The Marching Band

On Sunday, we were wandering around downtown Guayaquil when we came upon a parade. Three of the main roads had been blocked off and kids were marching all the way down the length of the Malecon 2000. There were dancers, there were drums, there were parents, and there were Glockenspiels.

I have never seen a marching band made entirely out of drums and glockenspiels. At first I thought it was unique to the particular school passing in front of us. But as the next band came into earshot, I didn't hear any brass instruments. I didn't see a flute, or trumpet, or trombone. All I saw were the baton twirlers. All I could hear was the tinkling of the glockenspiel and the pounding of the drums.

Some of the bands had 20 glockenspiels and 60 drums. Some only had 2 glockenspiels and 6 drums. One band, and only one band, had some bugles. But generally, it was all glockenspiel, all the time.

You haven't lived until you have heard Feliz Navidad on glockenspiel. Trust me. It will change your life.

Santa, Where Are You?

I was so excited.

We were going to visit Santa. Or more correctly, we were going to visit Papa Noel. I've never talked to Papa Noel in Spanish before. Do you get more presents? Mangos instead of oranges? Tank tops and sandals instead of socks and underwear? I didn't know, but I was very excited to find out.

Geovanny, Natalia and I had been wandering through the mall close to our house a couple of weeks ago when Papa Noel was there taking photos with children. He didn't look like the Santa of my childhood. His beard was much longer and white, and he wore long thick furry white robes. There was no red suit, no black leather belt. This Papa Noel reminded me of some of the Santa figurines that Nana displays around her house. He would definitely be nice and toasty in the North Pole. Not quite sure how he was surviving at the equator. (I know I was hot in my tank top and skirt.)

We decided not to take the family portrait with Papa Noel then because we were all a bit cranky but vowed to come back that weekend. But then we went to the banana plantation. And then we went to the pool. And then to the beach. Suddenly it was the day before we were supposed to leave. So we all shower, put on our fancy cloths, and walk down to the mall.

But there is no Papa Noel. His chair was there, his tree was there, but he was not there. Nor would he be returning until Natalia and I were somewhere over Central America.

I was crushed. Geovanny was excited that he didn't have to take his sunglasses off. Natalia just wanted to go the wrong way up the escalator. So we did the next best thing. We took pictures in front of his tree and then went out for ice cream.

I Can't Believe It

My little baby girl is old enough to have a ponytail.

Booooo-hooooo!!!!!!

How is this possible?

My Obsession

Eating the ice and flesh out of a coco helado.

Every time I come to Ecuador I become obsessed with a certain type of food. One trip it was yogurt and pan de yucca. The "yogurt" here is more like a smoothie/milkshake made out of fresh fruit, plain yogurt and sugar. Devine!!!

The next trip it was yogurt and tortillas. Again, "tortillas" here are not like the tortillas we think of in the states. These are not Mexican tortillas. These are Ecuadorian tortillas. They are the size and shape of an extra-large egg. Made generally of corn or plantains and filled with cheese. Served warm and crunchy on the outside and gooie on the inside, with a consistency kind of like grits. LOVE them!!!

My food obsessions have been more on the fruit variety on other trips. Mangos, papayas, white pineapple. Always amazing.

But this trip it is jugo de coco. And helado de coco. And coco helado. But generally jugo de coco. Otherwise known as coconut juice. It is not as thick and heavy as coconut milk, but is sweet, refreshing and always COLD. Helado de coco is coconut ice cream. Generally home made with a real stick serving as the popsicle stick. Yes a real stick. Without bark. Coco helado is a coconut someone has stuck in the freezer. They cut off the top, stick in a straw and you drink the coconut water. Kind of what you can imagine happening on some deserted Caribbean island. But these you buy in the middle of Ecuador. (Notice a theme in these blogs? Amazing how much you crave cold when you are always hot. Pretty sure I'll be pining for Ecuador's heat in week or so.)

But the stuff I crave every day is jugo de coco. People, generally men, wander the streets with carts selling this nectar of the gods. The carts are more like big blue oil drums on wheels. The jugo comes spitting out of the top through a spigot. Served over crushed ice, it never fails to refresh me.

