Ecuador 11/16/2019 - 12/1/2019

Saturday, November 23, 2019 - Catching up with the Family

Today Antonio had to work, and Aida had to go to a minga in the mountains to cut down a pine tree which is interfering with the community's water access. (A minga is a community obligation where everyone helps out for a particular project and is compensated with food and drink). Since I didn't have to work today, we slept late. Shina, Yupanqui, Ashley, and Kelly had Catechism this morning, and they came home together afterwards. For breakfast we had a potato and egg omelette, bread, cheese, ham, coffee, and juice.

It was a nice sunny Saturday. I hung some laundry on the line and Rosa went up to the community center to collect three university students. They arrived back at the house and interviewed her for over an hour about the Kichwa community and its culture.

Ashley, Kelly, and Shina kept running over to us and letting us scoop them up for hugs. They were literally lining up to do this. It was so sweet! Adults here are so busy with the chores of day-to-day life that the children really appreciate our attention. We are more than happy to oblige. We love them as if they were our own.

Abuelita came down the stairs carrying a spoonful of salt. Her smile is infectious and she laughed when I photographed her.

The kids were in the bedroom looking at the photo book of our trip to the Galapagos with Sisa last January. Kelly especially enjoyed looking at it.

Craig had bought a biligual picture book about the Galapagos, and we gave it to the kids. Sisa read the Spanish aloud. Ashley pointed to the illustration of the protagonist snorkeling with the marine life, and she said that it was Sisa.

When Sisa was done reading, Shina read the entire book aloud. We are quite impressed with Shina's academic progress. She originally had some reading and writing problems due to her visual disability. But she's now in third grade and she is doing wonderfully.

While we were eating our carrot soup at lunch, Rosa's niece Delia arrived to pick up daughters Ashley and Kelly. We had pasta with veggies.

Immediately after lunch, Shina read the entire Galapagos picture book aloud again. We were pleased to note that, like her sister Sisa, Shina likes to read.

Then Craig and I came back to the casita for a siesta.

Aida returned home from the minga with some plants that she had gathered high in the mountains. One plant smells like chocolate and makes a nice tea. Aida told us that a spectacled bear which was being rehabilitated on one of the islands of Ciucocha has escaped.

Dinner was soup, a very tender thin steak (Rosa says the most tender beef comes from Quiroga), lentils, rice, beet and green bean salad and juice. I wasn't hungry after a large breakfast and lunch, so I didn't eat.
Rosa and Shina

Rosa and Shina

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