Final Farewell

The last week is here. I must say I don't think I will miss the buses here. Thursday we went down to Cuenca for a convention and a chance to see our friends on more time. The bus ride was nearly 8 hours and long. No matter how many times it happens, I will still not get use to a lady sitting down beside me, pulling out here breast, and feeding her baby, then just letting it hang out for a while in case the kid gets hungry again.

Aidan and Monica

In Cuenca we had a chance to spend some time with new and old friends. I must say that our organization is truly the greatest in the world. Who else can have true family, Anywhere, Anytime, with Anyone even though they don't know anybody in a given town or country. The friends and family here of every race and culture that we have made will be there forever. So good are these friends that Sunday was a difficult day to say goodbye. I think we were among that last 15 people to leave the convention.

Back in Banos for our final few days, we have now had a chance here to say goodbye to friends. Again a difficult thing. We've only known them for a few months but it seems like forever. To have people who you've only spent 2 months with coming to you, hugging you, and asking WHEN not IF

The boys are back in town

Our Family in Banos

you will return. Again last night I think we spent about 45 mins taking pictures with different families. I can only say that we truly have an international family.




Today and tomorrow we will try and relax a little and Friday night Saturday morning is the big day. See you soon. And to the next adventure we go. Or start to prepare for our next one.

The cost of going home

Sad to think down to the wire and less then 10 days left on an incredible journey. Off to Cuenca for one last visit tomorrow for a convention and then we head home and have 4 days left. As we prepare to go home you get a realization it will cost a lot to go home. In fact I bet I could live here for several months on that cost.

Things to factor in that maybe you don't think about before coming but realize as you head home. We sold our house and now will need to rent an apartment. In Ottawa rentals run at about 1200$ a month and we will need first and last months rent. Our car we kept so thats a good thing but that being said it's been sitting for 9 months so needs some work probabky somewhere between $500-1000. And if you are going to drive you need insurance so there's another $1000 for the year. These are the basics but unfortunately there is more.

Clothing here in Ecuador is not well made and with all the walking and washing your clothes take a beating. Plus you will probably lose weight so now you need to buy clothes when you get home. And yes one final thing technology here is expensive so you are best to bring items that you don't mind selling. The nice thing about this is that the money you make selling your items you can use to buy new items back home.

One of the last factors is work. If you have a job to come home to then that's great and helps. But remember you may not have a check for 2-3 weeks after you start. If you don't have a job it's time to hit the pavement looking. At least I do have a job to go home to which helps a lot. Everything having been said is it's definitely worth the time and money to have an adventure such as this. And personally I look forward to doing it again. Maybe Mexico next time.

One Week In

So here we are 1 week later. Its a cozy little place but different living without certain amenities. For example every 2 days Heidi washes the clothes by hand since we don't have a wash machine or dryer. Then we hope the day stays nice and warm so that the clothes dry. Our oven is a square block that has 2 settings very crispy or extra crispy. The banana bread turned out good but the pan is another story all together. I don't think she'll make it. For coffee we have to boil some water, and then we have a 1 cup percolator for the brew. As for food, there are 2 small tiendas or convenience stores in town which provide the basic necessities.  We can get milk, eggs, fruit, veggies, penguino which is ice cream, as well as cerveza. Anything else we need to make our way to town which is about 15 minutes away and a different story altogether. Oh ya and if we want chicken for 10$ we can pick one across the street and our neighbor will kill and pluck it for us. So if that big black one comes back on my property oh baby look out.

Interestingly enough my internet is better here then in the great modern city of Cuenca, go figure. We also have cable and a TV. The kids are so happy for TV again.

The way to town. So the bus goes by and sometimes goes by again and again but, finally one will stop and pick us up. The process can take 20-30 minutes to catch a bus to Banos. Or in some cases you can catch the bicycle taxi as in the picture below. Now the other issue is don't miss you're stop like we did. We were about 5 minutes out of town and realized things didn't look quite right and had to taxi back to make our group for service only to realize that we were the only ones who showed up. Thats okay it gave me a reason to come into town for my favorite, Breakfast.

Back of bicycle taxi

Under the falls

Pilion Del Diable 

Life here is a little too nice and easy going. Kids can go outside and play in the river behind the house, we can go for hikes up and down the mountain side, and yesterday we went to the Pilion Del Diable a beautiful powerful waterfall. Its funny I was complaining about having to pay 1.50$ each to see it, but then we realized if you wanted to see and stand under Niagra Falls it would cost somewhere near 30$ so I guess I can deal with 1.50$ for now.

