Carla on two feet...sort of

Cununyacu 3

Avacado picking time! 4 trees in the front yard. Sure keeping Ramon busy, climbing and picking!

Cununyacu 2

As you can see from the photos, we haven't strayed far from home. No need to...everything we need is within 3-4 km and the Wx has been clear and warm most days....gets up to 25 in the house and only down to 20 at night. Outside its about 27-8 and down to 10ish. Carla is now doing the "one leg tucked under" crawl and is starting to use the walker that Karen gave us for Ramon. Ramon is getting into EVERYTHING! Mom is trying to keep her sanity, keeping the place clean...found slugs, mouse, fleas (which Ramon seems alergic to the bite) and worst of all, RAmon had a bout of scabies, possibly from an old mattress that had been stored too long. So we now have a maid once a week to keep the vermin at bay. All this is due to the fact that the owners had pretty low standards of cleanliness, it's a rural area with a number of crops in the yard,(inc dogs and chickens until recently) and it's a warmer climate year round; no winter kill. Dad's been working nearly every day since the start of school, but I think this will be my last weekend for a while...till reports in December!

Carla: Air dancing with Tia Elcy

Cununyacu

Just found out that we don't live in Tumbaco, but in Cununyacu which is the name of the hot springs across the street, down beside the river. Not a town...just the name of the area...Tumbaco is 3km away. Quito is about a 1/2 hour by bus and Maria will go up there tomorrow for the 1st time to pick up a race package for a 10km race Saturday: Ruta de las Iglesias....route of the churches...thru the historic centre. I've been relegated to babysitting duty, esp since the race starts at 7pm. Have a look at the photos www.rutadelasiglesias.com and click on 'entrar'

I have an extra 10 days off, as the Ecuadorian gov't has stated all schools must start Sept 7...no exceptions. The school had to change its calander for the year and shortened our xmas and November holidays. So just hanging in the hammock...watching Ramon run around the yard and chase chickens; watching Carla who is beginning to crawl...while admiring the glistening glaciers of Cayambe, 25 km to the north, thru which the equator passes thru its highest elevation on the planet.

The volcano in the photo is Cotopaxi....by biking 8km behind the small, extinct volcano Ilalo that we live beside, I'm rewarded with this view.

The excellent black and whites of Ramon were taken by Nicki, the year 4 teacher.

We have orchids in our yard...some that grow up trees, like the purple one. Peaches look ready too! Pics of the kitchen as requested...and others of the garden outside.

Ramon playing with his 3 year old cousin Sarita. Carla learning to swim. Some Ecuadorian traditional dancing and lastly, Ramon found a 3 inch long bug that looks like a leaf...on the front porch!