R.I.P. Quito Daily Blog...I have let it go so long I fear I cannot catch up. Perhaps I shall resume again when there is more time in the day. :)

Here is the big, huge, gigantic cloud that has been hovering over Quito for days. We have been cold and I have been wearing my long underwear...is that too much information? ;) Many a day I have longed to have heat to just turn on for 15 minutes to remove the chill...or a fireplace...or something! Come back soon sun!

Some more of my favorite subject here...the $1.50, 24 pack of roses.

This macro photo is blurry...alas, but the flowers were so pretty!

I hope you can still find the beauty in them. :)

"Baaaa..."

A most unusual leaf I found the other day at the tennis courts.

Never know what you might see hanging on to the vehicle in front of you here! This was a landscaping truck and full of clippings.

The neighborhood around the Magic Bean (featured yesterday) is among my favorites in Quito because of the use of color - wild, vivid, fun color on most of the buildings. Shown here is a good example of a very festive block. :)

This was taken at the Magic Bean restaurant...a favorite among English speakers as all the wait staff speaks both Spanish and English, and their menu has delicious choices. :) They serve what I call a "plate of yum"...thickly sliced cooked potatoes drenched in chunks of garlic and other yummy spices. I get a big fat stomach ache every time I eat them, and yet I eat them every time because they are SO good. They recently remodeled the section shown here and this was the first time I had seen the new look. It's the outdoor covered section and it's much brighter now as they knocked out the wall there in the front/right and added all the cool hanging lights. It was cold and rainy in case it strikes you as funny that folks are fairly "bundled" for South America. When the sun isn't shining we're chilly because of being in the Andes. Buen provecho folks!

This one is for my mom. :) BOO! (don't worry, he was at the zoo...not under your front porch)

These guys were squakin' at each other and I wondered what they were saying. :)

Wierdness...

This is the wierdest tree I have ever seen. If you cannot fully see or appreciate the wierdness, do click the photo to enlarge...and if you know what kind of tree it is, let me know!

This guy is a little blurry, but beautiful anyway. :)

A little snack break...

Another iguana from the now (mostly) archived Guayaquil photo tour. ;)

See the dragonfly?

If not, click photo to enlarge!

Many of you have seen one of these Tortugas on here before as well...but they're always so happy to smile for the camera, I couldn't resist taking his picture again . ;)

Another blooming beauty. :) If you can't see the bloom, just click to enlarge!

This is one of those photos that doesn't have a lot of "pop" to it, but it's a rare moment of beauty as a cactus is getting ready to bloom all over and I thought it was such a pretty site. There are a lot of these around right now since we have been in the rainy season for awhile. For more detail, don't forget to click the photo to enlarge.

A handsome family

Don't they look like a tightknit family? Afterall, when's the last time you laid in a mud hole with your relatives? I think I'm the only person who sees these guys as cute. I have featured them before, though on my other blog. ;) What can I say? A trip to the zoo just isn't complete without a shot of them!

And, one more view of some Angel Trumpet trees. I realize now that have only posted pink ones, but I guess you can all imagine the others, right? ;) Or perhaps I will have to get one more day out of these tomorrow...

More trumpets!

I have never seen the Angel Trumpet in such full bloom...everywhere I looked there were trees just laden with these fresh, beautiful (very poisonous) flowers - white, light orange, pink and perhaps yellow too, but I can't remember. Tomorrow I will show one more and then shall move on. ;)

Some more of my favorite flower here in Ecuador - the Angel Trumpet

This may not look like much, but I hope you will click it to enlarge as it is really quite a pretty view! :) This was taken at the Quito zoo in Guayllabamba.

This is the inside of the church from about two weeks ago, and the view looking out is the walkway in yesterdays photo.

A friendly mccaw in Guayaquil (and yet another gigantic Ecuadorian statue!)

Moo

A brief pause from our trip to Guayaquil to share some scenic views from our trip to a place called "Pasochoa" today, about an hour outside of Quito.