Don't Stop the Party

In Which, We Hit the Town

So the other day, it was Andrea's birthday! The original plan was to go to Baños on Saturday and dance the night away, but she ended up having to work this weekend, so we went out on Thursday night.

All in all, it was a great time. There was dancing, drinking, laughing and a chilly walk to catch a taxi at the end, but we had fun.

We haven't been downtown a lot lately, so I was super excited to see that several streets and parks are dressed up with lights and decorations for Christmas!

Parque Cevallos, all lit up!

We DID have plans to go to a Christmas concert at the local theatre here in Ambato Friday night, but we had to go to Quito for more visa stuff, and by the time we got back we were absolutely exhausted. I was super bummed to miss it, but hopefully they'll have another concert before Christmas that we can go to.

SPEAKING of Quito - I'm really starting to hate going there. Mainly because it's a 2-2.5 hour drive each way and it costs us almost $50 roundtrip each time in the private taxis. It would be cheaper to take the bus, but that would take SO much more time. 

So we finally received the official email telling us our applications were approved and to come make the visa payment in Quito on Friday morning.

Now, last time we did this, we got there REALLY early, waited for about 2 hours, paid, then came back at 3 pm, waited another 1.5 hours, and finally received our passports with the visa applied in them. It was a whole day of basically waiting, but it was just ONE DAY.

This time around, we decided if we were going to be waiting all day, it didn't matter how early we got there, so we rolled in around 9:15. After a 3-hour wait, we finally paid for the visas and left our passports for the visa to be applied.

THEN. Goodness, then we were told, "Come back Monday afternoon" to receive our passports back. 

YOU.ARE.KIDDING.ME.

So we have to go to Quito YET AGAIN on Monday afternoon. Ugh.

At this point in time, between transportation, hostels and food, we've spent over $250 in this process. Frustrating to say the least, since that number would be ZERO had we known beforehand that we could apply in Ambato.

SIGH.

Anyway, Monday should be the last trip to Quito for a very long time. 

At least we got to spend some time in one of the parks, El Ejido, which we love to do. 

Statue in front of El Ejido

Entrance into El Ejido from La Patria

They were having some sort of fair as well, because there were vendors selling jewelry, art and clothing. We picked up a bit of art, just to have something to put on the walls.

John with his refreshing, handmade, $1 OJ

And that's where we're at for now! Monday will be our last trip to Quito, and then we hit the holidays.

Friends of ours have told us that for the next 3 months, Ambato's like a giant party town. We've got Christmas, New Year's, 3 Kings and Innocentes, all culminating in Ecuador's titular celebration of Carnaval - Fiesta de Frutas y Flores, which takes place in February.

So stayed tuned for the party, it's bound to be a good time! 

Trials and Frustrations

In Which, I become annoyed, panicked, and annoyed again

The thing no one tells you about when you talk about living abroad is visas. How they're a real PITA.

Here in Ecuador, it's very easy to stay for 3 months. After that, it gets a little tricky.

Ecuador divides their visas into resident and non-resident categories. If you're looking to retire or stay here indefinitely, a resident visa is the way to go. It takes time and a lot of patience and paperwork, but after roughly 4-6 months (depending on the type of resident visa you choose it can be longer), you'll be a permanent resident and you don't have to deal with routine visa stuff anymore.

Don't get me wrong, I've heard some chilling stories from some resident visa holders and the frustration is real on their end. But, once they've got the visa, through however much frustration it took, they're essentially done.

Non-resident visas is like living the frustration over and over again, every 6 months to 1 year, depending on how long you want to stay and how long your visa is good for.

We chose the student visa option for a few reasons, not the least being that it was more in reach than the missionary/volunteer visa or the work visa.

Our first application went off without a hitch. It was time-consuming, but relatively pain free.

This time around however, things have been a little dicey.

First off, we applied late. Technically, you're supposed to submit your application a week before your visa expires. I got the dates all turned around (they write them day/month/year and I'm used to seeing month/day/year) so we ended up submitting the application 4 days before our visa expired.

Ironically enough, this seems to be one of the least of our worries at this point.

Secondly, when we were actually submitting the paperwork, we were informed that there is a new rule (surprise!!) that required us to submit the paperwork in the zone where we live. Ambato is in Tungurahua, which is a different zone than Quito, which is in Pichincha.