It has also helped me gain the 15 odd pounds I think I've packed on since arriving.

A Day of Rivers - Part 1

There is so much to look at here at the banana hacienda.

Tia Mari and cousin Kati are on the other shore waiting for us to finish swimming.


But I don't want to go. I am having too much fun!!!!

I LOVE it when Papi swishes me through the water.


I LOVE it when I get to roll on my back and let the water rush past my ears.


I LOVE how the water cools me off.


I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the water!!!!!

I'm not so sure about these two terremotos. I know they are my cousins, but they are crazy. Really, the nickname earthquake and hurricane fits.

Yes, that's better. Just float in the water next to me. I can handle that.

I Like to Eat, Eat, Eat, Apples and Bananas

A fruit stand at the side of the road.

Notice the orange pumpkins in the back.

Too bad I didn't find them earlier. But no worries though, the pies turnd out great.

It is always so interesting to me to look at the fruit that other countries have. At home in the US we have 5 bazillion different kinds of apples, peaches, nectarines, and pears. Here in Ecuador there are two kinds of apples. Red and green. But ask someone for a mango and they will ask you what kind. Do you want the little ones, the size of eggs? The kind that you bite off the top and suck out the juice? Or do you want a big one? A green one? A red one? I have seen literally 7 distinct and different kinds of mangos. I'm sure there are more.

Bananas are the same way. We have one kind of banana at home. Funnily enough, they don't sell that banana here in Ecuador. It is grown only for export. Geovanny tasted our kind of banana for the first time when I packed one as a snace and forgot to eat it on the flight down. The banana made it round-trip to Ecuador before being eaten. When Geovanny tried it he got a funny look on his face.

"That's not a banana!"

But I digress.

The point of the story is that there are a million different kinds of bananas down here. Bananas and mangoes down here are like apples and peaches in the US. There is tons of variety. My current favorite type of banana is gineo. It is a little bit longer than a crayon. The skin is very thin and the fruit is sweet and dense. It is the perfect banana for our baby girl.

I know, she has mosquito bites. I'm sorry Nana. I did the best I could when we were at the banana hacienda, but the mosquitoes wanted something to eat and she is just so sweet.

The Colonel

Does this look like anyone you know?

Natalia keeps pointing to it and saying, "Opa, Opa!!!"

I guess it's the glasses (because it certainly isn't the apron).

There Was a Little Girl

Who had a little curl

Right in the middle of her forehead . . .

So Fresh and So Clean

Don't I look wonderful?

This Sure Isn't Ama's

No Thanksgiving is complete without pumpkin pie. Pumpkin pie may be Thanksgiving if you are in a country like Ecuador where simply thinking of standing in an unair-conditioned kitchen cooking all day makes you start to melt and break out in a heat rash.

We didn't make pumpkin pie last year, but it wasn't a big deal. Three reasons:

(1) Ama is the one who makes the pumpkin pies and she wasn't with us last year. She is the pie girl, I am the bread girl, Nana is the turkey lady, and Opa is the potato man. That is just the way it is. If Ama doesn't make it, I'm not sure if I want to eat it.

(2) Natalia and I were flying home from Ecuador to be with Nana and Opa on Thanksgiving. We started out the trip home at 10:00 pm the night before. Having already done this trip alone with a baby I knew that, while pumpkin pie rocks my world, my bed would rock my world more.

(3) Natalia wasn't eating solid food yet, so I wasn't depriving her of anything.

"Ama's the pie girl" excuse doesn't quite hold this year. We aren't traveling and Natalia eats solid food (though you wouldn't know that since we arrived in Ecuador - I'm used to her nursing a bit more when we are here, but seriously child, EAT SOME FOOD!!!)

So I decided to make pumpkin pie.

Pumpkin pie is not that hard to make when living in the US. Simply open a can of pumpkin, open some cans of evaporated milk, mix in sugar, eggs, spices and pour into crust. Bake. Viola - pumpkin pie.

Not so much here. Geovanny assured me that they have pumpkins here. But these are no North American pumpkins. The may be orange on the inside, but they are green and white and warty on the outside. And they are shaped like teardrops. And they take 4 hours in the oven to soften. Add a couple hours to cool before scooping out and Thanksgiving day is pretty much shot. I could have had a large turkey ready before this "pumpkin".

