|
We woke up at 6:30 a.m. and got everything together and packed. Having been here for five nights, we had spread our belongings out more than usual, and we needed to consolidate everything. We were feeling reflective this morning. We flipped through the casita's guest book. It was apparent that they have had guests often over the past nine years. We wrote an entry in the book, not just as guests but now as compadres, members of the family. We picked out two photos of ourselves from our travel album to leave here so that Sisa would remember us in between visits, and wrote the family a thank you note.
Shortly before 8 o'clock, we headed outside. Felipe had been awake for a while wrestling with the truck, and finally decided it was more serious than he first thought. He had to call a tow truck, and was told that it wouldn't be here for a couple of hours. We went into the kitchen where Rosa and Aida had breakfast ready for us. Antonio had already left for work, and Sisa was dancing around the kitchen with her doll. We were now in no rush, so we lingered over the delicious food: ham omelettes, cheese, croissants, fresh orange juice, and coffee. We had some more nice conversation with Felipe. We were becoming good friends and harealized that we have a lot in common. After breakfast we went outside and played with Sisa. Craig rolled the soccer ball back and forth with her on the cement patio. We heard a horn beeping from the street and went out front to see what was going on. Felipe had pushed the truck out into the street to make it easier for the tow truck. But in the meanwhile, a full sized bus was trying to squeeze by the truck on the dirt road in front of the house. The bus looked gigantic and it dwarfed the Land Cruiser. Somehow it was able to get past without a collision. Rosa called us to the back field behind the casita as she and Antonio's mother moved the cows to a new grazing spot. For a woman of her age, Antonio's mother sure could wrangle those cows. We had also seen her chopping wood with a machete. She always had a kind smile for us, and she spoke to us mainly in Kichwa. The arrival of the tow truck was a big event, and drew quite a crowd on the street. Rosa, Aida, and Sisa sat in the grass across the street and watched as they loaded the truck up onto the flatbed. The neighbors came out to see, as did some goats and cows who were walking down the road. It was now time to say goodbye to the family. They had been incredibly welcoming and kind to us during our stay, and now we would be returning again within the next year to become Sisa's godparents. We hugged everyone goodbye, and I even held Sisa for a minute. She tolerated it pretty well but was relieved to be handed back to Rosa. As we presented Rosa with our thank you note, she asked if we could mail them some pictures of ourselves so that Sisa wouldn't forget us between now and our next visit. How sweet. I laughed and showed her that we had thought of the same thing, and we gave her the two photos we had picked out. Sisa immediately grabbed them and held on to them tightly. Then a friendly man named Omar showed up in a van to drive us back to Quito. He just got off another tour and apologized that he hadn't had time to clean his van. We told him he was the one doing us a favor by picking us up when he was supposed to be done with his own tour, and not to worry - it's not like the vehicle was dirty. We knew that we would get along with him when we saw the Pink Floyd The Wall bumper sticker on the back of the vehicle. We got into the car and as we drove off, Sisa threw us kisses. The tow truck had left shortly before us, and we quickly caught up to it on the dirt roads just outside Morochos. We found ourselves behind it for quite a while. Then we were able to pass it as we got onto the paved roads for the two hour drive to Quito. Along the way, we kept seeing signs advertising bizcochos. We asked Felipe what they were, and he said "You want some bizcochos? We'll try them!" and he gave directions to Omar to stop at a convenience store. Felipe jumped out and ran inside. He came back with an order of fresh bizcochos (they were sort of like a breadstick) and some dulce de leche (caramel) to dip them in. YUM! There wasn't much traffic and the ride was going fairly quickly. The itinerary had originally scheduled us to eat somewhere along the ride back to Quito, but due to the tow truck and our late departure from Morochos, Omar took us back to Casa Aliso and Felipe made a reservation for us to eat at the neighboring Clancy's Restaurant. When we arrived at Casa Aliso, we said goodbye to Felipe for the day. Craig had felt a bit carsick, so we rested for a bit. They retrieved our bag from storage and showed us to our room, which was on the first floor this time. It had attractive dark wood furniture and a dark maroon accent wall. Craig and I both took hot showers. Tomorrow we would be starting phase 2 of the trip, and we needed to rearrange our belongings. Once again we would leave a bag behind in Quito. But this time we were going into the jungle, and could leave behind some of the cold weather clothing we had used in the mountains. Feeling refreshed and rejuvenated, we walked next door to Clancy's. They were expecting us and said that the agency had ordered shrimp ceviche and sirloin for us. This was lovely of them. Craig's ceviche was served with a basket of popcorn and plantain chips. Since I don't really enjoy shrimp, the restaurant was kind enough to substitute fried calamari for me. The place was obviously decorated by an American expat, as there were Hollywood movie posters and pop culture items adorning the walls. The appetizers were delicious, and the main course was steak, carmelized onions, mushrooms, and fries. We had Fanta to drink. It was a very nice restaurant with classy service. We made a note of it as we would be returning to Casa Aliso later in the trip. It was incredibly convenient if we weren't looking to stray far from the hotel. When we were finished eating, we headed next door to Casa Aliso and spent over an hour and a half writing a blog post on their computer in the lobby. It took that long to write all we wanted to about our days in the highlands with Antonio and Rosa's family. After that we went back to the room and watched a little TV (How It's Made: sand trap rakes, pencils, bolts, and pickles). We got a call at 9 o'clock asking if we wanted a wake-up call, what time we wanted breakfast, and when our morning pickup would be. We told them that our pickup would be at 8:30, so we planned breakfast for a bit earlier than that. Then we went to sleep. We didn't know what our sleeping situation would be for the next few nights, so we enjoyed the plush comfortable bed. |
     
|
|
 |
|
 |