There wasn't any information about this at all and no one at our school had mentioned it. We were just supposed to magically know it, apparently.

*Insert annoyance*

Thankfully, they took pity on us poor, lost gringos and let us write a letter (in REALLY bad Spanish, natch) about why we were submitting the paperwork in Quito rather than Ambato.

The following week (this past week) we got an email from the ministry saying they needed to interview us regarding our application.

Enter problem numero 3. We get to the ministry (in Quito, mind you) at the appropriate date and time and speak with a lovely gentleman (Dr. Hidalgo) who tells us that, essentially, we're missing some paperwork from the school.

The problem is, we're talking about ALL of this in Spanish, so we were a little confused with what he was trying to say. In the midst of the confusion, we told him that the classes were via Skype, not actual in-person classes taken in a classroom.

Problem numero 4 quickly raises its head. The man points us to the legislative language allowing the school to offer student visas, and it doesn't say ANYthing about classes via Skype being allowed.

*Insert panic*

Talk about a rock and a hard place.

Thankfully, the man took pity on us poor gringos (playing the dumb card can really work in your favor). Basically, the paperwork we were missing was essentially John's "graduation" papers, stating that he had completed a level of work and was moving on to the next level.

As a compromise, Dr. Hidalgo says he'll ok the visa application, but we have to get the paperwork stating John's completion of whatever level to him in 4 months. If we don't bring it in that time frame, our visas will be revoked and we'll essentially be here illegally.

We agree and he types up a very official letter, with his official seal, and we sign it.

At that point, we weren't sure what to do next, and he tells us now we have to wait for an email regarding our visa application, at which point, we have to come back to Quito AGAIN and finish out the process.

Keep in mind, it's a 2.5 hour drive and it costs us almost $50 roundtrip each time.

Sigh.

*Insert annoyance*

So that's where we're at. We'll hopefully get an email that our application was approved this coming week, we'll go to Quito AGAIN, pay for the visas and, hopefully, get them instated in our passports.

Today's lesson? When you have the chance to apply in your home city, do it.

Swingin' at the Edge of the World

In Which, We Have a Swingin' Good Time

Soooooo cheesy, I know. But it works.

ANYway. On to one of the more exciting things we've done lately (ya know, other than spending a carefree week at the beach and learning to surf. Yeah...). La Casa Del Arbol is practically an INSTITUTION for extranjeros (foreigners) here in Ecuador...AND WE FINALLY WENT.

Thursday morning, while we were finishing our session of death at the gym, several of our friends said they wanted to go to the treehouse that afternoon. I was torn - I had work to do but MAN I wanted to go! After about .2 seconds of indecision, I threw responsibility to the wind and John and I were going along with them. The next few hours were a grammatical blur as I literally FLEW through my work. Fear not, intrepid readers, about the quality of my work during this rush. I actually went back and QC'd myself and did a better job than I typically do. There's something to be said for a deadline = better focus.

The crew! Minus David, he's hiding behind John

So we headed out around 3pm or so. La Casa Del Arbol is on the ridge above Banos so all in all, it took us about an hour, hour and 15 minutes to get there. The roads steadily became less and less developed...we went from paved roads to cobblestone roads with paving where the tires go, to straight cobblestone roads with HUGE potholes in them, until we finally hit the end and dirt roads. It was interesting, to say the least, especially since our friend Steffany (aka, Nena) drives an old VW Beetle, which has about a 1000cc engine. I was afraid we were going to have to get out and push her a few times, but Herbie came through.

We arrived at the top and it was great because it was towards the end of the day AND it was a weekday, so there weren't a lot of people there. We climbed up a trail about 1000 yards or so (no heavy duty hiking, just walking) and were greeted by this sight :

First (cloudy) glimpse

Yup. Clouds had rolled in, BIG time. We were literally in the middle of them.

Nevertheless, we continued up to the treehouse, where we were accosted by an obnoxious group of English travellers.

Ok, so maybe they weren't absolutely obnoxious, but they definitely made me see how citizens of 1st world countries have a bad reputation in other places - just generally acting a fool, not being considerate or polite without being prodded by your tour leader, etc...

So we did our best to ignore them and just enjoy the tree house and swing. We actually got some really cool shots in the mist and rain.

You can tell that it's a big tourist attraction because they've upgraded a lot of the space around it. They've put metal framing around the whole thing and the house itself actually looks like it's been rebuilt at some point. There's some nice landscaping to the side and down from the swings as well, so that people can get good pictures. 

