Quito- the capital of Ecuador

View from our bedroom window in the hostal.

National museum- Incan replicas

Ice cream made in that bowl out of pure fruit juice. Helado de paila!!

Otavalo, Ecuador

This is a women in the market wearing the traditional clothing of the people in this region of country.

Michelle trying on a sweater made from an Alpaca.

Inside the hostal where we ate dinner, it was raining outside and they built a fire, it was heaven.

Quinoa soup & we all ordered the stuffed green peppers... Everything was delish.

Middle of the world monument

Michelle is standing on one side of the equator and I'm on the other... So cool!

Jorge and I trying to take the same picture but the wind was crazy

At the equator you are supposed to be able to balance an egg on a nail. This guy could do it for a few seconds and then the wind would knock it off.

Giving the egg challenge a try... I couldn't do it.

Chocolate tour- Mindo, Ecuador

After the fruit comes off the tree they take out the seeds to dry.(guy in white shirt is tour guide)

Trying the inside of the dry seed... Bitter

Tasting the chocolate w/ some different flavors.

Brownies w/ pure chocolate :)

On the road again...

Banana plantation 

Drying chocolate seeds on the road

Eating guayaba

Sisters are the best

Family BBQ at the beach house

The fish stalls on the beach

Punta Blanca, Ecuador

Michelle's Here... Yea!!!

Michelle is visiting and it's been SO much fun. I love my family!!!

Getting ready for our garden... :)

It's hot!!!

This was Stella after our walk today and she didn't even do the walking...

Stake Conference & saying goodby...

Today was Our stake conference and it was packed. The whole overflow, the stage and all the classrooms... The church is alive and well in Ecuador. 

After Stake conference we spent the rest of the afternoon with family. Andrea, Jorge's sister and her boys leave to return home to Florida. We will miss them. 

Our new clubhouse area... Let the fun times begin

Visa paperwork: done

Yesterday Jorge checked on the last document that we needed for my visa and it had arrived at the government office. He was able to retrieve it and today we turned in all the paperwork. We have to return in a couple weeks to see if the Visa was granted. Here's to hoping they let me stay...

The bldg in the background is the government office where we turned in our paperwork.

Inside the bldg, happy to be done!

Stella's little maternal instincts

She's got her baby all buckled into her carrier and she's going out to the car. I love it!!!

A mild obsession ;)

Stella coincidentally got a Yo Gabba, Gabba DVD set from one grandma and a yo Gabba Gabba tshirt from the other this year for Christmas and overnight she has become a super fan. She carries the shirt around all the time and asks to watch the DVD too... She's too young for this kind of obsession. Is this normal?

This guy was hanging out in the road today...he's huge.

Shoes

Stella loves these little pair of shoes. She carries them around w/ her along w/ her Yo Gabba Gabba tshirt that she got for Christmas. Last night I let her take her Gabba shirt to bed but I didn't realize whAt she was taking to bed tonight...

Birthday wishes & visits

Thank you everyone for making my birthday so special. Les Amo!

Broken washing machine :(

Today our washing machine officially gave up... It's kind of always been on its last leg but I think that it gave out today. Because it died before the spin cycle I had to ring all the clothes out and hang them to dry and then empty

all the water. I'm not sure what we are going to do now... :'(

Gymboree

We went to a free class today at Gymboree and Stella loved it.

Airport trip

Stella loving the fish in the ponds at the airport. We didn't end up going anywhere, we almost did but we weren't able to catch the flight we wanted...maybe tomorrow.

Getting my visa...

This is poor Stella standing outside another office waiting for one of us to fill out more paperwork. I'm trying to get another visa because my tourist visa expires in February and for some reason there's always one more thing we need to do or another document we need to get... It's a little frustrating.

Local food

Today Stella tried fried yuca w/ a cheesy center and loved it. In the picture below she is eating a plantain that is mashed and then they add cheese. Then it's molded into the shape of a ball and fried. She seemed to like that too. The other pic is her cousin Joshua eating an Empanada... One of my personal favorites.