Now it is Black Friday. We still don't have a pumpkin pie. We MUST have pumpkin pie. So Natalia and I start scooping out the pumpkin.

Then we mash it by hand

I finally get it all mixed together and stick it in the oven. But our oven doesn't have any indication of the temperature it is at. Just a knob with the words "OFF" and "Min". They don't even tell me where "Max" is. SERIOUSLY!!!! So I wing it, just like I've been winging the whole thing.

Magically, it seems like it works. The knife in the middle comes out clean. The pie smells good. I set it down to cool.

Now if I could only find Cool Whip . . .

Cranky Day

Natalia woke up cranky. Nothing makes her happy today. Not Paul Simon, not Laurie Berknern, not Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, not ohh la la shoes, not mama's boob.

I'm cranky too. Blogger won't let me upload photos, so I can't show you how cute she was yesterday hiding in one of the cabinets.

We are going to go for a walk. Leaving the house will do us both some good. Maybe when we get back everything will be better. Fresh air, sun, and humidity always does it for me. You?

The Best $2.50 I Ever Spent

This little plastic potty is the best thing ever.

(If you aren't grossed out by poop stories, read on. If grossed out, just enjoy the photo and know that tomorrow you will get a picture of the baby girl).


Geovanny and I got it two days ago. I figured that now would be a great time to start potty training since we are staying in an apartment with tile floors and no rugs. Natalia has been going "potty in the potty" every morning and after every nap for some time now, but I have not been consistent with any other type of training. Seeing as it is HOT down here, naked time is all the time. Perfect time for potty training because you don't have to take anything off. Just sit down and go.

(no she is not going in the chair, just enjoying naked time)

So we were having naked time for the 5th time that day. I was washing the dishes and Natalia brought the yet unused potty into the kitchen. I didn't pay much attention because so far she had only used the potty as a hat and a chair.

But this time she sat down with purpose.

She got a look of concentration on her face.

And she kept sitting.

Her eyes started watering a bit and her cheaks got red.

After a while she got up and we both looked in the potty. THERE WAS POOP!!!

Oh my gosh, there was poop. I was so happy (in part because she hadn't pooped in two days and who feels good after going days without pooping.)
I kissed her all over her face.
We jumped up and down.
YAY!!!!
Then we went and dumped it in the toilet and said "bye bye".
Cleaned out the little blue potty and went back into the kitchen.

I resumed my cleaning. Natalia sat back down on the potty. I think she was so excited about my response that she wanted to do it again. So she got to trying to poop again. This time the sitting was accompanied by grunting. She'd sit for a while, grunt, push, get up look to see if there was anything, get a disappointed and determined look on her face, turn around and start the whole process over again.

Sit

Grunt

Look

Repeat

It was hilarious!!! Lasted a good 5 minutes. No, she's not stubborn. Not at all.

Bouncy Castle

We didn't get to the park yesterday until it was already dark out. I had been trying to get us there all day, but it was just one of those days where nothing happens quite how you want it to. Not that it was bad, in fact we had a great day, it just wasn't what I was thinking it would be like. (But really, isn't that usually how life works?)

Getting to the park after dark wasn't a problem because it was Saturday night. Everyone was out, and when I say everyone, I mean everyone. I think all of Guayaquil leaves their house on Saturday night. Needless to say, the park was packed. All the play structures were lit up, there was a bouncy castle, and a kiddy train.

Here in Ecuador there are kiddy trains everywhere. I remember first seeing one when we were in Galapagos. They are ALWAYS blaring music and have flashing lights - kind of like a disco on wheels for kids. They are also generally pulled by some stinky old motor. Ours was actually smoking out the front (kind of like a fog machine, but I assure you this was not caused by water and dry ice). I could barely fit in it with my legs splayed but Natalia had a great time so it was worth it.




After the train we went to the bouncy castle. Natalia was the only one in the whole thing. Geovanny and I had to stay on the outside (only for kids under 10) but we tried to reach through the sides and bounce it up and down for her.


She had a great time sitting in the middle taking her shoes on and off.