There's also a little cafe where you can get coffee, tea, hot chocolate, water, or just sit down out of the elements for a while. That's what we decided to do when it started to rain.

John was kind of grouchy at this point, saying it was underwhelming and kind of a let down. I had seen pictures and gotten a feel for it beforehand, so it was essentially what I was expecting, but I could see how it was a bit of a disappointment for him.

Thankfully, our friends were plenty happy to stick around and wait for the crowds to die down a bit so we could all take turns on the swings. There are swings on either side of the house, something else that I think is a new addition. It helps cut down on lines and wait times, that's for sure.

Happily, after about 30 minutes or so, we saw the clouds start to break up! It was just about 5:30, so right before sunset here, and the sky was beautiful! 

Nena checking out the clouds

Then, when we'd taken a bazillion pictures and gone on the swings MULTIPLE times, we found something else fun behind the cafe - a mini zipline! The seat was from an old tire and it got preeeeeetty close to the ground at a couple of points, but it was still a fun ride. Basic, but fun. Also, free. Can't beat that. 

There's David!

By this time, the sun had pretty much set, so we went back down the trail and headed to Banos to rustle up some food.

John saying 'bye' to his new friend

We walked around a bit and eventually settled on a place called Chevere. It had typical sandwiches from all over South America, which was pretty fun! Also, you're seeing the remains of a maracuya flan with brownies and rasberry sauce that John devoured. It was tasty.

It took David a while to realize there was a camera out...

We ended up back in Ambato around 9pm. We had a great afternoon and totally crashed. The rest of the weekend was relaxing and full of friends and fun. We actually did have hotdogs on the 4th of July, totally by accident, but we appreciated it nonetheless!

Oh, and I totally got all of my work done on time. Just thought I'd throw that in there for those of you who were concerned ;)

So in parting, next time you have the chance for an adventure but you're bogged down with responsibilities, take a chance. Swing away. It'll work out in the end.

Round and Round and Round We Go

In Which, I Describe How I (Wish I Had) Packed

So this is the first post that's not directly related to stuff we've done lately or what we're up to now. This one has actually been rolling around in my head and even been sitting here in my drafts for a while since it's something I run into just about every time I leave the apartment.  

I've discovered that packing to go live in another country is vastly different than packing to travel. I had a slight inkling of this before we moved, but now I'm really wishing I had paid more attention to the differences between the two.

The biggest difference, in my opinion, is the fact that you're going to live somewhere (DUH), not just travel through it for a few days/weeks. Unless you're someone who normally lives in Lululemon or NorthFace-everything (I'm neither), then you will want regular clothes. And by regular, I mean whatever you normally wear on a day-to-day basis, while keeping the local weather of the place you're moving to in mind.

For me, this means jeans, tshirts, sweaters and flats. I brought 2 pairs of jeans, a plethora of tshirts, and one pair of flats. I'm not entirely sure what I was thinking. Maybe 'balance' or 'equity amongst clothes' or something like that. I don't know.

Now that we've been here for a few months, I find myself wishing I had packed according to the following -

1. More jeans. Seriously. I could've brought at least 4 more pairs, preferably in multiple colors and washes. They love colorful jeans here, and I'm sad I left my yellow ones at home.
2. Fewer tshirts/more business-casual shirts. I'm not sure how I forgot, but the Hispanic culture loves to dress up. And I don't mean fancy-schmancy, but they typically don't go out running errands looking like slobs. I've grown up around Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and Colombians my entire life, I've seen it every day, and yet I still managed to forget it. Tshirts are great for a casual trip to the park, but when I want to hit up a cafe for breakfast or go out in the evening with friends, a tshirt just isn't making the cut.
3. Fewer skirts. I'm in the mountains, y'all. The ANDES MOUNTAINS. I'm 8500+ feet above sea-level. It's frequently sunny and 70+ degrees, but it's also JUST as frequently rainy, cloudy and 50 degrees. If anything, I would've been better off bringing capris or long shorts. Skirts will be good for when we go to the beach, but until then, they're basically just taking up room in my closet. 
4. More flats. Now, this one I am slightly conflicted on. I love to be comfy, and walking for 3 hours on uneven concrete sidewalks or cobblestone roads or in the dirt is NOT comfy. My Sperrys are pretty darn amazing at delivering comfy, but they're also pretty darn beat up. Plus, going to the discoteca in Sperrys is just a huge faux-paus.
5. Sweats. OMG. I DIDN'T BRING ANY. I really wish I had brought at least one of my sweatshirts and a pair of comfy lounge pants. I sleep hot, so I was only thinking about pajama-wear, but I totally didn't think about lounge-about-the-house wear! In case you haven't heard, we're 9,000 ft above sea-level. I also spend a good portion of most days inside, either in the morning (when it's chilly) or in the evening (when it's chilly). Since we don't have (or really need) any central heat and since I didn't bring any sweats with me, I end up bundling up with the blankets in bed in order to stay warm.

