Papi Ramon and Mami Maruja's 2 week visit

Papi Mon and Mami Maruja have been with us for 2 weeks. They will go with Maria and the kids to Pasto tomorrow. It's been great having a full house with all the generations!


The kids watched La Mami slaughter a chicken for soup.

Fresh pineapple, mango, and papaya for breaky every morning.


Bull fight...corrida de torros

Changing of the guard at the presidential palace in Quito this morning.

With cousin Sarita.

Bull fight band.






Old railway tunnel...now a bike route!

Chirimoya tree...sweet, custard like fruit.

Playtime with grandparents

Adam comes for a visit

Best pals :)



The typical lead foot Schmok...although driving fast is quite normal here. Squealing around the corners. Damn good driver though...much better than this old man...half blind, feeling my way down the from the mountains.


Doing what he loves best....kicking back and hanging out....and a cervaza always helps.



Chevy Alto...plenty up pep, even with a full load and great on gas...which is only 1.50 us gallon here.

The kids love him....and now ask where he is....guess that means they miss him.


Young, handsome and single....counting his colesterol, and watching what he eats, just ain't on his radar screen.....yet!

Course he has his bad hair days like the rest of us.

With those climbing skills...I hope we make it up a mountain one weekend.





The new addition to our family....Ramon enticed him out of a sewer grate with some pork a few weeks back and so he stuck with us. Bertha is her name.



Can't help but wonder how such a white baby came out of a "chica morena"




Cloudy, cool weather on the equator?? The coast has it's seasons, unlike the Amazon that stays fairly wet most of the year.


Carla having a drink after a hike up a hill.


The book is you're friend: It teaches you culture, knowledge and feeds your spirit. Take care of me!

Sure are alot of Zambranos in Ecuador.

Running over the new 2km bridge in Bahia de Caraquez.

500usd richer. Gatorade guy trying to give her stuff for the foto. Organizer looks like he needs to get into shape for his own race. And the obligatory "sexy" girls to hand out prizes and pose for pics. Ramon is behind the sign.


I must be getting old....my "little" cousin Adam is now 27 and it doesn't seem that long ago that I held him as a baby! He has decided to explore South America for the winter and we were privilaged to have him start his adventure by hanging out with us for 10 days. The school vehicle broke down the day before we were to leave for our 1 week holiday, so we had to rent a car. We tried out a small mom and pop agency here in Tumbaco and got their last car...a tiny Chev Alto with a 1 litre motor, for only 30usd per day. Served us well and we put on over 2,000km! Drove to Manta where Maria came in 3rd in a 15km and won 500usd. Adam took off to Montanita, a surfer town and few hours further south, where he has started Spanish lessons and surfing lessons when it warms up. Hope he's back for another visit or two on his way to the jungle or for xmas maybe? The coast was cloudy and a cool 23 ish, which was a surprise, but nice for the kids. Then we drove up the coast and up to the Colombian border for another race, in the border town of Ipiales, where Maria was 5th. We drove back yesterday with the grandparents, who will stay with us for 2 weeks. Amazing what you can fit in such a small car!
On another topic...I have the bragging rights for the lowest colesterol. I told Maria, that while she continues to beat me in all the running races, that I would beat her with my colesterol count. She had hers tested for the first time and it's 173. Mine was 190 6 months ago and is now 137! Yippee!

Halloween 2010

Ramon's nursery class...with star teacher Miss Tori :)


Ramon's guagua de pan.


No trick or treating here. But they do celebrate the day of the dead and visit relatives grave sites and party there. Kids decorate bread shaped like babies, called guaguas de pan. Here is an explanation from the internet.

"The Ecuadorian Day of the Ancestors isn’t quite like the Mexican Day of the Dead, nor is it like American Halloween. El día de los difuntos is a time to celebrate one’s dead ancestors. In the small country villages, families dress in their finest clothes and carry a meal to the cemetery, where they dine on top of the grave of their ancestors. One plate is always left for the dead ancestor. This traditional meal includes guaguas de pan and the colada morada.

Guaguas de pan are bread babies. (The word guagua, pronounced wa-wa, is Quechuan.) Some families make their own guaguas de pan at home, but most buy them from the panaderías, or bakeries, which only make them during this time of the year. These bread babies can be up to 12 inches long and are shaped with a ball of dough for the head and a long, tapering ball of dough for the body. They are decorated with icing and may have jam or some other sweet inside."