Month: March 2021

Celebración en el nuevo restaurante. Third party in the last three days. At least there isn’t one on Monday. Tuesday yes but not on Monday.

The family has been busy for the last year on an addition to the home that includes a restaurant. I call it “Mama Elena’s” but it has not officially been named yet. The kitchen still needs to be finished with a few small other things but it will have a grand opening soon.

Last night they hosted a friends birthday party. Elena and Daniela did a wonderful job as the hostesses. Everyone had a great time.

I am very happy for the family and last night was a sign that they will be blessed with great success!

Some pictures of my last good hike, friends, plants, waterfall behind the house etc…..

Well I took like 20 pictures all weekend Daniela took 300. These are a few of hers.

The Biggest news is that there are a few new family members and the restaurant is beginning business.

Elena, Edwin, Daniela, David and Mateo have been busy working on the restaurant on top of all the other things they have going on.

Elena keeps busy managing the workers, attending classes, then around home. Edwin works during the day in Quito then comes home to continue working late into the night. Daniela teaching and studying then pitching in. David working at Shinny Dog and here. Mateo also working at Shinny Dog, a local restaurant and at home. It will be open officially very soon. I am very excited for them. I wish them all the success in the world and have the greatest confidence in their adventure. I will post pictures of all their work soon.

A new puppy has been adopted so back to six dogs. They gave me the honor of naming him so meet “Beauregard” or in Spanish “Borigar”. He’s a cute little guy what I would have called “Bait” when living in Greenwood. I haven’t told them the true meaning of his name “creature with a dark soul”. Samuray and Kaya have accepted him not so much Chokoreto, Chiso and Chaski. The little guy should stay away from Chaski and Chiso since they have a tendency to eat smaller animals and he looks delicious to them. I wish him no harm but we will see……..

Rosario (Elena’s mother) officially has someone special in her life, Rodrigo. They both invited their families to a soiree to let everyone know. After they made their announcement and all were introduced there was food, music, and dancing. I am super happy for them and wish a very deserving happy future!

As for me, I did get a 2 year visa and a Cedula. The Cedula is basically the same as a Social Security number in the USA. It is used way more often here. it is your formal ID and also used when purchasing pretty much anything. Just great another number to remember, ugh. I need to work a lot more on my Espanol. Seems that I am easily distracted. I am planning on a getting bike cycle soon and really want a motorcycle with a sidecar but we’ll see about the last one. One of my best friends in the USA has started Hospice. I love him and his family dearly and they are in my prayers. It only pounds into me how precious life is and that you never know when your number pops up. Sidecar?????

To my family and friends “Smile, Laugh and Love as much as you can”.

God Bless!

The pictures didn’t load correctly but you can see them if you click on the one.

Cerro Atacazo is a volcano of at the edge of south Quito. It is on the western side of the “Avenue of Volcanos”. At the summit the elevation is 14,642ft/4463meters.

Daniela and her friends were heading there for their first time and I was invited to tag along. I was looking forward to finally making a summit. It is considered a good beginner hike of about 2 hours each way. Well where we started out it turned out to be 3 1/2 hours to the Summit.

The sun was out but the higher in elevation the more we were in the clouds. The trail was mostly a gravel road all up hill. I think I did pretty good the first hour and kept the main group in sight. After that I got a little slower. Daniela and Ibis slowed their pace and kept me company. Ibis bless her heart even acted like she was winded. I really enjoyed watching Daniela interact with Ibis. Daniela is a teacher/student and Ibis is is a bright young lady so tagging behind them listening to their conversation in Español made my walk (did I say ALL up hill) easier. Daniela’s students and their parents really like the way she teaches and I can see why. She is very good with kids and I was impressed.

We stopped and took a break and as a hiker passed us on his way down he said we only had a 1/2 hour more to go. We were in the clouds, the wind was cold with a little moisture and the main group had already reached the summit. I decided to call it a day and head back down. I did not want to be holding everyone back as I already had Daniela and Ibis. I believe we were above 13,700ft when I whimped out. Well not really whimped out because with a little more time I would have made it. Just not fair of me to hold up the group. I will go back and make the summit. Being it was so cloudy you couldn’t see much anyway so I don’t feel I missed much by not making the summit on this day.

I really enjoyed the walk down and enjoyed the solitude. Even better my hands thawed out. On the way home while riding in the van Ibis and I had a nice conversation in English which she has a very good handle on.

I hope to keep getting better and maybe actually keep up with the groups pace one day. I sure appreciate Daniela’s patience for the gringo, thank you Daniele! If there is a next time I’m invited to go along with the group she can set the pace to push the group (after all she is the leader) and I will just bring up the rear. Again not fair for me to hold everyone back. I am really enjoying it I just need to stick to it. Thanks goes to Edwin and Elena for dropping us off and picking us up.

It was Carnival weekend and we were invited to dinner on the way home. Our second party in two days.

Just a wonderful time. Sorry the pictures don’t show much of the volcano but it was cloudy!