This is me in the morning

So, to sum up, I would've brought more jeans, more business-casual shirts, fewer skirts, more flats/business casual shoes and DEFINITELY some sweats.  

That being said, honestly I didn't do too bad. Most of the wardrobe that I have is solidly middle of the road, leaning slightly towards casual. It's only really noticeable when I've got something a bit nicer to go to, like, a baby shower (more on that later).

This is definitely a case of "you live and learn." Thankfully, my learning experience doesn't have to last for too long. When we visit in October, I'll be sure to rectify my clothing imbalances to the best of my ability. 

Because Visa, Part 2

In Which, We Actually Receive Our Visas

So technically, I probably could've put this all in one post, but the last one was getting kind of long and I know visas are pretty boring for those not super interested in travelling for long periods of time. 

Either way, here's the ending.

So a week after we put in our applications, John received an email basically saying our visas had been approved. All we had to do now was get to Quito within 72 hours of receiving that email, pay the second portion of the visa fees and then actually receive our visas.

Quito...again

Of course, the worst part about all of this was thinking about how to get to Quito. It was either bus or private car again, or so we thought. We happened to be eating dinner that night (Tuesday) with our downstairs neighbors and friends, Juan and Andrea, when John actually got the email. Of course, we were pretty excited and told them what it was all about. 

Given the timing of the email and the fact that we needed time to put some plans together, we decided to go on Thursday. 

At this point, Juan piped up and said he had some training for work that he had to go to Quito for...ON THURSDAY. He said that he would be riding with his friend, but it wouldn't be any problem if we wanted to come along. 

HOLY COW. We were so excited. It's the same length of trip, but there's just something nice about going with friends. And a car ride is waaaaay better than a bus ride, that goes without saying. So we eagerly said yes, and our trip to Quito was taken care of. We'd have to take a bus back, but that was no problem.

This is what 4:30am looks like, folks

 So we have yet another early morning wake-up call on Thursday and hop in the car to Quito. We weren't in quite a rush this time around, so breakfast absolutely happened at a reasonable hour, and we arrived at our location at a reasonable time and reasonably full. 

We knew what to do this time. We walked up to the check-in desk and told them we needed to pay for and receive our visa. They gave us a number and we settled in to wait. About 30 minutes later, our number was called, and we went up with our numbers and passports. They checked our applications in the system, asked a few questions, then gave us receipts to use to pay for the visas, two windows down. 

We scooched down 10 feet, paid $150 for a student visa and a dependent (amparo) visa, then scooched back to hand them the payment receipt to be attached to our application paperwork. 

At that point, we were basically done. We left our passports with them to have the visa pasted in, and that was definitely the scariest part, at least for me. When a passport is one of the only things truly identifying you, it's a little panic-inducing to leave it anywhere out of your possession. But I managed to walk away. 

We were told to return between 3:30 and 4:30 that afternoon to receive our passports with the visas. Since we had arrived around 9:30 and the whole process took roughly an hour, it left us with a significant chunk of time to kill. 

So we headed to Parque Carolina again. It's REALLY huge, but apparently there's an even bigger one just a few blocks away that we totally missed. Anyway, Carolina is a pretty sweet park. Basketball courts, soccer fields, a huge track, some pond areas with paddle-boats on them, and just plenty of space. It was really nice to just walk through. Also, people watching is off the chain there. I saw more diversity there in 30 minutes than I have in the past 2.5 months!

a (very small) portion of Pargue Carolina

So then we hit up the mall to find some food, and we ate at a place called Vaco y Vaca. Burgers and sandwiches as well as really big plates of food. All in all, a really great lunch. There's rumors that a Vaco y Vaca will be opening in the new mall expansion here in Ambato and I'm REALLY hoping that's the case.

