Last week, as I returned from the post office in Tumbaco, I met Walter and Gladis Cruz and their adorable 3 year old son Matías. They are opening a house/resort in Loja, in the southern part of Ecuador, and were wondering if I would like to stay there a weekend or some other time. There would be a discount, of course, because it's not completely done yet, but they've already had quite a few people stay there. At first I thought it odd that they would just assume I'd want to, but they're right in that Ecuadorians don't ever go on vacation to the rural areas of Ecuador, so they're wise business people in their approaching strategy. 
I got together with Walter in Quito on Thursday and he detailled all the things I could do in and around Loja. Unless there are objections, this is now the game plan for when Amy (and Eli?) come to visit. In the hotel/resort, there's a pool, hiking, and horseback riding (an no television! Yay!); we'll see the processes and machines for making coffee, breads, and cornmeal foods from scratch; there's a petrified forest about an hour away, the Peruvian border about an hour in the other direction, and beaches another hour after that. And on the way there are plenty of towns, hot springs, and volcanoes to check out. I'm pretty excited, needless to say!
I got together with Walter in Quito on Thursday and he detailled all the things I could do in and around Loja. Unless there are objections, this is now the game plan for when Amy (and Eli?) come to visit. In the hotel/resort, there's a pool, hiking, and horseback riding (an no television! Yay!); we'll see the processes and machines for making coffee, breads, and cornmeal foods from scratch; there's a petrified forest about an hour away, the Peruvian border about an hour in the other direction, and beaches another hour after that. And on the way there are plenty of towns, hot springs, and volcanoes to check out. I'm pretty excited, needless to say!Anyway, more than the business aspect, they just like making friends with foreigners (and even
have some from Minneota), so they invited me to their home in Quito to prepare for me some typical Lojan foods. I left my house at 7 a.m. this morning and arrived at their home in the southern-most part of Quito at 9 a.m. after catching 2 buses, walking 30 minutes, taking a trolley, and walking 20 minutes more. I could have substituted the last part for a second trolley, but it's a good thing I didn't because I ate a ton! Theirs is the typical country hospitality that's often talked about. Breakfast was coffee, a scrambled egg, and bread with piña jam (que rico!). After 1.5 hours of chatting and playing around with Matías, they started lunch. Gladis made empanadas de queso, using fresh, natural (and really good tasting) Lojan cheese. There was also rice, meat, salad, french fries, and a pineapple drink that had chunks of pineapple in it, rather than blending it all up. I'm not gonna lie and say it wasn't a weird textural moment for me, but at least the flavor was good! It was so much food, though, AND she sent me home with two empanadas, which I definitely ate on one of the buses on my way home! We chatted until about 3:30 when I decided to let them have some alone time before Walter goes back to Loja tonight for 3 weeks. But it was a fantastic day with a fantastically hospitable family and we spoke spanish the whole day, so I'm lovin' that, too!
have some from Minneota), so they invited me to their home in Quito to prepare for me some typical Lojan foods. I left my house at 7 a.m. this morning and arrived at their home in the southern-most part of Quito at 9 a.m. after catching 2 buses, walking 30 minutes, taking a trolley, and walking 20 minutes more. I could have substituted the last part for a second trolley, but it's a good thing I didn't because I ate a ton! Theirs is the typical country hospitality that's often talked about. Breakfast was coffee, a scrambled egg, and bread with piña jam (que rico!). After 1.5 hours of chatting and playing around with Matías, they started lunch. Gladis made empanadas de queso, using fresh, natural (and really good tasting) Lojan cheese. There was also rice, meat, salad, french fries, and a pineapple drink that had chunks of pineapple in it, rather than blending it all up. I'm not gonna lie and say it wasn't a weird textural moment for me, but at least the flavor was good! It was so much food, though, AND she sent me home with two empanadas, which I definitely ate on one of the buses on my way home! We chatted until about 3:30 when I decided to let them have some alone time before Walter goes back to Loja tonight for 3 weeks. But it was a fantastic day with a fantastically hospitable family and we spoke spanish the whole day, so I'm lovin' that, too!The first trolley back ended at the Mercado Artesanal where I bought a nice zippered purse (a recommended security measure), a t-shirt, and the perfect gift for Amy! Too bad for you that I'm not mailing it! I also bought a book from a sidewalk vendor and some mints from a young indigenous girl, not that those details are terribly important. Just thought you'd like to know the whole day. I then took two buses home, one of which was allowed to go on the newly finished road that had been detoured since November, so I got home at least 15 minutes faster than I normally do! And I'm pretty pleased with my 11.5 hour day in/on the way to or from Quito!
2 comments:
oh man, oh man! i can't wait. that sounds amazing.
How cute is that little boy!!
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