spring/early summer.

All that we know is that we would like an outdoor ceremony and reception, if possible. We want something small and intimate full of friends and family that know and love us. We want a night full of great food, lots of laughter, sharing, and candlelight, good wine and music. Other than that, I'm not sure. I have a vision of what I've always dreamed of but I need help making it a reality. I'll be sure to post more details as they come. For now here are a few photos from the very magical night.

Puppies!!!

Pizza!!!

Perfect Sunset...

Gets even more perfect! Ryan on one knee.

We're getting MARRIED!

The ring

The sun keeps setting

An amazing dinner!

You thought we'd never post again...

We've been unpacking and visiting and resting since we've arrived in the US of A and it feels good. Here are just a couple of things I'm noticing...

Everyone can drink the sink water, yet doesn't. Why is that America?

The pots and pans are so much heavier and more substantial.

Every time I go to light the stove I look for the matches and every time I'm in the bathroom I look for the garbage can.

It's amazing to have a yard!

Home

We are home! Everyone is great! The flight went well! Missing the mountains already!

Our Week of Fun!

We're back from a whirlwind tour of the South of Ecuador! We left Sunday morning (Ryan's Birthday) and took the bus to Ambato. We wanted to eat the traditional dish from Ambato but it was late and we ended up eating chicken and rice. Then we hopped on the overnight to Cuenca.

We arrived in Cuenca Monday morning around 5am. We were tired, hungry and crabby. We navigated to the hostel but it was 5am and so we crashed on some couches in the living room until around 8. Then we spent the day exploring about 50 churches and museums in Cuenca. We went out for dinner and then back to the hostel for the night.

Tuesday morning we got up and got ourselves together and left for Loja. We didn't really spend any time in Loja, just changed buses to Vilcabamba. We arrived in Vilcabamba around 6 and had dinner in the little town. We decided to splurge and stay at a more expensive place outside of town. IT WAS AMAZING. We were really sad to leave Vilcambamba. So we got to the place and crashed. Then Wednesday we got up and hung around the hotel for a while until about 10:30, when we checked out and got ready for a nice 4 hour hike on the ridge line. Well the first couple of hours of the hike were great but then we got extremely lost. We ended up hiking for something like 6 hours, not on any particular path. In fact a machete would have been nice to create a path. Anyways, there was a while when I was pretty sure we might not make it off the mountain by nightfall but then we did and it was fun, when it stopped being scary. After the craziness of the hike we decided to stay another night at the nice hotel and have a big meal with wine! Which is exactly what we did. We made friends with a Dutch couple and spent the night eating, drinking and chatting with them. There was a bonfire and a sunset and just general merry making. Then on Thursday we got up and... get this... got massages! 75 minutes for $18. One of the best massages I've had. Still doesn't beat the little lady is Martinique but pretty amazing. We went swimming, laid out by the pool, played chess, ate dinner and then left again for Loja and another bus around 8pm. We went back to Loja and caught the overnight to Guayaquil.

Friday morning we arrived in Guayaquil around 6am and then changed buses to get to the beach. We arrived at the beach around 10 and found a place outside of town to stay. Montanita is a crazy beach town with infastructure, which is nice, but it is pretty loud at night so it was a great relief to not be staying in town. We walked around a bit, ate, and then napped. After our nap we did what everyone does at the beach... nothing. We walked a bit, sat on the beach, swam, you know. We were exhausted and so we made dinner at the hostel and went to bed early.

Saturday Ryan had an upset stomach so I spent a good part of the day on the beach by myself and walking around town picking up things he wanted (bread, pepto, water, etc). I got a nice little sunburn but of course went back for more! Saturday night we watched an AMAZING sunset. The kind where you see the sun as a big red circle sinking into the water. It was pretty awesome! We had some snacks on the beach and then went back to shower and get ready for dinner. We went out for dinner to a delicious italian place. I had linguini with all different fresh seafood and Ryan had ravioli with seafood. It was yummy!

Sunday we got up and went to buy our bus tickets in the morning but they were all booked for the day. EEKS! The bus guy told us we could just keep hopping city buses until we eventually got to Guayaquil, which was really our only option because we had to be back today so we can take Chuki to the vet and the airport. But that didn't matter because we had SURF LESSONS to deal with first. We've learned a lot of things in Ecuador and now we can add surfing to the list! IT WAS SO FUN! Seriously so fun! We both managed to surf! We need lots of practice but now we know how you do it. I can't wait till the next time we're at a beach and we can rent surfboards! Let me just say this, it's exhausting! I understand why surfers usually have great arms and why they only go out for like 30 minutes at a time. After our surf lesson we went back to the hostel, packed up, showered, and feasted! We had bought a pound of fresh shrimp and one side of a tuna fish the day before and we were going to have both for lunch! We made rice with cilantro, a big salad, shrimp in garlic and seared tuna steaks with cilantro. It was SO good and SO much food. We put what we couldn't eat in a bag and gave it to one of the million dogs roaming around Montanita. After lunch we cleaned up and headed to the bus station. It was great because there was like a minibus (15 passenger thing) that had two more seats to fill. We threw our bags on top, hopped in, and off we went. Then we got the 7:30 night bus from Guayaquil to Quito and we were home in our own 'bed' (read : super thin mattress on the floor) by 3am.

It was a great trip! Lots of fun! More to come but first, we've got so much to do! Pack, take care of Chuki, sell the rest of our things, celebrate Ryan's birthday/going away with our friends, shop, go to the park, stop by one last time at inlingua, etc!