Anyway, we finally killed enough time and made it back to the ministry around 3:15. We went up to the same room we had initially waited in to put I. Our application, and there were a LOT of people there. We weren't sure what the breakdown was though, because it seemed like there were several different things going on.

After almost an hour of being slightly nervous and wondering if we were in the right place or if they had forgotten about us entirely, they finally started calling for our visa type, the 12-5. Everything moved really quickly at that point. We walked up to the same guy who had taken our application, he had us sign some paperwork that cancelled the balance of our T3 visitors visa, he handed us our passports (THANKYOUJESUS) with the visas pasted in them, and said, "Congratulations!" 

Well, hello there!

And that was pretty much it. We thanked him and walked out with our passports and visas and the ability to come and go in, out and around this country as we please for the next 6 months. At which point we'll have to do it all again, but in the words of the famous philosopher, Scarlett O'Hara, "I'll think about that tomorrow."

The final piece to our day was making it back home. Before they dropped us off, Juan and Eduardo told us that they would pick us up at the end of the day and take us home as well. HAPPY DAY. I was getting antsy in the visa office because it was getting a bit late and we didn't want to hold the guys up. Thankfully though, we got out of there just before 4:30 and they called us about five minutes later to say they were on the way. 

And that is how we got our visas. Relatively straightforward, really, especially in hindsight. Next time though, we'll be sure to make plans to stay in Quito overnight so we don't have to make the trip twice in one week.

Also...FYI. We're so high up that we're essentially above the clouds. Occasionally during the drive we'll drive past valleys that are shrouded in clouds, and it's really cool. It really is the land of the clouds.

Because Visa, Part 1

In Which, We Gain the Ability to Stay Here Legally

Which is always a good thing, no?

So these past two weeks have truly been a blur. It's been travel, LOTS of work, more travel, planning our trip back home for Will and Amanda's wedding, more work and finally - attaining our visas.

I wish I had taken more pictures along the way, but I guess you'll have to live with what I've got.

So everybody who enters Ecuador gets a free, 90-day tourist visa called the T-3. It stops when you leave and starts again whenever you re-enter the country, and you're allowed one per year.

T-3 Visa (it's just a stamp, really)

Since we want to stay here in Ecaudor for at least a year, figuring out which visa to get was a pretty big deal. I've written about it in a couple other posts (here and here) so I won't bore you with the backstory.

We decided to get the student visa, which is called the 12-5, and it is in the non-immigrant class of visas. We decided on the student visa for a few reasons. 1) It's one of the cheapest ones out there; 2) It's renewable, which means that in six months, we can apply to renew it for another six months, and we can do this for up to two years; 3) John was wanting to take Spanish classes anyway, so this was the perfect two-birds-one-stone strategy.

John's motto these days

Our T-3 visa was set to expire on June 8, so we decided to get the student visa process rolling in the middle of May or so. I had found a school in Quito that does distance lessons via Skype that would be able to sponsor us for the visa.

Now, many people have asked why we didn't find a program here in Ambato. The answer - we tried. There are several universities here and I inquired at all of them, but none of them had a Spanish program. We heard that the government has recently been making changes in the requirements for university programs, so a lot of language programs actually lost their ability to sponsor students, hence our reason for going to Quito.

John is learning through Simon Bolivar Spanish School. They're really wonderful to deal with and, so far, he has really enjoyed his lessons. We both would have preferred him to be in a classroom setting so he could learn alongside other people, but I think this is a great alternative.

So on Monday, May 25, we hopped on the bus to Quito. It's about a 3 hour trip from Terminal Terrestre in Ambato to Terminal Quitumbe in Quito. It should only be about 2-2.5 hours with the new direct-link highway, but the buses still go through Latacunga and Salcedo, towns just off the highway, to pick up and drop people off. So 3 hours it is.

At least the views are typically amazing...

We had an appointment with an advisor at Simon Bolivar, German, at 3pm. We decided to get to Quito in the morning to hand in all of our paperwork so that everything would be ready to go at 3.

Breakfast while we were waiting
for the 3pm meeting

What paperwork, you ask? Well. Yet another benefit of the student visa is the relative ease of getting the paperwork required. We had to have a certified copy of our marriage certificate, and it had to be apostilled, and it had to be within 6 months of applying for the visa. Just in case you were wondering, an apostille is like a notarization for your notarized papers. You have to get it from the secretary of state, which means we had to make the drive to Columbia. Thankfully, that process was much easier than, say, getting Jethro's papers certified by the USDA.

