Visit from Grandma and Grandpa

We had our first visitors from home -- my dad (David Zopf) and my stepmother (Sandy Crow), known to the kids as Grandpa David and Grandma Sandy.  Dad and Sandy were in Ecuador for almost a month -- first visiting the Galapagos, then some of the mountainous regions around Quito and Cuenca, and then down to us.  They had a great trip, and it was really good to see them.

 Annalise giving Grandpa a hug

Grandparents with a goofy child 

Annalise and Grandpa playing with the tadpoles in the Mission pond

Grandma and Annalise walking down a path at the mission

Panoramic of the mission compound

We hung around Guadalupe for about a day and a half, showing them the town -- the clinic, the kids' school, and a few other things.  That took about an hour.  :)

The next day we went swimming, and then went to an ecological hotel / reserve called Copalinga, which is right outside of Zamora (about 45 minutes from Guadalupe).  It is known mainly as a bird watching place, and though we are not really birders, we did have a good (and lazy) time.  There were some awesome humming birds, and some cool butterfly species.

This thing, which looks for all the world like a half eaten leaf, is actually a moth:

Check out these amazing butterflies that landed on our water bottles:

So cool, right?  The top side of their wings is black with a blue stripe.  Very pretty.

It was a hot  day (and in the Ecuadorian sun, it feels about 10 degrees hotter than the air actually is), so we went swimming at the river, and brought a picnic lunch down there.  Annalise found a nice rock to sit on to dangle her feet in the water.  Emmett and John found a sweet rock to jump off of, with a deep pool in the jumping spot.  It was pretty awesome.

There was this constant stream of yellow butterflies flying down the river, like a butterfly highway.  It really was beautiful.

One of the really nice things about having visitors from home, was having someone to witness our experience down here.  Sometimes it feels like we are in a bit of a black hole, and having some concrete contact with our family and friends back home feels really good.  Please feel free to email us -- we would love to hear from you all!

Podocarpus National Park

The priest at the Mission, Padre Jorge (nee Georg Nigsch, from Austria) was kind enough to take us on a day trip to Podocarpus National Park.  He has a car, so it saved us from having to take public transportation, which was a nice treat.  Podocarpus is a large and amazing place -- I read that 40% of the plan species there do not exist anywhere else.

The day we went was very rainy, and everything was wet and drippy.  Being Northwesterners, though, we felt right at home!  Do we own rain gear?  Heck yes!

John and the kids with Padre Jorge

We hiked up to a waterfall called "Cascada La Poderosa," or "The Powerful Waterfall."  It was pretty cool...

With the kids hiking to the falls down at the bottom, it gives you a sense of scale

The "bridge" on the right feels only slightly less rickety than it looks

The mist from the falls, plus the constant drizzle, got us very wet.  Honestly it kind of reminded us of home, in a more jungle-y way.  It also made me think of the hiking we have done during our camping trips in Western Washington, and how different the vegetation is here.  There is not an evergreen tree anywhere -- and yet, everything is green all the time.  Right now is the hot and dry season (that particular day excepted), and everything is still very lush.

 They managed to find a tiny waterfall next to the big one.  Who can resist going under it?

Partners in crime

 Emmett helping his sister back across the creek

More Dia de los Muertos -- and John's birthday

Here are a few more pictures of the diversity of the cemetery here in town:

People leave little cards and decorations for their deceased loved ones, like valentines for the dead

There is a miner's helmet at the bottom of this metal plaque -- we are guessing this person may have been killed in a mining accident (there are multiple gold mines in the area)

It was a hot day, and there was a Catholic mass in the cemetery starting at 11am -- right in the middle of the strongest sun of the day. As I mentioned in the last post, the mood in the cemetery can range from morose to jubilant... in Guadalupe it was somewhere in between.  Families gathered at grave sites, but few were crying, and it was not really a party atmosphere either.

