Cotopaxi

Instead of writing an extremely long post about my family´s whole visit, I decided I´d write in in parts.

Part 1 : Cotopaxi

Elliott´s flight was delayed, by two hours. We waited at the airport with a Dutch girl thats boyfriend was on the same flight from Miami and they hadn´seen each other for 6 months or something like that. I was glad that I wasn´t her.

Anyways, Elliott finally arrived. I was looking for his long curly hair but he had cut it in between the time I left and the time he came and so I kept thinking all of these Ecuadorians were Elliott only to be suprised when I saw them fully.

Because of the delay, not many restaurants were open. We headed into the Mariscal, gringolandia, for dinner and then called it a night.

The next day, Friday, we spent in Quito. We took Chuki to the park and I think Elliott had as much fun running around unsupervised by Dad´s concern for his cast as Chuki did. =)

Saturday we left for Cotopaxi. Now planning a trip to Cotopaxi was kind of a mystery for me. Everything is very hard to decipher here in Ecuador and very few things are straight forward. So we knew we wanted to go to Cotopaxi and hike to the glacier.

As a preface, Cotopaxi is the highest active volcano in the world. Usually it has a very pronounced white glacier at the top, with very dark volcanic sand from the glacier to the bottom of the mountain. wikipedia it if you want more info, for some reason I can´t paste the link here.

So we had arranged with the hostel we were staying at for someone to pick us up at our apartment and drive us (me, Ryan, Elliott and Chuki) to the hostel. The ride was decent. As you can imagine the mountain roads are less then par. I was pretty sure Ryan was going to puke a couple of times. Chuki, on the other hand loved it. He rode most of the way with his head out of the window.

We got there and it was super overcast so we could see no mountain. We figured tomorrow would be better. But basically the long and the short of it is that the whole time we were there we only saw glimpses of this HUGE mountain because the weather was so overcast.

Anyways, the next day we hiked to the glacier, almost (we were about 50 feet short). The snow started coming down about half way up to the glacier and by the time we got to the glacier it was soo icy and the snow was coming down sideways that it was too dangerous to go any farther. Anyways, it was still really HARD and really FUN! We saw two foxes like within 15 feet of us, cool.

I was really proud of Elliott because people that have lived in Quito and acclimatized find hiking to the glacier too hard, but Elliott after one day at 10000 feet was able to do it! I believe he said it was the hardest thing he´s ever done, but don´t quote me.

The next day Elliott and I went horseback riding to the top of another mountain called Ruminahui. It was... long, 6 hours to be exact and Elliott was riding, what seemed to be, a pony, that was very very hungry. We were almost done and this storm just rolled in. Lightning struck right in front of us and it started hailing. As you can imagine, the horses started gallopping, like crazy. And there´s Elliott, one arm in a cast and can only hold on with one hand on a flying and very scared horse. Lets just say, we were glad when we finally got off, even though we were soaked.

The hostal was amazing! A perfect place for Elliott to stay in his first hostel at. I think he really had fun and enjoyed the freedom of travelling without Mom and Dad in a place with young people. All in all we had a great time.

Chuki probably had the most fun of everyone. There were four other dogs there. 2 dalmatians and 2 weiners (Maria Jose you would have died!). Plus they had a TON of land. Chuki would just run around with the other dogs all day. We didn´t have him on a leash at all. In fact, when we went to Cotopaxi we left him at the hostal with all of the other dogs.

All in all, it was a great trip for everyone. Pictures to follow.

Miss you all!

MULUB,
Taylor

We´re terrible, we know

So after my we´re back post, we weren´t. But hopefully we are now... no promises.

We sent mom and Elliott to the airport this morning. After having people continuously at the house for the last 2.5 - 3 months (with 2 more weeks to go), it was bittersweet to see them go. We had a blast, an absolute blast, I am proud to report. It was great to spend so much time with Elliott. We haven´t done that in, well, ever. I think he had a bit of fun too. And having my mom and dad here was like a suspension of reality. All of the things that we usually worry about, bills, food, enetertainment at a good price, travelling and being able to afford it, seemed to magically be taken care of. It was a HUGE sigh of relief.