The other thing we had to have was a translated and notarized copy of our bank statements for the past three months, and it had to show that we had at least $1500 in the bank. Thanks to our good friend Beth, who is a certified translator, we had that taken care of quite easily.

We also had to have our passports, passport-size photos, and we also had to fill out the visa application which had to be PERFECT. No mistakes. John and I both messed up and had to re-do them.

The visa application!

Once we got through all of that, the school put together the folder with the documents that were required from them. The next step was to actually apply.

This is where things got a little sticky. Our appointment with German was at 3, and when we spoke with him he told us that the ministry only takes applications in the morning. Which meant we either needed to stay overnight or plan on coming back another day. Since we hadn't made any plans for Jethro beyond that day, we decided to come back on Wednesday, two days later. German told us that we needed to be at the ministry building as early as possible, definitely no later than 8am. This meant an early wake-up call for us, since it's a 2-hour drive via car to get to Quito from Ambato.

Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores
y Movilidad Humana - they LOVE long titles

After our meeting at Simon Bolivar, we spent the next few hours exploring Quito. We had made an appointment to drive back with a private car service and meeting up with them at the correct time is a story in and of itself, but that's for another day. Suffice it to say, we made it back to Ambato around 10pm and immediately passed out.

In between all of this, I had a pretty steady level of work to try and get out at the appropriate time. I don't need internet to do my work, but I do need a connection in order to DELIVER my work. So when I have a due time of 5pm and I'm not sure if I'm going to be on a bus then or somewhere else without Wi-Fi, I've got to make sure to send it out beforehand, which meant a lot of doubling-up at night and trying to read while on the bus. The latter was highly unsuccessful, as my sisters would have no doubt told me beforehand. I've never had any luck with being able to read in vehicles, I don't know why I thought a bus would be different.

Anyway. Wednesday's return was uneventful, other than the 4:30am wake-up call we had to catch our 5:30am ride. We used the private car service again, and made it to our destination by 7:30, which is quite a feat. For those who don't know, Quito has over 2.5 million people living in it. It's roughly 18 miles long (30km) but only around 2 miles (3-4km) wide. Needless to say, getting in and around this place smack dab in the middle of rush hour is a feat in and of itself, and getting to where you need to be (in the center of the city, no less) in good time in nigh on a miracle.

Upon arrival, we realized German was already there and waiting for us, saving us a spot in line. The office actually opens at 8:30, but people line up quite a bit before then.

After some waiting, we were directed to the second floor, where we waited for about an hour and half before being seen by the visa advisor. He was very nice, checked all our papers, asked a few questions, then accepted our applications and instructed us on what to do next.

We had to go downstairs, pay for the visa applications with the slips of paper he was giving us, and then, when we received the receipts, we were to bring them back up to him. No fuss, no muss.

So we went and did that, and then he told us that we would receive an email in roughly a week to tell us when the visas would be ready.

At that point, we were basically done. We said thank you and goodbye to German, then we took off in search of some breakfast.

We found this on the way..

No filter...seriously

Not sure of its name, but it was beautiful, and the sun was hitting it at just the right angle for some great pictures.

So we found breakfast and finally ate. We had a minor payment snafu which required us to briefly go back to the ministry, but we cleared that up very quickly, and from there, we headed to the local transport of choice (Ecovia) to take us to the bus terminal to catch a bus back to Ambato. We made it home right at 3pm and, again, utterly crashed. Public transportation can be exhausting and draining, especially when you're working on very few hours of sleep, which I was, due to work.

One of the Ecovia stops

Either way, we spent the rest of the day just relaxing and getting back into the regular groove of things. John's birthday was the next day, and he wanted to just chill all day, so that's what we did. We got a late breakfast, took the dog on a walk, spent the day watching movies, ordered pizza for dinner, and spent the rest of the evening just chilling. All in all, we were both happy to spend the day doing next to nothing, and it was a great way to recharge our batteries.

John enjoying his birthday cigar!

So stay tuned for our third (and FINAL) trip to Quito to receive our visas. Another 4:30am wake-up call and more waiting, hurrah! All's well that ends well though. Now you know the ending of the next post, but I still expect you to read it ;)

Bakeries and Ferias and Cuy - Oh My!

