I remembered a story I once heard: An old man would go to a church each day and pray to Saint Peter asking "please please let me win the lottery" and each day he would return deflated, with his unanswered prayer. Finally, after years of the old man's pleading and praying Saint Peter awakened and said "well.... you must first purchase a ticket".
Well, we purchased our ticket and for this season of our life, we have won the lottery!! :) One month has flown by!
Spanish Lessons
Coco (aka Isabel) started her week with her first Spanish classes. We happened to be walking down one of the streets near our flat and saw a sign for Spanish lessons. We went inside and inquired and were surprised that private tutoring is only $6.50/hour. She has now attended Monday, Wednesday and Friday and ABSOLUTELY loves it.
Each morning of her Spanish classes Jared usually walks her to class, meanwhile I walk to the coffee shop and do work. One morning I had a late start and was walking across one of the many colonial squares with a Spanish cathedral on the corner and spotted a little blond girl skipping and holding hands with an Ecuadorean woman. I did a double take as it was my Coco. She and her teacher (who had a tight grip on her hand) were out strolling through the city and her teacher was pointing at things and speaking to her in Spanish, meanwhile Coco had the biggest smile on her face and was repeating each word, like a good pupil. You could see Coco was enamored with her walk and her teacher. I couldn't help but pause and watch the moment, pondering about what her memories will be someday of this city, it's people and of course our life.
The moment was halted when Coco saw me and came running across the square and began to briskly exclaim "I don't want to go home, we're having so much fun." Her teacher, with her calm demeanor, commented on what a bright little girl she is and how she loves walking and teaching Coco words while in the community, in addition to the classroom. I agreed and they began to stroll away hand in hand!
I have loved hearing her pick up words and start to use them. The other day we hopped into a taxi and Jared politely asked "how much?" in Spanish, the cabbie responded "quatro dollars"... Coco quickly responded "no uno dollars, senor"... The cab driver was dying laughing... We were so proud of our little bargaining nina... :)
Coconut Stand Life Lesson
I just also wanted to share how much we love drinking fresh whole coconuts. We found an amazing stand on the way to Coco's school, which is manned by a wise old man. Each day he sets up his stand and sits back in his homemade chair and reads his bible, calmly chatting with the passer by's. We have started to chat in our broken Spanish and the other day he asked us if we wanted to rent out the third floor of his house. Wanting to be polite and with our ever growing curiosity about Cuenca real estate, we agreed. I have to say I was imagining a very humble abode based upon his occupation of coconut stand operator, but again I learned a lesson in judging others. We walked into a literal "mansion". The third floor was INCREDIBLE. It had 5 bedrooms, a sun room, beautiful furnishings, elegant kitchen and formal dining room, two separate sitting areas and a beautiful atrium with sunlight flooding through the center of the home,this was only one floor of his entire estate. We came to realize that he sold coconuts for the enjoyment of meeting people and conversing. We also realized that this is how you find rentals or property in this city- NETWORKING! He wasn't advertising nor has been the case with several other stunning historic properties we've seen, they just decide to offer them up when they meet someone they connect with.
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| Our Coconut Stand |
I was in awe of the coconut man and he taught me that you can't suspect someone of being of a particular social status based upon their "occupation". :) The other wise thing he's taught us is true SIMPLICITY! :)
We had heard of a remote zoo 25 minutes out of the city. The rumours were that it wasn't for the faint of heart when it came to hiking and that it was "extremely remote and rugged". They weren't kidding! We left that morning with a sunny, beautiful sky and 70 degree temperatures. The ascent up a huge mountain was gravel roads, filled with many switch backs. Eventually we could see signs for the zoo, but the cab would go no further and told us to continue hiking up the mountain, there was not another soul or automobile in sight.
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| At the start of the zoo |
Poor Coco had worn her Crocs and we didn't realize how slippery they were on dirt and clay. The railings were made of wood and hadn't been sanded in awhile so she unfortunately experienced many splinters in between her slips. I was mostly concerned about the occasional exposed rusty nails, though we were all lucky to have no such attack.