A Trip to the Coast

The beach in Olon

So we are back in Guayaquil at the bus station. The bus from there to the town we want to visit Olon is booked until 3 PM about 4 hrs away. We are told that we can bus from Guayaquil to Santa Elena and the hop any bus headed our direction from there. Seems like a reasonable option and it was. We arrived in Olon at about 3:30 and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon and evening on the beach.

Upon arrival we checked into a small hostel called Hostel Oloncito. It was a nice little place with 7 rooms. The owner calls it a family hostel and likes to keep it that way. And where ever other hostel charged 15$ per person this owner gave the kids at half price. He didn't have a restaurant but he did have a kitchen and gave us full access to it. It was a 2 minute walk to the beach, if even. Definitely a place to stay again.

Beach in Montanita Son helping Dad at work

The beach was beautiful. I would say it rivals the beaches in Cuba. It was secluded in that it is nestled between 2 rock masses. It is cut off from Montanita which is the next town over. There are about 10 cabana's on the beach to buy food and the fruit drinks are amazing. The one stand we were using put 4 oz of rum in the glass and with fresh pineapple for your Pinacolda what more do you need, Oh yes $2.50.

Fresh Fish in the Morning

We took a day and visited Montanita. We finally found great variety in food. Anything you wanted was available it was a nice change from the usual Chicken and Rice. Although, the beach was disappointing, too many people, they wanted to charge for a chair, and all and all if your not in the party scene stay off. Many told us that this beach was well basically the drugs, sex and rock and roll capital but really I found no worse then any other place. That being said we did not stick around to see the night scene. It could very well change fast.

Keefe's Starfish

On our last day we walked the beach to the next sleepy town over and must have walk about 5 KM. it was an enjoyable walk and we found all kinds of marine life. If you want to see Sand Dollars we must have found about 50 of them. And then there are the starfish as well.


 We headed home at 6 PM. And did our trip home in reverse. We went from Montanita to Santa Elena on one bus. Then arrived with 5 minutes to spare to catch the bus to Guayaquil. We arrived in Guayaquil at 10:30 and caught the 11 PM bus to Cuenca getting home around 3 AM.

A dead turtle but a big one

Stingray on the beach

A Trip to the Coast

We made our first trip to the coast. Off to Puerto Lopez we went. First stop Cuenca Bus station to purchase a ride to Guayguil, cost 24$ for 4 people. The bus ride to Guayguil was 4 hrs down the mountains and through the beautiful Cajas.  Upon arrival in Guayguil we found the ticket booth for the bus to Jipijapa. This bus takes you right into Puerto Lopez. Again a low cost of 16$ for the 4 of us. This bus ride stops in Jipijapa for about 15 min and then continues on to Puerto Lopez, altogether about a 4 hr ride as well. So all in all an 8 hr trip but well worth it.

Upon arrival we checked into a nice little Hostel about a 1 minute walk to the beach. The room had a double bed, and a bunk bed which worked perfectly. We also had a private shower. After a good meal of burgers and salchipapas on the beach it was time for bed to prepare for our big day tomorrow.

An early morning start is hard in some small towns. I've never had as hard a time to find a good breakfast stop as I have here in Ecuador.  Finally after finding one and paying nearly 17$ for 4 breakfasts we were off to the beach. First stop whale watching. And what a scene it was.  Not the clearest picture but by the time you click the camera they are already back in the water.

Next stop Ilsa de Plata AKA the poor mans Galapagos. This was a beautiful walk on an undisturbed island. Animals just sitting and not worried about us the people. On the island you will find several animal. They have the Blue Footed Boobies, some small lizards and some nice Turtles.  

 We enjoyed our lunch on the boat with these beautiful turtles all around us. It was truly a privilege.  Next off we go around the island to do a little snorkeling.  Now this was my first time trying snorkeling and was quite interesting. Some beautiful fish were in the water, Keefe even claims he saw Nemo (the clown fish).

Around came 3:30 and it was time to go home. Everyone was tired out and sleepy on the trip home. The boat ride back is about 50 mins.

As much as the island trip was beautiful, we are told that during the months on Jan - April the vegetation is much more lush and it is a good time to visit. You just need to watch for rain showers during those months as they can come out of nowhere.

The next day we did decide to go home as it was quite the overcast day and the beach would not be as enjoyable. We hopped a bus to Jipijapa then a second bus to Guayguil. Once in Guayguil we decided to stay a few hour and check out Iguana Park. If in Guayguil you must make the  trip. It's about 10 minutes from the airport and bus station and something you will never forget.