In Which, I Post Later Than Promised

...but really, what else is new?

Anyway. So the week/weekend before last was quite the whirlwind. We had agreed a few weeks ago to help out our friends Beth, Jill and Wayne with some extra baking and bread making. Their bakery was a vendor at a Feria/Expo in a nearby town called Cevallos, . It was a great opportunity for the bakery to get some more exposure and therefore, more clients, but they needed to make a bunch of stuff, so we enlisted in the kitchen.

COOKIES!!!

Ohmygoodness...I've never seen so many wonderful things pass through one oven in my life! We had crisps and cakes and bagels and cakes and granola and did I mention cakes?! They were amazing. And we had a ton of fun "helping" and QC-ing. We really didn't do all that much, but it was fun to hang with Beth and Jill in the afternoon and learn some of the do's and dont's of baking specifically and cooking in general.

Crisp filling - SO GOOD.

I'm not the best or most creative cook around, so John really appreciated all the tips they threw our way.

Proof that I did at least step foot in the kitchen

We went to their house Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for essentially the entire afternoon. It was pretty exhausting (I don't know how they do it every day!) but it really was a lot of fun.

In addition, I had a lot of my own work that week as well. I'm not sure how many of you know, but I am currently self-employed as a legal proofreader. I proofread transcripts for court reporters all over the States. I read a number of things, from actual court trials and sentencing to just discovery depositions for auto accidents or construction cases. Sometimes it's really dull, depending on the person and topic (which always reminds me to make friends with INTERESTING people) but I really enjoy it most days. 

Anyway, I had a lot of proofreading last week, so I was very busy. Most of my morning would be spent proofing, then I would eat really quickly and John and I would grab the bus to Beth's house. When we came back (usually around 6 or so) I would make some dinner, relax for maybe an hour or so, then hit the iPad again, usually for another 3-4 hours. It finally let up around Thursday and I have never been so happy to go to bed at 10pm.

After a relaxing day on Friday, John spent most of the day studying on Saturday. The previous post is evidence of that ;)

I decided to take myself down to Cevallos to see the Feria/Expo and also check on Beth, Jill and Wayne and see how their booth was doing.

Getting to Cevallos couldn't have been easier. There's a bus at the redondel in Huachi Chico, and you just hop on, pay your $0.40 and enjoy the 40-minute ride. Cevallos itself seems like a sleepy little town. It's well-known for making and selling shoes, they even have a whole expo center dedicated solely to shoes! There are tons of shoe shops on every street so it's literally impossible to get away from them.

The front of the expo, with the trail of trash

Anyway, I hopped off the bus at a promising looking spot and went in search of mis amigos. I found the center park, which had some people dancing, eating and generally making merry. Alas, no friends to be found, so I followed the trash on the street (people here aren't always the most conscientious about putting trash in its correct spot) up to the expo center.

It reminded me a lot of the expo center back home, just smaller.

From the far side. No one in these stalls, but the next aisle over is packed!

The entire setting also reminded me a lot of a fair, because there were tents set up outside that covered some tools and vendors and a lot of animals. People were there to have their cows, chickens, ducks, llamas and even their guinea pigs (cuy) judged and awarded.

Chickens, guinea pigs and wabbits!

Prize winning cow. Very well-taken care of!

Who's ever seen a spotted llama?! Or alpaca,
since I absolutely can't tell the two apart...

Those are all guinea pigs. And they are all HUGE.

Inside, there were various and sundry vendors. A few indigenous were there selling wool and alpaca products, there were several universities displaying their course options, some jewelry makers, and of course - lots of sweets!

Panaderia Canadiense had the best booth (they even won an award for it!) even though there were several other bakers there. There were also several sweet makers and I stayed veeeeeeery far away from them. The last thing I needed was a giant jar of sweetened coconut butter to take home...

The booth. Oh, and the BEST.PICTURE.EVER. of Beth :)

I really didn't stay too long. After walking around the expo several times, getting some food and checking out the native dancing outside, I was back in Ambato around 5pm and we finished out the weekend with some more relaxing.

Lunch - fresh blackberry and coconut juice with pork, a type of corn and a savory salad.

I've told John that I want to make day-trips out to the surrounding towns more often. They're so close and it's a great way to get to know the area! Hopefully we'll have more adventures in the coming weeks.