Day 47 – Cuy (pronounced kwee) finally did it!

…but first, the ministry. We had a really good day today preaching in the Quebrada (near the house). We stopped to visit a woman named Erlinda, but only found her husband. We had a nice conversation with him and then his daughter, Nancy, came out. So, we set up to come back at 4pm to continue the conversation/study Erik had with her on Friday. She wanted to know why God permits suffering.

We had our second study with Flor (last week we couldn’t because of Carnaval). But today we continued in the first chapter under the subheading, “Is God uncaring or hardhearted?”  She really takes an interest and seems very sincere. She told us that she was surprised about hearing that so many Jehovah’s Witnesses died in that bus crash near Quito. She thought that since they were good people and were doing the lord’s work that they would be protected. We helped her to reason that that isn’t how things work. That bad things can happen to anyone and “time and unforeseen occurrence befall us all”. It made sense to her.

We went to visit Merci but she wasn’t home, arrrgg – almost a perfect morning. We were disappointed mostly because she’s a really good study (and a little bit because it was rainy & “chilly”-yes, I said it. I had goose bumps). We went home around 11:00 and wrote some letters that we want to leave tomorrow in Guadalupe. For lunch we had pasta with homemade sauce. Ryan made it and it was very good. Shawn made juice from banana, mango, membrillo and oranges. We were stuffed and took a nap for about an hour. At 3:30 we visited Nancy and had the joy of studying with her, her father and her aunt. We were there for an hour and a half. Her aunt asked if she could come for the next study also and we said “no way!” Kidding! Next Tuesday at 4:00. We went back to see Merci and studied with her for 30 minutes…

…which brings us to the title of today’s blog. We were invited over to Elmer and Monica Ordoñez’ house for dinner. They have a farm. No, they don’t raise pigs or cows. Neither chickens nor Turkeys. They own a cuy farm. That sounds very innocent, doesn’t it? But, as some of you may already know Americans have a very different relationship with cuy than do our friends to the south. We buy cuy for our kids, not to eat but rather to stick in a cage lined on the bottom with shredded paper. I know what you're thinking-they ate hamsters! Savages! Hey, chill out. wouldn't eat hamsters. Cuy are guinea pigs. Mmmmm, tastes like chicken (doesn't everything?) We enjoyed it immensely. It was roasted and served with rice, salad and potatos. It is a little greasy, but not bad. I'm really glad we tried it because it is seen here as a delicacy and we are very appreciative that they were so hospitable. We know you don't have taste-a-vision but at least you can enjoy the pictures. 

I think Leah did pretty good, but still got harassed for leaving so much meat
on the bones-when you see Ryan's plate you'll uderstand why

This looks like guinea pig paw cuz it is guinea pig paw.
And he ate them both.

It's like Ryan isn't sure if he'll ever eat again.

My plate was awesome. You must admit, it is a
beautifully cooked rodent.

Elmer also opined that the rodent(s) of unusual size are probably "guanchacas". That's right opossum. In our humble opinion, judging from the sounds, this guanchaca takes HGH and wears a suit of armor. We aren't convinced we know his true identity, but don't worry...when he crashes through the ceiling and onto our bed, we'll just ask.

Day 46 - Really, we don't eat all the time!

We’ve heard that some people think we are eating all the time – we couldn’t disagree more-but for those who think so, well today won’t help our cause. It’s not that we ate that much it’s just that we didn’t do much else. It’s Monday – what do you want from us?

For breakfast, Ryan and Veronica made Yucca, boiled and sautéed with onions, green peppers and peanut butter and a fried egg on top. It was very good. Then for lunch Leah and I made a salad consisting of tomatoes, onions, cilantro, carrots, radishes and cucumbers and fresh lime juice, vinegar and olive oil. We also made patacones (remember, they are green plantains fried in oil, crushed into patties and then fried a second time and salted) and Shawn made maduros (ripe plantains fried and lightly salted) and for a second dessert, Papaya.

