Merry Christmas!  Feliz Navidad!

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Christmas Wishes!

It’s now been 3 1/2 months since leaving St. Paul, and 4 months since homelessness.  What a long strange trip it’s been!

There are two main constants that have we have seen along the way:

1. People tend to be pretty great – whether American, Ecuadorian, friends, acquaintances, or total strangers, we have had wonderful interactions all along the way.  We hear so much about what is wrong in the world, (and to be sure, there is plenty to do), yet our experiences have been remarkably positive.
2. There are a whole lot of beautiful places – just when we think nothing could be more beautiful, we find another amazing place.

We hope we’re not just being pollyanna apologists, but our Christmas wish is that everyone try to take a moment every day to see what is good in the world.  Particularly with the political season looming large, it may prove a useful antidote to the negativity with which we are being bombarded every day.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

– Ellen and Steve

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Upcoming Plans

Tonight (Christmas Day) we are going to our friend Richard’s apartment where a group of us will be making Christmas dinner.  We found a nice salmon filet.  Ecuadorian potatoes are great.  Avocados are profuse.  Chilean wine is reasonably priced.  For dessert, we will be having Ecuadorian chocolate and Chirimoyas (the most luscious fruit I have ever had).

Tomorrow Richard is heading up to Baños de Agua Santa for a few days.  We are going to sublet in his place until the 30th, when we are moving in to the Del Parque Hotel until the 2nd.  New Year’s Eve is quite a special day in Cuenca.  Enemies are burned in effigy, men dress in women’s clothing pretending to be the widows of those burned and stop cars asking for money to buy beer that is sold in the street.

The Del Parque is an old-school hotel with a balcony overlooking the main park in Cuenca.  We will be at the epicenter of the action.

On January 2nd we head to the beach.  We will be taking a bus, probably to Olon, via Guayaquil.  We met someone who has a B&B on the beach, and plan to stay at least a week.

After that, we’re not sure.  We may stay longer on the beach, may wend our way up to Quito and check out parts north.  Don’t know, and don’t need to know.  Our only concern is figuring out what to do about visas well before ours run out at the end of February.

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Celebration with the Mejia Family

Last night we celebrated Christmas with our hosts, the Mejia family.  Gonzalo and Verito are the father and mother.  Three children live with them.  Belen is 24 and studying herpetology.  Domenica is 19 and studying accounting/business, although should be studying acting.  Nicolas is 15 and attending high school.  The eldest daughter, Gaby, is married to Frederico (Frede), and lives 4 blocks away.  We see them quite a bit for meals.  In addition, Thomas, an American from Sarasota, FL is living here.  He has spent extended periods of time with the Mejias for the last 7 years.

In addition, there are three dogs:

The Mejia house is a lovely home about 10 blocks from the town center, and a mile from our school.  It is downhill going, and uphill coming back.

The house has been decorated for Christmas with lights outside, and a Christmas village and tree inside.  There was some debate on the tree, as real trees are imported from Australia, and can carry disease.  Ultimately, Tom generously got an artificial tree as a gift to the family.

Ellen and I volunteered to cook a turkey.  We were able to find a 17 lb. turkey and made stuffing from scratch.  We have de-mystified the turkey roasting process, and I suspect they may be cooking their own in the future.

Dinner was excellent –

There was plenty of horsing around, particularly in singing “Feliz Navidad.”

After dinner was secret Santa time, when gifts are exchanged.  The protocol is to describe your intended gift recipient’s personality without telling the name.  Eventually, everyone guesses.  Then it is that person’s turn.  This process provides many opportunities for kidding each other, and hilarity ensues.  The festivities wrapped up at about 11:00.