Wednesday 8/9/2017 - Visiting Rocio, Hector, and Baby Mael David The rain continued well into the night. It seems that Eddy got used to having his own bed in Ecuador. Last night he slept on a shelving unit in the room he shares with Aracely, putting a pillow and blankets on the bottom shelf, and hanging another blanket as a curtain. We had cereal, orange juice, and coffee for breakfast. Eddy and Aracely had summer school classes this morning, but the school had no internet (probably related to the weather) so they were sent home a bit early. We had beef stroganoff for lunch, and the rain finally stopped. After lunch, we asked Vanesa if she wanted to go to Sarita for ice cream, since she had not been able to go with us yesterday. She was watching Ian, who was riding his little moto in the alley. So the four of us set out for Calle Santander, three on foot and Ian on his Flintstone-style foot powered moto. We decided to go to the Sarita location closest to the house, so that Ian wouldn't have to navigate the crowds and traffic further up the street. Ian tried to park his moto out at the curb, but wound up bringing it into Sarita. Vanesa ordered a sundae and shared it with him. They took turns feeding one another. He showed some of his dad's and older sisters' influence when he acted like he was going to give a spoonful to Vanesa and then diverted it into his own mouth at the last second. What a tease! I had a shake and Craig had a banana split. This evening we went to visit the kids' cousin Rocio, her boyfriend Hector, and their new baby boy (as yet unnamed but would eventually be called Mael David). We have known Rocio for 10 years and she has grown into a lovely young lady. It's hard to believe that the precocious girl who counted aloud to 400 in English the first time we met her is now a mom! Incidentally, whenever I hear the song "Long Distance Runaround" by Yes, I can't help but think of Rocio when Jon Anderson sings the line, "Did we really count to one hundred?" Humberto drove us to Hector's family nearby home in the van. By now it was raining again. Rocio has moved in with Hector and his family, in a family-owned compound. This is common here, as parents subdivide plots of land for their children. The alley on which Humberto's family lives is one such plot, and Paulina's family has a similar one. This meant that there were many family members milling around in the yard as Humberto dropped us off and went to park the van. We walked down a couple of alleyways to get to the houses, and precipitated a few confused looks. We had made the plans with Rocio over Facebook, but I don't think that she had told the family to be expecting us tonight. We greeted them and explained that we were here to visit Rocio, and they softened and pointed us in the direction of Rocio and Hector's room. We entered to find Rocio looking great, though she is still a bit sore and recovering from her C-section. She greeted us warmly and introduced us to her son. He is now a month old, and was born a month premature. He is adorable! He now weighs 7 pounds. He is absolutely tiny and precious. When Rocio finished feeding him, she handed him to me. He was fully awake and alert and sat with me, squeezing my finger. Hector arrived home from work. He walked into the door of his bedroom and was stopped in his tracks by the fact that there were two gringos, Humberto, Paulina, Ian, Eddy, and Aracely all piled into their modest room with Rocio and the baby. He soon got over his surprise and greeted us. He and his sister brought us all coffee and bread. We stayed for almost two hours, catching up with Rocio, whom we haven't seen in around four years. She is very successful at work and has opportunities to study. Her future is bright, and we are very proud of her. We gave them a baby carrier made of locally woven fabric that we purchased on Santander yesterday. Humberto hadn't been able to park the van on the narrow streets of Rocio and Hector's neighborhood, so he parked near the church. It had stopped raining, so after bidding farewell to the young family, we walked in that direction. As we reached the van, we ran into Craig from Australia. We hadn't seen him since before we went to Ecuador, so he asked Eddy and Paulina about the trip. Humberto invited him over to the house for a barbecue on Friday, our last night before heading home. Craig is a real character and we enjoyed chatting with him. Having not yet eaten dinner, Humberto and Paulina decided that we should eat out. Though there are many tourist restaurants on Calle Santander, there are also food carts frequented by locals. We stopped at one of these: a churrasco cart which sets up in the parking area of the Sarita location which is further from the house. There were several tables surrounded by chairs set up behind it. We were the only gringos eating there, and the steak on the grill smelled delicious! We enjoyed our churrascos (grilled steak with green onions) very much. While we ate, Ian ran around with boundless energy, going over to the nearby ATM and pretending to withdraw money and hand it out to all of us. After dinner, we went back to the house and went to bed.

Vanesa accompanies Ian down Calle Santander to Sarita Baby Mael David Steph with baby Mael David New parents Hector and Rocio Churrascos for dinner See all photos from August 9, 2017