We have a full kitchen, an even fuller apartment, and lots of happy memories from this trip. Having them here made us SO excited about them flying us home at Christmas time and being able to spend all of that time with them on vacation. SO EXCITED!

More about their trip when I´m at a better computer!

In other news, Chuki spent his first nights away from us (excluding the hospital) when mom, Elliott, Ryan and I went to the coast. We were gone Wednesday night till Sunday night and I´m proud to report that he did great! Sebas, our friend that watched him, and his family used to have two boxers. So it was a win win situation. Sebas´s and his family got to have a puppy in the house (well in the yard) and we got to go away. Although, we wished we could have taken him because the hostel we stayed at had 4 dogs that Chukes would have loved to play with.

Anyways, despite all the AMAZING meals that we had and the stock pile of cash that we´ve created, Ryan and I were back to soup today. We were sitting at the kitchen table, trying to decide what to add to the ¨Wish List¨ (a list we created of things we need for the apt. that people who stay with us can buy instead of paying us ´rent´.) Anyways, as you can imagine, a lot of those things were purchased by my parents! Including the can opener and the pepper grinder, which we are extremely happy about! We both said, ít feels good to be back to soup´. Weird? Maybe. But its our routine, and its good to be back to it.

Anywho, more later. I promise. I just dropped off 41 lbs of dirty laundry to be washed. See the beauty of soup is, if we eat soup we dont have to scrub the 41 lbs of laundry. Oh the trade offs of life.

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. I must say it was weird, having the day come and go without a single fire work, flag, or friends around! We miss you all and can´t wait to see you at Christmas time.

MULUB,
Taylor

Long time, No chat

Hello Everyone!

Sorry for not writing anything in a really long time. We haven't really had internet at all. But now if we open the window and point our computer across the street, sometimes we are able to steal it from someone.

Anyways heres just a brief update:

We're in the new apartment! It's AMAZING! We absolutely love it. We're paying more in rent, which has made for a REALLY tough month, but its sooo worth it. The view is worth the $100! Plus we have a pool and a BBQ and a playground area. And on top of that we have a 24 hour guard and two maintenance men who will do just about anything that we need help with, plus add a little creepy in for free!

Since the last post, I believe Chuki has eaten a pair of underwear, two socks, 22 rocks, and a variety of other things. He ate just about everything of Maria Jose's, except her two passports! He spent one night in the hospital for the underwear and he's been on a chicken and rice diet for about 8 days. Other than that... he's great. We've been taking him to the park more and more to meet other dogs. He is just about fully house trained. He's only had one accident that I can remember. He's got sit, stay, shake, lie down perfectly. We're working on drop it and this weird jumping thing that Ryan does with him so it looks like they're dancing (Ryan's idea, not mine).

What else? Maria Jose stayed with us for a week, which was AMAZING! We loved having her here. We're getting ready to have another house guest for the next two weeks. Her name is Caitlin and she's also an inlingua teacher. We're looking forward to spending time with her before she leaves us.

Classes are going well. I'm teaching this kids class that's way out in the middle of nowhere! But its the closest thing to babysitting as I'm going to get for now. Ryan has had 2 slow weeks, as most of his classes finished their books at the same time. But June should be a good month for us.

We're anxiously awaiting the arrival of... my family. My brother gets here June 17 and my Mom and Dad get here on June 22. We'll be doing a lot of traveling... all with Chuki hopefully! So that will be a lot of fun!

Other than that we've just been lying low. Did I mention we had to furnish this apartment? So far we've bought a couch that pulls out to a bed, a guest bed, a dresser for our guests, 5 kitchen chairs, 4 outside chairs, an outside table, a refrigerator and a stove. Plus misc other things that you need to move. We're going to pick up our bed, 2 night stands, a kitchen table, a toaster oven, a desk, and a mirror this Sunday. So like I said, it's been a tight month for us! But it's certainly inspired a lot of creativity! Did you know you can make about 10 meals out of one chicken? We're really thankful that fruits and veggies are so cheap here. We've had some variation of beans, rice, and veggies countless times. Ryan has taught himself how to bake bread, which is delicious! And we can both butcher a whole chicken pretty well!

That's about it! Hope all is well back home. I can't believe it's June tomorrow! Thats just crazy! Oh and Happy Memorial Day!

