The Holidays and a Hike

In Which, We Are Lame but also Fit

John has never been happier during the holiday season. Why, you ask? Because this is the first year he's not had to put up any kind of decorations since we've been married.

Scrooge.

So, yes. It is the holiday season, Christmas is almost upon us, and while we aren't too preoccupied with it this year, it does produce some longing for home when we do come upon decorations and general holiday frivolity.

We haven't actually done too much that's holiday related. We were supposed to go to a Christmas concert at the local theatre one Friday, but that was one of the days we went to Quito, and by the time we got back it was late and we were exhausted. We also missed the Crossfit Christmas party that night which was irritating.

Thanks a lot, Quito.

So I'm keeping my eyes open on the local paper to see what other festivities we can crash. Hopefully we'll find some good ones.

They love Christmas here. Not quite to the commercial extent that they do in the States, but they love lights and fireworks and pageants and all sorts of holiday displays.

One of our friends' house looks like an army of elves threw up inside of it. His mom is an artist/crafty person, and she ADORES Christmas. She's got more (handmade) Christmas decorations than you can shake a stick at.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg!

We'll actually be splitting our time on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve between David's house and his family, and Juan and Andrea's house and their families. We're really looking forward to it!

In other news, we hiked up the mountainside behind our apartment a few weekends ago. It's actually the very far west side of the valley that Ambato lies in, so it's significantly steep.

You know it's bad when the stairs give you stitches...

Re: it kicked my butt.

FYI, this "dirt" is more like sand

But the views from the top were AMAZING. We got to look out towards the west and see views we never get to see since we're at the bottom of the hillside.

West!

Ambato, which is to the east

Going down was MUCH easier than up (go figure) but we also ran into an obstacle course of black wiring that, if you weren't paying attention, would trip you and happily break your neck. Lucky for us, we are fleet of foot. 

Well, John is. I'm just exceedingly slow.

This is probably our internet line...

He and Jethro were ahead of me the whole way

So that's that! Today I made cinnamon buns with Andrea and Juan Martin, and I think they are going to be deliiiiiiicious! We'll take a pan (or 3) with us to dinner on the 24th to help contribute and to also say thank you to Juan's family for inviting us to celebrate Christmas with them.

Be very, very jealous

John's in the process of writing about the visa fiasco that happened last week, so stay tuned for that!