Seeing both this and the Isla de Plata shows one thing, man and beast can live in peace. In both the areas the animals had no fear of us and were fine walking side by side. And with the Iguana's you could even  touch them as seen above the old man is feeding them.

Home we go. A short trip but one none of us will ever forget. In fact so enjoyable we will do again. This is just one of the many different things you can do here in Ecuador. The land with many lands.

The Thermal Pools of Banos Cuenca

Another week gone by and a busy one it was. It's nice to be in a regular routine in our new home. This week we toke off on Friday to Banos (Cuenca). This is a thermal hot spring about 10 minutes out of town. There are 4 different resorts that we found out there. The nicest appear to be the one we choose which was called Piedra De Agua. It was $10 each and $5 for the kids. For that you have access to the Turco (steam bath), Hot pool, and freezing cold pool. There is also a $20 upgrade to get into the Spa. The Spa gives you access to a personal assistant who walks you through the Turco, the Red and Blue mud bath. He then takes you below ground where you sit in the hot tub for 10 minutes and then a freezing cold tub for 2 minutes, and finally you have the steam box. A nice experience and I bet it's even better if you don't have any kids with you.

The picture above is the mud bath area of the spa. To the left this is the hot pool with basic access. There is also a eating area as well as massages available. Definitely worth the visit if in the area. And for us worth several visits as it is a 10 minute bus ride. We walk 5 minutes up the road grab the #12 bus and 10 minutes later we are there.

We didn't do much exploring this week. But we did have an opportunity to meet many of our neighbors. And what's quite interesting is that most of them speak English, in fact in our building of the 7 families it appears 6 speak English.

The question does remain is life here feasible? We found several things out. If looking to maximize your stay here you can take a 1 year Spanish class at a University for between $1000-1500 including books. This will allow you to apply for the student VISA. That being said we understand laws to change quickly here But technically you could come in on a tourist Visa, Apply for a 6 month Visa, after which you could take a University course and then apply for a 1 year student Visa. Giving you a total of near 2 years in the country.

Looking for work during this time? You have options. One I found the other day is called oDesk. At oDesk you sign up for free, post a resume and search for jobs that are done online. It can be anything from writing reports or proposals to being an admin assistant or even posting products online. Everything is done and logged online. There are hourly jobs as well as contracts. Another option is Open English, this is an English teaching online opportunity. You sign up and get paid to teach online. There are quite a few friends down here doing this option. Another teaching opportunity is Tutor  ABC. The difference with the two is that Tutor ABC is teaching to Chinese where as Open English targets South America.

So can life down here work? Yes, how free you want to be depends on how much you want to spend, and how simple you want to live.

A trip to the Museum

Life is surprisingly busy here. For one thing anything you need takes time. The other day I needed a few items and by the time we went to the grocery store and hit the downtown area for a 1 lbs of coffee for $3.50 it took about 1.5hrs. So with a schedule of up and out every morning for 3 hrs and then work for 2hrs it doesn't take long that your day fills up. Before you know it, it's 8 o'clock and your ready for bed. All that being said Friday's are family day.

View from the bottom

View from the top

Monday to Thursday Heidi schools the kids each day. And it's quite amazing how much they are learning. Aidan can now add and subtract and Keefe is learn multiplication and division. But Friday's are special, we take a field trip. So on Friday we went to the Bank Museum. The name was very deceiving to me. I thought why would anyone go there. Turns out it is a history museum and it goes through the different tribes that lived in Ecuador and how they lived. They even had real shrunken heads in the Amazon section of the museum. Then you make your way outside and there is a Inca ruin, still not sure if it was just a  reconstruction or whether there was an actual burial site there as there is a tunnel which is closed off that are what appears to be burial grounds. And as a bonus it's FREE to go in. Imagine that a free museum that is interesting.   

A Inca house

Sunday's are always quite interesting. There is always such a flavor at the meetings we have American's, Australians, Canadians, and local Ecuadorians. All giving comments and participating. This week was special because we had friends come down from the coast who had just finish pioneer school and were actually in the July study issue. The very one we were studying. After we had the pleasure of going for Lunch - Almoerzos of course and had soup, chicken, rice, beans, and fresh juice for $1.75.

Our new celebrity friends

After lunch it was off to some friends house for board games and snacks. Life here keeps us busy. But the fun is always as a family. Something you don't get to do as much back home. To see the unity with the friends. The interest in the people, and the time you spend as a family truly is a blessing beyond compare.

