Old Habits

We recently had a southbound C-17, which meant
that we received Freshies. On the way out of
the Galley, I spied bananas. I'm not a huge
fruit consumer, but I do like bananas, apples
oranges and grapes so I look out for them. I
went over to the bananas and the first thing I
did was look at the sticker. Where was it from?
ECUADOR the label said. So I grabbed two! Why
so fussy? Well, Lynn and I got into the habit
of eating delicious Ecuador bananas when we
lived there last summer and when we came back to
the States, we only bought bananas from Ecuador.
None of those "nasty" Guatamalan bananas! Would
I have left these bananas in the bowl if they
weren't my favorites? You bet!

Home Again, Home Again

Jiggity Jig. A long day of flying and several airports later,
we are back in Grand Junction. At least for a few days.
You would think that our stay in Ecuador would have been
hot, but being at over 9000 feet, it was relatively cool.
When we landed at the airport here at home, it was
99 degrees!

25 For A Dollar

Today we were walking home from the store down Calle Portugal
when Lynn stopped by the small flower stand that sets up
there every day. All of the flowers smelled wonderful of course,
but there was a big sign posted, "25 por un dollar". 25 long
stemmed roses for 1 dollar? What's the catch? The only catch
is that they were a day old. I don't think you can get 1 long
stemmed rose in the States for $1 let alone 25 and they're in
just as good of shape as any you'd find in an average florist shop.
Ecuador is a major exporter of roses and small shops like these
are a local purveyor to those that live here. Our apartment
now smells fantasticl...thanks to cheap (in price only) roses.

Peeing in Public

We've been here for almost three months and I still can't
get over the fact of how many people pee alongside the
road here in Quito. I mean, not even discreetly hiding
behind a tree or pole. Just pulling over to the side of the
street, whipping it out and going. This habit so far does
not cross all genders as I haven't seen a woman do it (yet),
but while walking home from the store today on a VERY
busy intersection across from a mall and in a park, only 2
feet from a sidewalk, I saw it again. This time a double
peeing incident as a mother (I have to assume) was helping
her two young sons "water" the grass. In the middle of a
woods, along a deserted highway, in the middle of the
night...maybe. At 5:45PM on a busy street across from a
mall? Maybe not so much...but hey that's me. This is one
case where I will not follow the adage...When in Rome...

Paint it Mozzarella!

Henry Ford once said, "Any customer can have a car painted any colour
that he wants so long as it is black".

In the country of Ecuador, you can have any cheese you want...as long
as it is Mozzarella! I would challenge almost any supermarket
in the United States to have more cheese than those markets in Ecuador.
Walk into the store and you're faced with the Great Wall of Cheese!
Even those cheeses that "aren't" mozzarella, still have the consistency
and taste of it. Don't get me wrong. I like Mozzarella. I just don't
like it as much as Ecuadorans do. And they seem to like it...a lot!

Chicos y Chicas

The Bug-Mobile

Living across from Parque de Carolina, we see all kinds of families
gathered every weekend in the park. One of my favorite things
about the park itself is the "Bug-Mobile" that cruises around the
perimeter of the park on Saturdays and Sundays, taking small
children and their parents for rides, usually with some Barney-esque
type music playing full blast. This is one of the few times I wish I
had kids as I'd love to take a ride, but I think we'd get weird looks
if we tried. Oh...it also comes in red!

Feliz 4 de Julio?

Every July 4th in my life I have spent the holiday either
in America or at least "with" 100+ Americans in a remote
place. This year, Lynn and I are spending the day with
several million people who know the day as...Saturday.
Yes, a bit underwhelming and definitely nothing to get
excited about. At least in Ecuador. All throughout Quito
you see streets named after important days in Ecuador's
history. Avenida 6 de Diciembre (The city of Quito is founded by
Spanish settlers led by Sebastián de Belalcázar) or Avenida
10 de Agosto ( Quito declares independence from Spain).
These are obviously red letter dates here in Ecuador. You
can even find a Avenida Kennedy here, referring to President
Kennedy. But...no Avenida 4 de Julio. Maybe I should just
be here in Quito with all the revelers on December 6th or
on August 10th. On a bright note however, someone was
launching fireworks in the Parque de Carolina after 10pm.
Either some expat Americans were taking matters into their
own hands to celebrate, or it was just Ecuadorans getting the
early jump on the the August 10th holiday. I'll start looking
in the stores for all of the holiday sales.

Above Old Town Quito

We took our friend Leza out to dinner for her birthday at Cafe Mosaico,
high above El Centro Historico, and had an awesome view!

The Mindo Cloud Forest

According to Wikipedia: A cloud forest, also called a fog forest, is a
generally tropical or subtropical evergreen montane moist forest
characterized by a high incidence of low-level cloud cover, usually
at the canopy level.

We rode a couple hours north of Quito to visit the Mindo Cloud Forest
and were definitely not disappointed. It's a large jungle area that
comprised entirely of forest. The whole day the clouds weren't much
higher than the tree tops.


The entire forest was very lush and dense.


We saw some very exotic looking plants.


All kinds of hummingbirds. Many of which I've never seen before.


This one was nice enough to sit still for the camera.


All kinds of butterflies as well.


There were dozens of these beauties that looked very plain and
brown on one side but a really pretty blue on the other.


These little guys were everywhere.


I was really surprised to see Monarchs as well


The locals kept an eye on us as we explored including this little
boy playing at a local school.


The town of Mindo is pretty small...basically one main street.


We ate at this really good restaurant called Cakaffesu that
served possibly the best food we've had in Ecuador. It's owned
by an American woman and her Ecuadoran husband. She was
quite pleasant and chatted with us for a while.

Centro Historico de Quito