We did manage to squeeze in a workout, a walk, family worship and a friendly game of ping pong (Leah is improving). We rounded out the evening with coffee/tea and bread pudding (awesome), popcorn and cheese and crackers (dinners are often potluck around here).

This was delicious and sweet! The skin makes a perfect bowl.

Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit): Ecuadorian pitahayas are bumpy yellow fruit (in other parts of the world they are red or pink) that grow on a species of tree cactus. The skin is not eaten: instead it is cut open to reveal the pulp, which is semi-transparent, grayish and full of tiny black seeds. Eating one is a little like eating a kiwi. The fruit is sweet and mild and is usually eaten raw and fresh although it also makes good juice. It also has mild laxative properties.

Day 45-What on earth is in the ceiling!?!?

Well, we made it to day 45, the symbolic equator of our time here at the Equator. Ann Marie Cruz said that the first couple weeks would go by really slowly and after that time would fly. She nailed it. That is exactly what is happening.

Sundays never feel like Sunday. Nor do they feel like any other day of the week. That actually happens a lot down here. The days are identified by which town we will be preaching in or if we have a meeting. When you are so used to a certain schedule for so long it is really hard to make the adjustment. You didn’t think I was serious, did you? The schedule is awesome! We had a really enjoyable time in the ministry today. Marisol was not there for her study because she had to travel to another town for a couple of days for a Teacher’s Conference. We visited her aunt, Sandra, who attends meetings regularly with her 2 children, Johan and Maria. It’s so cool running into a Johan. I told him that was my middle name and he looked at me as if to wonder “how did you get a Spanish middle name?” What most of you don’t realize is that my parents were going to name me Johan Erik but my cousin Johan was born a few months before me. Another Sillen family fact: Kurt’s middle name is Eric, Paul’s middle name is Eric (both with a “C”). Wrap your brain around that one. Anyway, back to the ministry. We studied with a young girl named Evelyn this morning. She is on page 39 of the “Bible Teach” book. While we were studying with her a drunk guy came up and mumbled something that we couldn’t understand. Perhaps he was saying “it’s 12 o’clock somewhere” ‘cuz it was only 9:00 a.m. and he was already pickled. Speaking of pickles…

We went to the market in Zamora today to get produce. We spent $19.25 and got:

·         Bunch of Radishes

·         Bunch of Cilantro

·         ½ lb Garlic

·         4 lbs Sweet Potatoes

·         6 lbs Potatos

·         3 lbs Tomatos

·         2 Large Leaks

·         1 lb Mellocos

·         4 lbs Beets

·         5 lbs Carrots

·         2 Papayas

·         3 Mangos

·         3 Avacados

·         4 Zapotes (Tastes like a cross between pumpkin and melon with texture of a stringy mango.  Leah and Lynnie are rubbing off on me-too many details!)

·         20 Oranges

·         12 Apples

·         25 Limes

·         1 Head Red Cabbage (Mom used to make the most delicious red cabbage with bacon and onions. That’s what I had in mind when I bought it)

·         1 lb Green Beans

·         1 lb Strawberries

.....we got totally ripped off!

Our neighbor-eats like a cow!

On the way home we went up to a Hosteria nearby. It is situated pretty high above the valley and has really nice views and an infinity pool. I hope you aren’t getting sick of seeing the mountains. It was really hot today so we sat outside and had a cold “Club verde” and did some reading and caught some rays-that’s how really old guys say “sat out in the sun”. We ended up walking into town to get coffee and Leah managed to spot a place that sells fresh bread and pastry right around the corner from the house. There was no sign and you had to squint to see anything but a normal house. But, she is Jim Fedele’s daughter and if anyone has trained his children to be able to find good food wherever it might be hidden, it’s Jim. We bought 6 Pan dulce and 6 Pan de manjar for a whopping grand total of $1.80. Who knew that 7 people could go into a carb coma for under $2.00. When we got home we had fresh Tamales that get delivered to our house every Sunday. We ordered 21. I had mine with 2 fried eggs and covered with fresh “aji” (Ecuadorean hot sauce).  We had some bread and Shawn made a bread pudding for tomorrow.