Our new home

So here we are our new home in cuenca. It's a 2 bedroom fully furnished apartment. It even came with washer and dryer which you don't get everywhere, plus utilities are included. Even internet is included, finally unlimited internet with a decent speed. The area is great, a park 2 minutes away where we take the kids to play soccer or I should say futbole and let them run around. There's 4 bakeries in the area. Buses are a 5 minute walk away and we can get anywhere in the city within 25 mins on the bus. There's even a shopping mall a 20 minute walk away.

Kitchen

Livingroom

Up the street we found a little restaurant like a st.hubert and got a half chicken, fries, rice, sauce and some kinda of vegetable we couldn't identify for $9 in a nice little to go box. We also found a little tailor that fixed our sons coat for $1 and a shoe repair shop that fixed 2 pairs of shoes for $8 although I'm pretty sure he gringo taxed me should have been $5 at most.

Sunday we went for Almouzos which is the term for a standard lunch which includes a soup, rice and chicken and a glass of juice. All that for $1.75 and if you want to have it in a fancy restaurant it's between $2-2.50. Anyways we were 9 of us and lunch cost $20 for all of us. Today we went to the market and stopped at another little lunch stop and had Salchipapas which is a bowl of fries with a hotdog and lettus for $1.00 and that was the large one, could have got the small for $0.75 and would have been enough. Juice was another $0.50.

The last thing I needed to setup was a mailing address. So how do you get mail here especially things you need. There is a service called Club Correo and basically it gives you an American address in Miami after which your items get imported here and they call you when your package arrives. And the nice part with this is that it is all setup online and after paying with PayPal you're ready to roll and start receiving packages. All that being said it's setup, we'll see how it works I've ordered my first package. I'll keep you posted.

A Drive Through the Andes

The dilemma get from Quito to Cuenca with 2 kids and 8 bags. The choices. Overnight bus, airplane, taxi/busetta, or rent and a car and drive. After trying for several days to locate a busetta we started to think about the plane as the trip would have cost for all 4 of us under 200$ problem being, bring all the bags and loading and unloading. More pain then it was worth. So we decided to rent a car and drive ourselves. Those who know me know I will drive almost anywhere and anytime. I mean after Mexico how bad can Ecuador be. We decided to go with Avis rent a car. Probably paid more then we should have but I felt with a national name we should be good. We got a a 4 door Mazda BT-50 pick up truck. All I can say is gut less.

Rolling Hills

Land Slide

We left Quito at 7am and arrived in Cuenca at 2pm so basically 7 hrs. The drive is something special in so many ways. To drive through the country side and see the beauty all around it really makes one marvel in awe at creation. Rolling hills that only to see can explain. Homes on the side of beautiful picturesque mountains. And people cultivating the grounds with donkeys and there hands. Upon seeing that you can only imagine what paradis would be like. Although living and driving in the mountains does pose its problems. As we headed out we ran into a closed portion of highway due to a landslide. And then not to mention crazy drivers. At one point we were following a trailer that was pulling a airplane and as he felt that the bus in front of him was going to slow he decided to pull out and pass into oncoming traffic. Of course realizing he couldn't he pulled right back in. Finally he managed to pass into on coming traffic of course but this time the traffic was slower and moved over for him and me. Yes as much as the road is good it is only 2 lanes all the way. Since the up and down is really steep at some points some cars are only going 20km/hr so people get inpatient. Not to forget the trucks or cars with 10-15 people in them. And here's where my gut less pick up comes in, 3rd gear doing 70km/hr going up the mountains. All said and done it was quite worth the $230 we paid for the rental.

Airplane

So here we are in Cuenca where we will spend the next 8 months. We are housing for a week and then get our new apartment which us literally 1 block away from where we are house sitting in fact we can see our new home from the bedroom window. Tomorrow we start our new schedule. And already our new friends have put us to work.

Internet Frustrations

The good old internet, who can live without. When we have cell phones, tablets, wifi, cable connection, to come here and balance internet use is tough. A prepaid cell phone gets you for $10 about 300mg. If carefully it can last you the 30 or so days, just turn off the network when not in use and only check emails when necessary.

