El Viaje

I want to apologize to those of you who are faithful blog checkers that I haven’t had a new post in quite some time. I have been wanting to put this one up for awhile, but we’ve had some technical difficulties with the internet. Hope the many pictures make up for it!

Ok, so here it goes. We’re going to go back in time a little. I have really been wanting to post some pictures and thoughts about the two weeks that my parents were here. My dad took some great photos so I’m going to let them do most of the talking. All of these pictures are from their first full day in Ecuador. We stayed at a lovely little hotel in the historic center of Quito called Hotel San Francisco.

This is the beautiful courtyard in the center of the hotel with flowers and a fountain.

Every morning we ate breakfast in this restaurant below the hotel. The people there were so friendly and it is where my parents got their first taste of Ecuadorian fruit juice. All of the different kinds of fruit here are truly amazing.

After breakfast we walked around the different plazas and colonial buildings in the area.

Above is the Plaza San Francisco that is famous for the many pigeons that hang out there and below is a shot from above of Plaza Grande where there are many government buildings including the Presidential Palace.

After walking around the city center we went to visit my Ecuadorian family. This is me with almost the whole gang.

For lunch we went to a restaurant that is famous for their empanadas and good fruit juices. A popular drink here in Ecuador is called “batidos” and it’s juice blended with milk and ice. We sampled three different batidos during lunch. My mom had mora (blackberry), I had mango, and my dad had my favorite, guanabana. Besides great drinks and empanadas we tried a popular dish from the Sierra region called fanesca. It is sort of a stew type casserole made with just about every bean, corn and grain grown in the mountains here.

We had a fun and full day that first day (I think I wore them out). The pictures do not include: climbing hundreds of stairs to my favorite spot in Quito “Parque Ichimbia,” walking around Guapulo (a small and quaint neighborhood in Quito), eating ice cream at one of the best restaurants here “Fruteria Monseratte,” and finishing off the day with dinner at a cozy pizzeria.

So there you have it: Day 1 with the ‘rents in Ecuador! Stay tuned for the sequels.