As I am writing this blog, Leah is next to me reading a book that I started yesterday. I woke up this morning at 6:00 to read some more, not because I couldn’t wait to pick up the book but because the tenant upstairs was making so much racket. What’s that you say-you thought this was a single level home? It is. Without exaggerating-there is an animal living in the attack that has to weigh-I am not kidding-30 lbs. It could be bigger. We think he is living off bats because there really aren’t many bats around anymore. It seems he climbs the wall outside-I say that because we just heard him climb the wall outside-and then he went nuts up there! The attics here are wide open to let the house breathe. Nobody has any idea what it is (“rodents of unusual size”) but we are quite sure he is on the brute squad…or maybe “he is the brute squad”. We will look into this further and update you in the future. Well, we have enjoyed sharing our life with you all over the past 45 days and hope you have enjoyed it as well. I hope you enjpy the pix of the bread pudding. We'll send you pix of the empty dish tomorrow!     XXXOOO

Day 44 – ¡Maduros y mas maduros!

We must have been tired last night because we didn’t hear the chancho but he was surely dead this morning. I wanted to work on the special talk so we spent the morning cleaning the house and then I went outside to work on the talk (no sunblock again-yes, I burned) and Leah made lunch. A real Ecuadorian meal all by herself (well, I cooked the maduros).  We have tons of them and they ripen super quickly here, but we could eat ourselves sick on them.  Ensalada de sardinas (sardines, tomatoes, onions, cilantro and lime juice), arroz and maduros.

It was a pretty uneventful day but really relaxing. We studied our Watchtower, took a nap and then worked out for an hour. It would be really cool if I actually looked like I work out. Robin made chili today which had all of us really stoked after the meeting. We cleaned the hall really fast so that we could race home to eat it. A bowl (or 3) of chili and a cold brew-¡fabuloso!

Diana, Maria Ester y my honey.

The meeting was really great-especially the Watchtower study. The 3 articles on the holy spirit have been great for everyone, and especially for the many studies that attend. There were 15 that attended again tonight! And most of them participated. It seems like there is a lot of potential for growth here.

Well, sorry but like I said it was somewhat uneventful today. I’ll try to do better tomorrow. It’s tough to type with so much chili in my belly J

Day 43 – “Why did you have to go looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in the [house] of empanadas?”

Erik didn’t hear a thing but I slept really bad last night (no, not because of the chanchos). This time it was the cows. They were in the field behind our house and they whined/cried on and off all night.  Someone said they do that when they are full of milk and need to be milked. I don’t know the reason but it made sleeping difficult.  We slept in til 8:30 - normally we are up by 7am, we meet for service at 8:30 every day including Saturday and Sunday.  But today we don’t go out until 2pm and then stay out til the evening. We got to Skype with the Heiberger family, which was a nice treat. 

I don't think we've posted a pic of this yet, but everyone here
walks around with machete (it's hard to see in his hand).

View of the river and mountains working territory in town

I didn’t find my two studies, so we ended up working a lot of door-to-door in Cumbaratza.

 I worked with Robin and Rosa (an older sister who recently got surgery on her eyes). Robin did good with her presentation and then we just finish for her.  It’s a somewhat tough territory because it gets preached pretty throroughly every week.

I'm not saying anything about the territory, we just happened
upon him while we were working in town.

The people definitely know who we are.  But many have responded because they have several very progressive studies here in town that attend meetings regularly.  For instance, last night of the 40 people there, 10 were studies. That's a pretty good percentage.

