Catch of the day

Perhaps it's because I grew up in the land of cows, corn and casseroles, but I do NOT like fish. However, after our recent beach vacation I now understand that it's because I haven't had fresh out of the ocean, prepared spectacularly on the spot fish by people who know their fish! A little over a week ago now we sat in plastic beach chairs at a plastic table in the sand and ate at this little dive right on the ocean front and were absolutely delighted with the catch of the day, which we believe was orange roughy but it may have been lost in the translation. WOW it was GREAT - five stars for sure!!! This is the head chef, who we paid our compliments to afterwards and asked for his photo. He told us to come again, and I do believe we will. mm mmm

This is a residential building in Old Quito.

From a beautiful church in Old Quito.

This is not a very captivating photo, but I wanted to show yet another rain forest shot. These are cocoa beans which we roasted, peeled, ground, cooked, mixed with stuff and made into a chocolate sauce in which to dip big juicy red grapes. The beans didn't come from this particular area, but from a neighboring town. While I do have photos from beginning to end, will just show you this one. Incidentally, along the drive to the beach we literally see thousands upon thousands of beans spread out alongside the road to roast in the sun and you can see how they vary in their roasting stage depending on the color of the bean (more here and here). Sort of makes you wonder how it can taste so good after baking on the road all day with lots of cars zooming past and spewing their exhaust. Anyway, I guess it's one of those things you just can't think about right? After all, who in their right mind wants to suck the joy out of chocolate???

Just another friendly creature strolling through the rain forest. :)

I have to post one of my favorite photos from our time with my inlaws, who left for home yesterday. This was also taken in the rain forest, this time in the area set aside for humming bird watching. While we didn't see many birds, I did see these two people that I love creating a beautiful picture all their own. :) We miss you How and Donna!

Two Toucans

Here we have Bonito and another toucan whose name we did not get. These guys were in the bird hospital for problems with their beak and tongue and came from both the Amazon and Arashá rain forests. Bonito, the guy on the left, must have been especially keen on having visitors as he gladly perched on the arm of a couple of us and sort of peck peck pecked at us as if to say hello. It was a wonderful experience to be up close and in person with these beautiful creatures. To read more about Bonito and other toucans like him, click here.

It's MISTER Snail

Funny but true, this was one of the highlights of my time in the rainforest. I have NEVER seen a snail this big before, and perhaps he has some exotic name because he's so big, but all I know is that I nearly stepped on him as he was in the middle of the walking path munching on this big leaf. Click the photo if you want to get a closer look at him looking at you. ;) I am including two photos today, the bottom one being for scale against my shoe. Come back tomorrow for the toucans! (remember, they're the guys on the Fruit Loop box...)

We're back from our mini vacation and I have a few fun pictures to share with you, beginning with our little bungalow in the middle of the rain forest at Arashá. For anyone looking for a wonderful exotic and affordable place to go for vacation, this is it! While we were only there for 24 hours (our stop over on the way to the beach) we packed a lot in. It was a beautiful setting amidst nature and we enjoyed lovely light rains about every 30 minutes while swimming, mini golfing, making chocolate from cocoa beans, walking amidst the forest, etc. More to come...I'll show you tomorrow who I ran into on a long nature walk with my daughter.

From the Easter Sunday bullfight. My mother in law took this one.

And that's all for now - we're off to the rain forest and the beach. See you Sunday!

~Lisa

A shot of my son and I shopping at a market.

I love the colors in this one - nice job to my father in law on this capture!

Cityscape

Here is a good view of the city as you're coming into it from the east. I love all the colors of the buildings. You might want to click to enlarge this one. :)

At long last...

I finally caught a picture of a humming bird - HA! I guess this is the only kind I can really capture without having the whir of their wings blur the photo. ;) This is yet another of the cool sculptures you will find here in the Quito area.

As in many parts of the world, we have lots and lots of street entertainers. This man was in Old Quito playing his accordian the day of the Procession. He is blind, plays well, received our donation with grace and gratitude and continued to play.

I'm stumped...

I was most intrigued by this tree at Papallacta but did not know what it was called. I snapped a close up of the bark, which was the interesting part...anyone know what it is? :)

Remember the angel trumpet tree I showed you awhile back? Well, I didn't know they came in other colors! Found lots of red ones at Papallacta. :)

This is a snapshot of beautiful Papallacta's hot spring resort, where we went on Tuesday of this week. There are about ten different pools to choose from and they are all toasty warm amidst the cold of being at 11,000 feet. It was especially chilly outside on Tuesday as it had been rainy and cloudy. Not a bad backdrop to your time in the pool, eh?

Something about this photo strikes me as very everyday, which I guess is why I like it. This too was taken in Old Quito. We went to some hot springs yesterday so tomorrow I shall post a picture from there. :)

Another homefront in Old Quito.

Happy Easter!

"Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!" -Luke 24:5

After the procession yesterday we spent some time walking (yeah! we weren't in a car!) around Old Quito. Over the next few days I shall share some of the shots that I got that might give you a good feel for the City. I continue to love the look of the homes featured here and so will post a couple more of those of course! (you can see another one here)

And as far as the eye could see...

...there were people! Today we went to the Good Friday procession in Old Quito where there were an anticipated 90,000 people in attendance to watch people carry their crosses through the designated route. A short article can be found here and more pictures on a History and Culture (from a travel agency) page here. Sorry to post more than one picture today...but I had soooooo many.

ooo, nearly forgot to post again (I do that a lot, don't I?). We have family arriving this evening (woo hoo!) from the states so we've been busy getting ready.

I don't think this picture does justice to the lovely "river" we found at the bottom of the long trek down...and obviously there was more below us but no way to reasonably get there with two small children in tow! If you can't actually see the water, perhaps you should click to enlarge. :) The tall thin trees you see are eucalyptus.

The kids and I took a little nature walk on Sunday down this lovely, long, windy stairway. Imagine if you will that I remembered to take a photo on the way down instead of the way up and then I shall show you tomorrow what the scene was at the bottom. :)

I love this little house! While it is outside of Quito limits, I haven't noticed any other folks in the whole country on the DP site yet so I think it's ok to feature. ;) One of the things that I truly enjoy about this country is the wide variety of homes...both inside and out. I always enjoy going to someones home where I have never been before as it's bound to be so different from anything I have seen before. While this home in particular is not the one we went inside of, it is on the same property and is where the caretaker lives. I think it is storybook in it's looks, don't you? The friends whose home we were at is equally charming and so very, very cool on the inside...hmmm, should have snapped a photo or two of that as well!

P.S. Notice the poinsettia blooming on the left side of the photo?

How would you like to be this man? His job was to spray the building down so as to help prevent the dust a bit...do you think it was working?