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| Hiking paths |
We finally found the entrance and were greeted by a ranger who gave us our tickets and a map and sent us on our way. The zoo was absolutely spectacular and pristine. It overlooked the city and again, we were in awe of the quite and the fact there wasn't a single visitor other than ourselves. We kept laughing that the last zoo we were at was the Tampa Zoo and it was full of strollers, people, food and noise and what a stark contrast. We were amazed with the animals and the large areas they had to roam. We could hear the lions up the mountain roaring and the bear was growling in the distance, making it an erie, but cool adventure.
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| A cool little casa we came across on our hike |
That was until we came to the monkeys. Of course there are the cute little tree monkeys that are extremely friendly and have no fear of humans (probably have been fed) we all enjoyed them and were ooing and awing over how cute they were.
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| I'm still unsure about the monkeys |
As we came around another bend in the trail there was a huge cage full of much larger monkeys who were howling and hissing as we walked by. I kept thinking about how once someone told me don't smile at monkeys they think you're being aggressive. So unamused with these "rude" monkeys we continued to walk past their cage and under an overhang. Jared and Coco were several yards in front of me as I lazily strolled behind reading signs and enjoying the park, when suddenly a claw reached down to grab me just barely missing my hair. I began to scream and then I heard the scurrying of feet above me. Jared could see on top of the roof and said it was one of the monkey from the cage. Which then proceeded to jump down and started to follow me. Jared happened to get a picture of it lurking and stalking me, right before it began to hiss and run at me... In my entire life I have never been so scared... I was screaming, which caused Coco to scream and then caused the monkey to continue to charge at me... The only thing I could do was start to kick as much dirt in the air and wave my hands and arms like a crazy person. Screaming "GET AWAY YOU FLIPPIN MONKEY!!" and then with speed I had no idea I had I ran so hard and fast up the mountain.
Coco was crying and screaming "I HATE FLIPPIN MONKEYS!!"... I kept thinking with all our screaming someone had to be in the park and they would come and see if we were okay? Right? Well.... Nope... Good thing the lions, puma or tapir weren't lose instead... :(
Coco shares her experience in the below video: and NO monkey's were hurt during our escapade as we didn't have a stick yet...
We then decided we wouldn't ever go to the part of the exhibit again and began to stroll through the last part of the park, but realized it was beginning to rain. We found a little area with picnic tables and began to sit out the storm as now there was thunder and lightening all around. The temperature began to drop and after about an hour of waiting it out we realized the park was going to be closing and we would have no way down to the very bottom of the mountain if we didn't start walking, even if it was thunder and lightening. The entire mountain was flooding with rivers of water streaming down the clay and mud trails. Coco's Crocs had become handy as she had no problem walking in the mud. Where as Jared and I only had our good running shoes on, which in a matter of minutes were covered with mud. As we tried to grip the now slippery, splinter, nail infested railings I began to fall down an entire mud slide and slid to the base of the trail. Poor Coco took many spills and was covered in mud also. We kept trying to hurry down as we were fearful of
the lightening and the park closing.
We finally got to the entrance and no one was around. We spotted a vehicle down below and realized it was the ranger who was trying to radio for a cab for us, but the radios weren't working because of the storm. She then agreed to drive us down the mountain to a place were we could hail a cab. Unfortunately, when we got to the base of the mountain there were boulders and rocks littering the roads and she was forced to drive us into the city. Wet, cold, bruised, muddy and happy to have made it through our little adventure, Coco exclaimed "I LOVE HIKING! LETS DO MORE!!" That's our adventurer girl...
Coco Starts Ballet
On our same street is a ballet studio. It sits on the second floor of a very old building, it's beautiful. We decided to stop in and inquire about lessons for Coco and they invited her to join a session (hence the hair down and not appropriate attire). She absolutely loved it. She had a hard time with the concept of being graceful and that its not a race, lol... Hence the video... She will be going Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and again its in Spanish, so hopefully she continues to learn away..