Erik went with Adrian, one of the young brothers and they had some good calls working the main street. I didn’t see him for hours and when I asked one of the brothers he pointed me to the corner on main street where the woman sells empanadas de verde (made with green plantains and filled with chicken and veggies). The homemade aji she does with lime juice, onions, cilantro and hot peppers is the best! I should have known where to find him (Luke 2:49). I can’t say that I blame him; they are delicious and where else can you get dinner for two for $2.75 (he had 3, I had 2 and he had a piece of fried dough with sugar )?

View as we were walking home. The sun was setting and hitting
the water and the mountains.

We walked home from Cumbaratza to try a return visit near the house. The mom, Erlinda, wasn’t home but her daughter, Nancy, was. Erik & Adrian had a really nice conversation with her while I kept the kids busy reading stories out of their Bible Stories and Great Teacher books.

We had homemade brownies with Kaufe (that’s not Spanish for coffee, this is a decaf concoction of natural ingredients that tastes somewhat like coffee). I kind of like it, this was Erik’s first time.

Day 42 - Nothin' like a carb fest before bed

We met for service in Santa Rosa- just the four of us (Robin, Shawn, Erik & I). We tried some of my calls, but didn’t have a lot of success finding people at home. We didn’t find Alexandra (her daughter got hit by a car and left on the side of the road for ½ hour) home either bc her niece told me her daughter’s condition worsened and she had to go move her to the hospital an hour away in Loja. But not by ambulance, she has to move her herself on the bus – really great ,huh?

View from on the hill. See Shawn & Robin at the Green house?

We did a couple houses that you have to hike way up the steep hill (like 80 steps). One was not at home, the other one the woman wasn’t interested and we were like totally out of breath thinking "are u sure ur not interested?" Do you not realize we just hiked up this huge hill? – She didn’t seem to care, didn't take pity on us gasping gringos. So down we went, but the view was beautiful and we saw Shawn & Robin at the green house down below.

View from the hill of the town of Timbara. The green house
where Robin and Shawn are is in the middle under the
powerline.

On the way home we did some calls in Cumbaratza (so Erik could try again to find Yolanda). Still unsuccessful but her daughter said she’d be home by 2. We stopped by my study Merci in the Quebrada (near our house). She had gone to the doctor yesterday and wasn’t home for her study. Today she was feeling better and wanted to study with us even though she was studying for a Biology test she had later. She’s a really good study, very sincere. We studied about how Jehovah cares about us and has a personal name. Her Bible uses the name Yave and we explained that was the equivalent of Jehova in Hebrew. That seemed like a new thing for her that she found interesting.

For lunch, Veronica y Ryan made menestra de verde y arroz. Very yummy! The Vivancos had given us a huge bunch of plantains, some verde and some maduros that we need to eat. They ripen incredibly quick here. Fortunately, everyone likes them.

The switch on the fan broke so we spent a good part of the afternoon fixing it. But when Erik left at 2 for his haircut I was determined to figure it out seeing as I had properly diagnosed the problem with Aaron’s 4 wheel drive. I did figure it out but I had mixed up the wires so it had only 2 speeds instead of 3 and 2 off positions. But when Erik got home from his $2.50 haircut (it didn’t look like that –that’s really the price) he adjusted the wires and we were back in business.

Little Damaris Romero had a talk on the school. Her setting was talking to her Bible study on the phone and she did extremely well. Especially considering she had to juggle the phone and hold the microphone while trying to find scriptures. Afterward, everyone helped sweep and mop like usual, including Maite y Don Israel.

After meeting we were starving – of course! The choices were limited so Erik & I decided to make mac and cheese. They have something here called yucca starch (they make bread out of it that’s delicious by the way). I use it like corn starch. It works even better than flour. It thickens almost instantly and mixed with some mozzarella and gouda, a little garlic powder, nutmeg & milk it turned out pretty yummy. We even made some buttery, breadcrumbs with parm cheese for on top.  Ryan was worried it wouldn’t be enough so he cooked up some potatoes with garlic that he put on top of his mac and cheese. Oh well, can you really have too many carbs?