People huddled into whatever shad they could find, including many hand held umbrellas

The chapel in the background is where the mass was held

Inside the chapel at the beginning of mass, over Sister Alicia's shoulder

Annalise found the shade of a tree from which to watch the event

Mom, I am hot and uncomfortable

The combination of burning candles and dry grass caused a few unexpected fires (which were promptly put out)

And let us not forget that today, November 2nd,  is John's birthday!  It is almost certainly the hottest birthday he will have for a long time -- and the most interesting.  Annalise made him a yogurt, banana and granola parfait for breakfast this morning to start out his day.  This afternoon, some of the people from his evening class brought us over a home cooked lunch in honor of his birthday -- fried tilapia and plantains with rice.  It's really nice to see how much good will he is engendering in the community by volunteering so much time to each English (which is wholly by popular demand -- he had not planned it at all).  

 It was really delicious.

Even the kids, who are not usually major fans of fish, ate it up.

The card the gave him reads:  "Happy Birthday Jhonn [sic].  On behalf of your students, with much affection."

The kids and I made him a banana chocolate chip cake with a sort of chocolate ganache as a frosting -- it was not the most *beautiful* cake we ever made, but it sure tasted good.  Happy 54th birthday to John!  Not a bad way to ring in a new year of life.

Dia de los Muertos

Today, November 2nd, is knows as Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.  It is a day when Latin Americans spend with their families, sharing food and remembering their deceased loved ones. Different countries have different customs, and ways of celebrating Dia de los Muertos -- in the USA we are most familiar with Mexican customs of sugar skulls and related art work.  In Ecuador the customs are a little different.

On Dia de los Muertos, families gather in the cemetery at the graves of their loved ones.  What they do there depends on their specific culture.  One of my Spanish teachers in Quito told me that he once went to a cemetery that was half Mestizo and half indigenous on Dia de los Muertos.  On the Mestizo side, it was a sad occasion and people were crying -- and on the indigenous side it was more a celebration, with picnics and singing and dancing.

Another Ecuadorian tradition is the making of "guaguas de pan," or "bread babies" -- and a drink called "colada morada".  The bread babies take different forms in different parts of the country, and are sometimes elaborately decorated and filled with jelly.  In other places they are more plain (but still yummy).  The "colada morada" is made of a blue corn flour cooked with a purple berry and some other fruits -- its warm and think and fruity, and also yummy.

It is a short school week this week -- the kids had school on only Monday and Tuesday.  Wednesday and Thursday are family days (much like the long Thanksgiving weekend in the USA), and Friday is like a recovery day.  So, on Tuesday the kids' school took part in the tradition of making "guaguas de pan" and "colada morada."  (Emmett was home sick with a stomach virus that day, so only Annalise was there.)

Annalise and her buddy Angeles

Frying the bread babies in the "school kitchen" -- over an open fire

Annalise and friends waiting patiently to eat

Unique, hand made bread babies and colada morada (with pieces of fruit floating in it)

The school cafeteria

The "colada morada" was cooked in the big cauldron (Jorge and Juan Diego are watching over it)

The school doesn't have enough cups for everyone, but drinking out of a bowl is just as good

I love the expression and individuality

Emmett says this one was delicious

I noticed Annalise's name written on the kitchen door -- she said "Mom, I didn't write it!"  Yeah, I guessed that.  

The teacher gave us some guaguas and colada to bring home with us, for Emmett who was home sick that day, and for John who has been volunteering teaching English in the kids' school (in addition to teaching English in the larger public school in town, and to a group of kids and adults in town two evenings per week with Emmett as copilot).  It was all very yummy, and it was really fun to be part of the tradition.

Today we took part in the event at the cemetery, which is on the Mission grounds just across the river and up the hill from our apartment.  It became evident early in the day that most of the foot traffic in town was heading in that direction.  Early in the morning we took a walk up there, before most people had arrived, to take a look at some of the graves.  Many of the older graves were just marked with a simple wooden or cement cross, but the newer ones took many different forms.

This truck was selling balloons -- later on people set up tents selling ice cream, drinks and popsicles

Notice the woman on the right in the yellow sweater kneeling at the gravesite of her family member

This cross grave marker has almost sunk into the ground

People make brush piles to provide shade for their deceased loved ones (it was a really hot day, so we could appreciate the importance of this)

The priest's residence and church offices are in the background

Emmett noticed a baby-sized sarcophagus

Notice the candles burning next to grave sites -- there were many of these

A relatively new grave

There is a small shade roof over the cross on the right