MULUB,

Taylor

PS. We have a new address. It's N33-95 Gonzalez Suarez y Bosmediano (Bellavista) Quito, Ecuador. If anyone wants to send us anything... WE LOVE MAIL!

New Place

Hello Everyone!

We've got a new place! WOO HOO! If anyone has sent mail in the last week or two, please let us know so that we can ask for it. Otherwise hold off on any mail until we confirm the new address!

MULUB,

Taylor

Decisions Decisions

We should have a decision on a place by tomorrow morning. We found a second place that I like equally as much as the first place. Although it doesn't have a pool, it does have a garden and a terrace big enough to put a pool on.

We're waiting on place number one to tell us if they have sold it. This will happen tonight and they'll call tomorrow.

We're waiting on place number two to tell us if the building permits dogs. The owners of the condo permit Chuki, but they're not sure about the whole building. We'll call them today when Ryan gets back from class.

So either we can have 2 great places on the table, one place and the decision will be made, or potentially no places.

Ahh the joys of apartment searching in Ecuador!

MULUB,

Taylor

The Week from you know where

As of yesterday...

So we got kicked out of the apartment and I began looking for the next perfect place. We finally found it, went to sign the papers on it and the owner sold it while we were waiting for her to show up. I now understand how it feels when someone looses a house that they really wanted.

In addition to all of this, Ryan's been sick. We're talking diarrhea since Sunday morning. I feel like I'm getting the flu and Chuki had an allergic reaction to something yesterday that scared me half to death. All of a sudden his eyes started to swell shut and his lips got like 3x the size they usually are and he broke out in hives all over his body. I was trying to take a nap but he was running around like a crazy dog trying to scratch his whole body at once, when I noticed and we rushed to the vet. Anyways, they gave his a shot of antihistamine, and he has 6 more pills to take over the next two days.

PLUS - the house is a mess, almost every dish is dirty, we have no clean clothes, we're out of water and all we have in the fridge is food for Chuki.

Sometimes being an adult is too much hard work. Who plays mom when everyone is sick?

As of today...

We've remedied some of these things. Ryan is feeling a lot better and Chuki isn't all swollen anymore. He is sleeping a lot because of the antihistamine, which is actually quite nice.

I took all of the towels to the lavanderia.

I went to the grocery and we now have a happy balance between people food and puppy food in the fridge.

We boiled water last night so we have 2 full jugs now.

The best part of it all is that Ryan has agreed to be in charge of the dishes... FOREVER! In order to understand what a huge blessing that is, you have to know how much I HATE doing dishes. I'd do just about anything else... clean up poop, hand scrub laundry, clean toilets, anything.

So all in all things are looking up. AND Maria Jose and I are going for a walk in Bellavista today to look for more great apartments with a beautiful view for under $500! Wish us luck.

MULUB,

Taylor

On and On and On and On

So yesterday, I continued the search for the perfect apartment! I saw 6 in total. All were dog friendly and all (but one) were in the area that we want to be in.

Two of them were these uber modern one bedroom (which they call suites here). We're talking brand new appliances and granite counter tops with stainless steel. Of course, they didnt have refrigerators (none of the apts do). They were both fine in size... not huge but not tiny. They might feel a little small when Chuki gets bigger. One had a patio, one didnt. Of course the one w the patio was a little bit further and the one w/o was across the street from Megamaxi!

I also saw a house, a very big house, that was converted into 3 apts. It was really big, had a weird layout and the owners lived downstairs. So that was out!

Then we saw a really nice 3 bedroom for really cheap but it was really far away... OUT.

The one that were leaning towards is about a 10 - 15 minute walk to Inlingua but closer towards Ryan's other classes. Its one bedroom but HUGE. It was a great long terrace with a beautiful view! A big kitchen and 3 bathrooms. Plus it has a laundry room of sorts with a doggy door that would be perfect for Chuki when we're gone. The only downside is it's a little more that we were looking to spend. Another thing... it has a pool and a sauna and a yard with a playground and a big bbq for everyone to use!

Entonces, we're hopefully going to make a decision today or tomorrow. And we'll let everyone know!

MULUB,

Taylor