After a while she decided it was time to go, so out she came.



And that was our night.

Natalia had picked out her entire outfit by the way. Put her shoes on all by herself. They were even on the right feet. I was so proud!!!

Nana Would Be So Proud

I know no one who hates to throw things away more than my mom. There is always some art project or possible future, unforeseen use for everything. She has graciously passed this trait onto me.

So the Welcome Home flowers were dying. At least some of them were. The leaves were decorating the counter and the apartment was starting to smell a bit. But some of those flowers were still hanging in there. Ever my mother's daughter, I was not about to throw them all away. Instead I pulled the whole thing apart, discarded the stinky ones, and rearranged them using the same vase they came in. I am actually quite pleased how it turned out.



Thanks mom

Home Sweet Home

Here are a few pictures of our lovely apartment. We are of course in Ecuador, so things are never quite what they seem. One of my main requests (okay, okay, so it is more like a demand) is that we live in a place with air conditioning. This apartment was better than some we've stayed it - every room has an air conditioner. What luxury I thought.

Until of course it was time to turn them on last night. None of them actually work.

I was also very excited about the prospect of having hot water. The showers actually have two handles, one for hot and one for cold, indicating that there is actually a hot water heater somewhere in the building. This is a GREAT improvement over the "suicide showers" of apartments past.

A "suicide shower" is one where the water is run through an electrical contraption and then empties directly onto your head. They have outlets directly above the showerhead to plug these things into. Be warned; DO NOT TOUCH them while in use!!! Touching the showerhead, to adjust the direction of the water for example, results in electrocution that leaves your arm tingling for 20 minutes. Also beware of any metal shower-caddies. They do a lovely job of holding your soap or shampoo but chipped or cracked enamel may result in fried fingers if you grab the soap in the wrong way.

Needless to say, I was very excited by the prospect of real hot water. Now I'm sure there is a water heater somewhere, but it must be about a gallon tank, because "hot" water is not hot. Not really warm either. More like just barely warmer than the cold water (which is about the temperature of Lake Tahoe).


But hey, after sweating all day without air conditioning, who wants a hot shower anyway?

Look Mom . . .

I put on my shoes all by myself

We Have A Connection

YAY!!!!!

Someone around here has Wi-Fi that I am able to use. Natalia can have her Laurie Berkner and Elmo, I can have Pushing Daisies and House, and you can have your updates.

I didn't realize how addicted I had become to blogging about Natalia, but I was really quite stressed by the thought that I wouldn't be able to until we got home. Now all we have to do is pray that the kind people who are unknowingly giving us internet don't turn it off.

The apartment is really very nice. Marble tile floors, two bathrooms, nice dark wood doors and furniture. The downside is that there are only two twin beds right now. It will be like that until Wednesday. Then we have the option of either changing apartments to one floor above (supposedly bigger and better) or the owner will bring the bed down here. I think we will probably change apartments (better view, better breeze through the apartment = less air conditioning = lower electricity bill = happier mommy).

I leave you with a couple of pictures of Natalia playing this morning at the boardwalk close to our hotel.

Bubbles

I just wanted to show you all that Natalia was alive and well. We took advantage of the bathtub in the hotel. A little bit of home. She LOVED it.

We Made It

We are here safe and sound in Ecuador.

We stayed in a hotel for the first three nights while trying to find an apartment. After two very hot days of hopping in and out of cabs, looking at places that were too small, too far away, too expensive, we fell in love with one. But then we found out it had just been rented to someone else an hour before.

So back into the cabs, zigzagging around the city. Too small, too far away, too expensive and then we found another one that was perfect. It was big, had a pool and great views. But then we found out that our agent hadn't check with the owner first to see if we could rent it for a month. So no on that one too.

Finally, after two days of frustration we found a nice two bedroom. There is hot water (we'll see if it works the whole time we are there), a gas stove and oven, a TV (but no cable, so it will be Spanish soaps all-day everyday). I even have a WASHING MACHINE!!!! Yay!!! But there is no internet :( Boohoo. I will do everything I can to send updates once a week, but I can't promise anything.

I think we may head to the beach next week for a couple of days. Get out of the city and go relax at the ocean.