But home internet is the catch. So the lesson of the day is, IF possible rent a home with working internet. This home has working internet But - the wifi computer was to far from our unit to be able to pick up. We ended up buying a rocket stick from Movistar. For a $110 we got the stick with 500mg a month as long as we buy a $3 refill every month. Yes the stick is prepaid. I have so far put $26 on the stick and once again have nothing left. In fact I'm fortunate I downloaded the Blogger app on my tablet so I can write this and then when I go to the store later I will get another $10 or $20 refill. Hopefully that will last us till we get our new home in Cuenca that has unlimited internet included (yeah). I guess if your not a big internet user then the prepaid will work for you but for a family of 4 who want to keep in touch with friends, family and clients then you need more.

Now the prepaid phone is something else. Here's a trick for all, watch for a 2 X 1 day sticker or cardboard on the doors of stores. These come every month it seems for both Claro and Movistar. I have both. What this will do is on a $3 refill you will get $6. The bonus $3 is valid for 15 days and only on calls within the circle. So that means Movistar to Movistar or Claro to Claro. Also as it is only valid for 15 days they will use your principal before using the bonus time so let your phone run out. This is okay because incoming calls are always free. I have put $16 on my Movistar phone this month and with it have been able to send and receive emails with caution and use it for calls.

Another thing with phones to consider before coming is buying a dual chip phone. It seems that everyone here carries 2 phones one for Claro and one for Movistar. This is because calling within a company is cheaper than calling another company. Apparently legislation is passing that will change that I will wait and see what happens before going down to 1 phone company.

A successful trip

It was an easy decision. The apartment was right. The price was right. And we will be able to help the way we wanted. It quite amazing how things can happen. We were worried about finding the right place. So we saw the apartment and it was perfect. The area was nice and felt good being there. A kind American couple showed us the apartment and we got a good feeling from them right away. We left them with an offer on the apartment and met our friends on Sunday. Only to find out that the couple who showed us the apartment were friends of our friends. And they were worried about renting the unit to the right person as well since they were only managing the apartment for a gentleman in the US.

Sunday we met new friends who we hit it off with almost immediately. After spending some time together we headed out for lunch at a little seafood place. Another lesson learned if eating with friends in a group make sure the waiter/waitress knows in advance that there is going to be more than one bill. This is the second time we go out in a group and end up having to split the bill manually. From lunch we walked down to a little ice cream shop on the edge of center town. Actually there are about 5 ice cream shops in the little square. The one we went to had 80 different flavors of ice cream.

A Panoramic View of our New Home Town

On Monday we had a full day to kill so we went on a double Decker bus ride to check out the scenes. Very nice town Cuenca. And its a good size too. Not to big and not to small. Has everything you need and then some. We walked every where. Even to the bus stop at 8pm which was about a 20 min walk from downtown. Not to mention that everyone speaks or understands English. Good for teaching not good for learning. We will have to make sure we carry more English literature with us.

The bus ride home was definitely the most exciting part of our trip. It all started right at the bus terminal.  They had over sold the bus to standing room only. And in Ecuador kids are not entitled to a seat they sit on their mothers lap but they don't pay for kids either. Of course a older native lady comes over and tries to sit on aidan to get him to move over and sit on me. Difference is I did pay for my seats even Aidans. She finally found something at the back. The adventure continues at the next stop in the next town where the police boarded and checked everyone's cedula. Its an ID card all Ecuadorians must carry. Thankfully before we left the ticket guy said something to me back in quito about having ID with us, as I have been using my drivers license as my cedula and it has been working, that being said I brought our Visas with us and it went well. The police here are really nice so no problems so far. After that unlike our ride up the bus stopped in every town on the way home so the lights kept coming on and people kept getting on and off so sleep was impossible. We got home at 5:30 in the morning just beat. I hadn't had the chance to work much on Monday so I had about 2hrs of work to do first then I finished painting this apartment for our landlord. Today I think we will try and rest. Keefe has an English reading tonight so we will work on that with him.

Here we are in cuenca

So we took the overnight bus from quito to cuenca. We left on the 9:45 bus from Flota Imbabura which is basically a grey hound with washrooms and reclining seats so we can rest. We arrived in Cuenca at 6:30 in the morning. We took a 2$ taxi ride from the bus station to the downtown area.  Now the only problem with arriving so early is that it was next to impossible to find a coffee shop that was open at that time. Finally after much walking we found one. Coffee was good but the pastries were better.  From there we walked up and down to the streets to find a descent hostel. We found the going rate to be between 60 and 80 a night for a family of 4. But we finally found a cozy little place called hostel Chordeleg on the corner of Gran Columbian and General Torres. The owner gave us a room with private bath and 3 beds for 45$ a night. The going rate for the room was 60$ a night, really gave us a good price and no Gringo tax. The rooms are built around a center court or patio where you enjoy the complimentary breakfast and wifi was included. Really for the price what more could you ask for. The owner allowed us to check our bags early and we got access to the room at 9 am after it was cleaned. So you could say early check in.