On a sad note, some of you may have heard about the bus crash in the northern part of Ecuador on Sunday.  From what we have heard there were 16 of our brothers and sisters from Ibarra on the bus headed to Lita to preach, 7 were killed and not sure how many injured. There are 29 so far that have died & 26 injured. Don't quote me on these numbers, they r from the internet, not the society.

Day 41 - Someone has ants in her pantalones!

We went in service in the morning in Namirez. We had 9 of us which was a really good group. Erik & I worked together and did a lot of Erik’s RV’s. I think we found 4 of them home, plus lots of animals too.

Why did Leah put this picture next to the paragraph about me?
 Is she calling me a...? I'm glad I edit these things.

Erik has been trying to get his haircut for over a week now. It’s not as easy as you think. Everyone cuts their family’s hair and none of the wives were eager to try out their skills on Erik (or maybe it was the other way around.) There’s a place in Zamora about 10-15 minutes away but Ryan says she uses dull scissors that rip your hair out. In Cumbaratza there’s a name of a woman that keeps coming up, Yolanda, but of course she has no sign because she does it on the side. So around noon we asked the Vivancos if they could drop us off in town to find Yolanda and then we could walk home. But after asking at 2 different places Victor thought was correct and finding a different Yolanda and a NH at the other Victor took us home. It’s been 5 weeks since his last haircut and he’s getting pretty anxious. Shawn only has a really short guard on his clippers but if Erik can’t figure this out soon he may just shave it all off-Yikes!

We met for service in the afternoon in Santa Rosa and the sky started clouding up nicely (of course –because every time we work in this area it rains. I’m not kidding). Sure enough by 5:15 the sky was black and 2 bolts of lightning shot down and then a super loud roar of thunder (that's not really normal here - rain yes, thunder/lightning no). Fortunately, Veronica and I were under a roof waiting for her study to get home from work. She never got home but a man delivering something to the store across the street noticed us and came over to ask for the magazines. Turns out he lives a few hours away in Vilcabamba and studies with a brother there.

Erik, Robin & Diana also were on a study for the torrential rain so they didn’t get soaked either. But Robin didn’t exactly have everything go her way. Although she did well with her presentations, while Erik was speaking with a gentleman, she happened to look down after a bit of discomfort. Much to her chagrin, she had been standing on an anthill and had angered the “neighborhood”. They were all over her feet biting her but by the time she realized it was too late. Pobrecita! When the Bible says “Go to the ant”, it doesn’t mean dance on their house when you get there.  Erik had another run in with the police-but this time it was his fault. He was preaching the block where the police station was. He walked in and 3 policemen (maybe the same ones) were at a table playing cards. He began his presentation this way: “I can see you are involved in official business, so I’ll be brief” (Not exactly out of the Reasoning book). They accepted the magazines but never cracked a smile.

I was a little worried about the house flooding with all the rain, but we had left Jim home to “guard”-Poor Jim.  It did flood and worse than last time. I’m not sure how long he had been mopping and dumping buckets. He said by the time he took one of the big buckets out to dump and came back inside the other one was overflowing. Incredible! We spent the rest of the night sweeping/mopping and drying our room. Couldn’t wait to go to sleep.

Day 40 - Podocarpus

We took advantage of a beautiful, sunny day (and the last day of Carnaval) to visit Podocarpus, a National Park about 25 minutes from our house. Podocarpus is the name of a local tree. They grow to about 160’ tall, and up to 9’ across at the base. They also live about 800 years, given, of course, that they eat right and do moderate exercise. According to one of the park workers, the park is home to more than 4,000 different varieties of trees and over 2,000 varieties of orchids. Unfortunately, the majority bloom from April-November. We did catch a few, however.

Recent heavy rains caused a “derrumbe” and the road entering the park was completely washed away.  So, we parked about 30 walking minutes away and made the hike to the park entrance. 

Fortunately (or perhaps, unfortunately) for Jim, the park rangers had a dirt bike and offered Jim a ride to the entrance. It was a pretty scary ride-no guardrails, lots of tree roots and a shear drop off the sides. We found him waiting for us near the entrance looking cool as a “pepino”. 