New Friends
Our friends we met Don and Donna (father and daughter duo) invited us for dinner and the symphony. We all met at their friend Sebastian's restaurant CoChocolate. It was a beautiful, modern restaurant with all sorts of cuisine. The owner Sebastian had studied at Montana State University and now arranges exchange programs for students in Ecuador to study at Bozeman :) Let's just say we all had sooooo much to talk about. Sebastian's beautiful girlfriend, Alex, is a national celebrity and recently is becoming an international celebrity for extreme mountain biking. Proud Sebastian and Donna showed us her latest article in one of Ecuador's outdoor magazine, in which she graces the cover. Coco was so cute as she exclaimed, upon seeing Alex's cover shot with mud all over her face from a competition, "she is dirty and needs a bath."
Donna's husband Roger and another Cuencan friend George also joined us and what was supposed to be an hour dinner lasted 4 hours. The food, wine, laughter and making of new friendships was so incredible and enticing we never made the symphony. This is the kind of stuff I long for when traveling. Sebastian shared stories of his first time flying and his initial flight to the states at the LA airport and how he couldn't speak barely any English. We were laughing as we shared our similar stories of landing in Ecuador. It was a beautiful night and at the end Sebastian and Alex drove us home and said they would love to take us to the Cajas National Forest hiking (not mountain biking, THANK GOD, I would kill myself, lol)
Bus Ride
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| Killer stalker monkey |
Coco was crying and screaming "I HATE FLIPPIN MONKEYS!!"... I kept thinking with all our screaming someone had to be in the park and they would come and see if we were okay? Right? Well.... Nope... Good thing the lions, puma or tapir weren't lose instead... :(
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| Beautiful Macaus |
Coco shares her experience in the below video: and NO monkey's were hurt during our escapade as we didn't have a stick yet...
We then decided we wouldn't ever go to the part of the exhibit again and began to stroll through the last part of the park, but realized it was beginning to rain. We found a little area with picnic tables and began to sit out the storm as now there was thunder and lightening all around. The temperature began to drop and after about an hour of waiting it out we realized the park was going to be closing and we would have no way down to the very bottom of the mountain if we didn't start walking, even if it was thunder and lightening. The entire mountain was flooding with rivers of water streaming down the clay and mud trails. Coco's Crocs had become handy as she had no problem walking in the mud. Where as Jared and I only had our good running shoes on, which in a matter of minutes were covered with mud. As we tried to grip the now slippery, splinter, nail infested railings I began to fall down an entire mud slide and slid to the base of the trail. Poor Coco took many spills and was covered in mud also. We kept trying to hurry down as we were fearful of
the lightening and the park closing.
We finally got to the entrance and no one was around. We spotted a vehicle down below and realized it was the ranger who was trying to radio for a cab for us, but the radios weren't working because of the storm. She then agreed to drive us down the mountain to a place were we could hail a cab. Unfortunately, when we got to the base of the mountain there were boulders and rocks littering the roads and she was forced to drive us into the city. Wet, cold, bruised, muddy and happy to have made it through our little adventure, Coco exclaimed "I LOVE HIKING! LETS DO MORE!!" That's our adventurer girl...
Coco Starts Ballet
On our same street is a ballet studio. It sits on the second floor of a very old building, it's beautiful. We decided to stop in and inquire about lessons for Coco and they invited her to join a session (hence the hair down and not appropriate attire). She absolutely loved it. She had a hard time with the concept of being graceful and that its not a race, lol... Hence the video... She will be going Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and again its in Spanish, so hopefully she continues to learn away..
New Friends
Our friends we met Don and Donna (father and daughter duo) invited us for dinner and the symphony. We all met at their friend Sebastian's restaurant CoChocolate. It was a beautiful, modern restaurant with all sorts of cuisine. The owner Sebastian had studied at Montana State University and now arranges exchange programs for students in Ecuador to study at Bozeman :) Let's just say we all had sooooo much to talk about. Sebastian's beautiful girlfriend, Alex, is a national celebrity and recently is becoming an international celebrity for extreme mountain biking. Proud Sebastian and Donna showed us her latest article in one of Ecuador's outdoor magazine, in which she graces the cover. Coco was so cute as she exclaimed, upon seeing Alex's cover shot with mud all over her face from a competition, "she is dirty and needs a bath."