Inside the Hostel

After dropping our bags it was time to tour the city. We made our way around the downtown and found a nice market and lots of scenic areas, a change from what we've seen in quito. We also made our way over to the Rio mall. A full service mall where we enjoyed a Mega meal lunch at a chicken and burger shack for $10 which gave us 2 burgers, fries, chicken nuggets, 2 pieces of chicken and an ice cream dessert. From there we looked at an apartment another $2 taxi ride. Arriving in the area we found a park for the kids and quite the nice homes. The apartment is quite new perhaps 3 years at most and has 2 bathrooms and 2 bedrooms along with everything we need including a washer and dryer, something not all units have. The owner wants $400 a month and will include hydro, water and unlimited internet. I would say sold. So all goes well we will be moving here Sept 1.

Now that we found an apartment time to explore the town. I found a little coffee roaster in town who grinds and bags his coffee at 3.50 a lbs. Might have to see about exporting some of that. It was a good coffee and I brought a bag home. We also found a nice pizza joint where we had lunch. Three slices of pizza, 2 burgers and a Pint and I mean a pint of beer all for $8.50. So yes there are good prices for food here you just have to look. Its very easy to spend money without paying attention. Supper last night was 25$ but here's the difference. Basically for a keg type meal you pay a Montana's price for a Montana's type meal you pay a Mc Donald's price and then if you want look a little harder and you can find the local flavor for below 10$ for the family. All three are good choices it just depends on what you want and how far you need your money to go.
Tomorrow we meet new friends here again before we head back to quito for our final few days. We have a decision to make this week. Stay in quito in one of the valleys, move to Otovalo which was really nice or move to Cuenca. We'll keep you posted.

In the crater of a volcano

Well its been a few days and eventful it was. Where to start.
Friday we had the pleasure of meeting some friends who were our first contact in Ecuador from Canada. They have had the pleasure of traveling the country and in the 12 months they have been here the have seen everything from the amazon to the coast and everything in between. It was nice to hit it off right away with them. all this thanks to to friends who had spent 6 months in costa rica and met a and a in Panama. As I mentioned they have had the pleasure of traveling all over.

Thursday and Tuesday we had the opportunity to work with Spanish friends in the area doing survey work searching for English speaking people. As we were placed 1 English speaking with 1 Spanish speaking it forced us to practice and learn our Spanish even more. What a pleasure that was.

Saturday after our meeting we went for dinner at a mall and enjoyed some good American food - burger and fries. Boy the jungle is hard. Funny story I decided to take a picture of the pizza hut and I had a guy staring at me thinking I was from the jungle and had never seen a pizza hut before. After that we went to a fair which was great as it was free entree and rides were 0.35$ each for kids and $1.50 for adults. After which we went go carting for $6.50. Of course I won.

Sunday we made our up north to a town called otovalo were we went to the market. Wow. Spent to much and by too much I mean maybe $100 for alpaca scarves, hats, blanket, and a shale. So that being said I would like to see about setting up distribution if interested. Its almost a better deal than my Chinese silk ties for those who know about that. In otovalo we met up with our friends a and a again who had scouted the area on Saturday for the big market. Almost double the size of the rest of the week. We went for pizza in a little non Italian Italian restaurant. Again we met a gentleman there from Montreal who was scouting the land. Had an interesting conversation with him. After which we headed back to the hostel for the night. Nice place just very hard beds. That being said it looked like they were slowly replacing the beds in the rooms.

Monday brought more travels. We went up to Cotacachi and had the opportunity to go to the JW leather goods store. I have yet to see the online prices but apparently we got our items at a third the regular price. Picked up book bags for me and heidi. We also went up to a crater of a volcano. It is now a beautiful lake the is protected and the colour is amazing. In the middle of the lake is 2 islands that are pretty much untouched by man - kinda reminds me of the Jurassic park movie. We took a boat ride around the lake and met a couple of Jewish guys who were on a 7 month tour of south America and gave them a ride back to Cotacachi from the volcano. Poor them stuck with the 11 of us and having to listen to us about the bible. It was a good time. They even seemed to enjoy it.

We finished our day a nice restaurant on the side of the water. I would say kinda like a keg just better. And the pricing was good. After which it was a long drive home but well worth the drive. So much so we are considering moving out there as our new home. Just waiting on a few call backs.