The park has a lot of rare birds as well as an incredible variety of butterflies in every shape, size and color. We mean a lot of butterflies.

One variety is deep black and electric blue on the top side of its wings but on the bottom side it has red, black and white with the numbers “98” or “89” (look closely).

                                            This is part of the path leading to the waterfall.

Taking a rest hiking up to the waterfall

We hiked about 20 minutes to this waterfall. The water took your breath away at first but then we didn’t want to get out. As we reached the falls the water really beat down on us. We spent about an hour there and eventually a bunch of other people arrived.

We brought crackers to snack on. I mean, what are we supposed to do, bring a huge “olla” filled with food? Would that really be convenient?

Hiking snack Ecuadorean style

Remember, it was a 30 minute hike just to get to the park entrance, and then another 20 minute hike to the waterfall…and not all that easy. Please don’t think I am criticizing-I was totally jealous.

Anyone see "Robin Hood-Men in Tights"?

After we finished our uninspiring crackers we hiked to the river to eat our pasta salad (you didn’t really think Leah and I would have just brought crackers, did you?)

We ate on rocks above the river and then of course waited the recommended 2 minutes to let our food settle before jumping in. Yeah, we didn’t wait long enough but at least it was a flowing river. Anyway, the water was awesome, really clean, crisp and refreshing. Even Robin couldn’t resist.

Leah is getting more adventurous every day!

Forgot the name of this, but the bears like to eat it and
sometimes it grows way up high in the trees.

Don't worry, we didn't shrink Leah. But I now where a XXXXXXXL t-shirt.

About 2:00 we started to head back to the car. We were stoked to get some street food from a brother in the Zamora congregation but his stand was closed, like just about everything else in town. Nobody in the park was celebrating Carnaval but if there was any doubt that it was still going on, they were removed on the drive home. Every time we slowed down for a speed bump, little kids on each side of the street would drench your car with hoses and buckets. If your windows were open you’d get a shower; closed and you’d get a free carwash.

Tomorrow it’s back to the ministry. We are all anxious to get back into the routine. Hopefully, the water balloon supply has been exhausted. If not, we have our slickers. The last thing we want to hear is “you should’ve worn your slicker”.

                                  I think someone may have swallowed too much river water!
                                                   (I found this when I was uploading pictures.
                                                  "Someone" filmed it while I was doing laundry.)

Day 39 – Horseshoes anyone?

I didn’t sleep well last night – we were awakened at 3am by a sound I know all too well now. But I thought “it’s Sunday night, our neighbor kills on Friday & Saturday night”. Unfortunately, I didn’t factor in that this holiday’s festivities not only include drenching people during the day but the need for excessive amounts of pork too. I’m pretty sure he killed 3 last night because the “festivities” went on ‘til around 5 a.m., on and off squealing. Even Robin heard it last night and she wears earplugs.

Despite this, we woke up to a beautiful, sunny morning.  We got up and made b’fast – healthy of course! Quinoa with peaches, flaxseeds & coconut. Everyone seems to like it – or at least eats it. We got a call from Mikayla, which always makes it a little sunnier. Glad to hear that she and the rest of the Albion gang is enjoying working Wyoming County and finding many more Spanish-speaking people living there.

We sat outside reading and studying & getting some rays. The view from the back yard is beautiful.  We Skyped Papito and he was in the house in his coat & hat & it reminded us of our living room back home, colder inside than out. Surprisingly enough, we still don’t miss the cold and snow but we do miss Papito. Our peace was interrupted by a mid-morning encore performance of our favorite song, “Squeal ‘til you die”. For those of you who might not be familiar with the tune, we’ve added this version that was recorded live and unplugged for your listening pleasure. – WARNING: This may not be suitable for all ages, or stomachs. Listener discretion is advised!