Donna's husband Roger and another Cuencan friend George also joined us and what was supposed to be an hour dinner lasted 4 hours. The food, wine, laughter and making of new friendships was so incredible and enticing we never made the symphony. This is the kind of stuff I long for when traveling. Sebastian shared stories of his first time flying and his initial flight to the states at the LA airport and how he couldn't speak barely any English. We were laughing as we shared our similar stories of landing in Ecuador. It was a beautiful night and at the end Sebastian and Alex drove us home and said they would love to take us to the Cajas National Forest hiking (not mountain biking, THANK GOD, I would kill myself, lol)
Bus Ride
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| Double Decker Bus (Daddy and his girl) |
Today we woke up and decided it's our one month anniversary of living in this AMAZING place and decided to do the double decker bus tour. It was stunning. We had so much fun and it was the perfect way to see the city we have fallen in love with. Upon reflecting back upon the decision to move to a place we had never been with our family, we are so grateful that we took on this adventure. The people, the city and our life here is absolutely different than any life we've lived before. We haven't once said we miss home or wish we hadn't taken this journey. It hasn't been easy at times, especially when there's hiccups with work in the states or Jared's school, finding an apartment or mail forwarding. Or even learning how to get something in English notarized, but it's amazing how Jared and I work as a team and get things done. I guess this adventure has really made us all so much closer and I now have time to really savor and appreciate time with Jared and Coco.
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| The main square of Cuenca |
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| Another Beautiful Cathedral it feel like Spain or Europe in this city |
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| With her Mora drink in hand... |
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| Our BEAUTIFUL city and the cathedral, we live about 2 blocks from. |
New Neighbors
So today we could hear people in the flat next door and they were speaking English. We proceeded to spy and eavesdrop on the conversation, until they busted us staring out our window. Jared went out and said "hi" they are in their 30's and from Colorado. They move in Monday... Yay!! Maybe they'll be cool... We'll keep you posted... :)
Last Note
During one of Coco's (Isabel's) Spanish sessions she had seen a jewelry box on one of the many streets she walks with her teacher. She came and met me for breakfast at the coffee shop and told me how beautiful it was and how much it cost (as she had inquired in Spanish with her teacher). I told her if she could find the shop, I would get it for her. The streets of this city are a maze and I am always lost. She darts out of the restaurant and zig zags down streets, past several shops, several blocks and says "it's next to a store with Cocodots" (aka polka dots she has never said it correctly, lol), as I'm beginning to give up hope. We turn one more corner and sure enough a store painted in polka dots and next to it her jewelry box, with the exact price she had said. We're proud of our girl and her adjusting to life here.
So today we could hear people in the flat next door and they were speaking English. We proceeded to spy and eavesdrop on the conversation, until they busted us staring out our window. Jared went out and said "hi" they are in their 30's and from Colorado. They move in Monday... Yay!! Maybe they'll be cool... We'll keep you posted... :)
Last Note
During one of Coco's (Isabel's) Spanish sessions she had seen a jewelry box on one of the many streets she walks with her teacher. She came and met me for breakfast at the coffee shop and told me how beautiful it was and how much it cost (as she had inquired in Spanish with her teacher). I told her if she could find the shop, I would get it for her. The streets of this city are a maze and I am always lost. She darts out of the restaurant and zig zags down streets, past several shops, several blocks and says "it's next to a store with Cocodots" (aka polka dots she has never said it correctly, lol), as I'm beginning to give up hope. We turn one more corner and sure enough a store painted in polka dots and next to it her jewelry box, with the exact price she had said. We're proud of our girl and her adjusting to life here.
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