Veronica made a huge, delicious lunch featuring a soup called “Locro” which has quesillo, lima beans, broccoli, carrots, potatoes, choclo and ”meyoco”. In Quechua it is called “olluco” or “ulluco”. Others call it “oca”. The English translation is “tuberous basella” and it looks like a fingerling potato but less starchy and tastes kinda’ like beets. In the past in Peru it was a staple of the Incas. Not available in New York, we don’t think-can someone check Pittsford Wegmans? She also made rice with chorizo (which in this case was hot dogs) and ripe plantains. We chowed! And who could blame us? Leah mowed the lawn and Ryan and I built sand pits for the horse shoe game. Ryan and Robin went to the “feed store” and bought actual horseshoes-much smaller but still fun. Guess where he got the sand? Yep, he drove down to the river with a basket, a shovel and the ambition of a kid that just started summer vacation and, well, you can figure out the rest.  I was so tired from so much food I took a 90 minute siesta.

Robin wandered out for a walk, venturing out alone, thinking our road would be safe from the little water assassins, still not 100% convinced that this “carnival” lives up to its hype. She may have been offended that Leah called her old yesterday but at least it kept her dry. This is what happens when she’s not around.

She got ambushed by a bunch of pint-sized
hoodlums with buckets of water!

Jim, Shawn, Ryan and I played horseshoes until we couldn’t see each other. After family study we made a pasta salad that we are bringing to Podocarpus National Park tomorrow. Look it up online when you get a chance. And, of course, check out our blog for tomorrow-we will have plenty of pictures.

Day 38 - Ministry "gringo" style

We decided to bite the bullet & preach this morning despite it being “Carnaval”. We decided it was better to go do our studies and RV’s and take the chance of getting wet, than sit around the house (maybe everyone would still be sleeping from a late night of partying, right?) So we drove to our calls/studies and some of us waited in the car and then we drove to the next one (hey, we’re not that brave).  It felt a little weird, probably the most to Veronica (the rest of us have at least done it before). But we had a great study with Marisol and then some RV’s in Namirez. Shawn had his study with Yohann, Veronica & Robin studied with America & Maria. We had a very productive morning & nobody got wet!

Robin discovered the washer was not working (after putting her clothes & soap in) and was a “bit” anxious to get it fixed. She asked Shawn how long before it would get fixed & could we call someone. I thought to myself “does she remember we r in the middle of the rainforest in Ecuador. Does she think the Maytag repair guy does house calls here?” When she realized it wouldn’t be fixed anytime soon, she washed the clothes by hand in the kitchen sink. (Shhh….don’t tell Veronica)

Robin & I decided to take our chances again after lunch & go for a walk.  Our road is pretty quiet, so we figured we’d be ok if we stayed away from town and the main street (but what do we know, right?).  This holiday makes you super paranoid of everyone you see outside or with something in there hand, including little kids. We had a nice walk and were on our way home, about 10 minutes from home when we passed a little girl (maybe 7 or 8) wielding her water balloon, looking for prey.

So I looked her in the eye and said, “tirelo a tu hermanito, no a nosotros”.
To which she answered “no”
So I said, “mira, mi amiga es viajita, seria una falta de respeto tirarlo a ella”
To which she responded “entonces tu”
So I maturely responded “Yo se donde vives. Puedo volver mas tarde” (I know where you live and I will come back later).

Robin didn't realize Leah had called her an old lady, but she stayed dry.

Obviously I’m not very intimidating because as we walked away she chucked it at my feet and then ran inside to get another one and follow behind us. At which point I asked Robin if she could run for a little bit, so we did and avoided a second attack.

Shawn & Erik played it safe (& dry) with a friendly game of ping pong – Hey we gotta do something when we’re stuck in the house.

The boys were eagerly anticipating Ryan getting home bc he had promised to make fried chicken. It was good & I made a salad with avocados, onion, tomato, ciliantro & lime juice to go with the rice.

Skyped mom & dad and watched a movie.