When we visited the Museo de las culturas aborigenes, I bought Maeve a cute little drum in the gift shop. It was $4 and I just couldn't pass it up. I think it's adorable when she plays with it and lifts the strap over her head! Best $4 I've ever spent.

One rainy day, we visited Museo de las Culturas Aborigenes. Maeve was napping and left at home while Conor worked. The girls and I loved this museum, although I believe what Holly and Greta liked best was the shop at the end. This museum is much larger than it appears from the outside and was so fascinating. On the way in, he were given a guide book in english. For the different sections, there were illustrations of some of the pieces in the book. Holly and Greta loved hunting for the real life pieces. We spent a surprising amount of time in this museum. Every time we walk past it, the girls ask to return!

Okay, here it is... the crazy "when in Ecuador" experience! Cuy or Guinea Pig is a traditional dish here in Ecuador but specific to the city we are currently in, Cuenca.

A family that we met last Sunday when we flew here from Quito invited us over for roasted cuy. We couldn't pass up the opportunity, plus friends! Our friends, Monica and Gustav are so generous. Not only did they pick us up from our apartment, but they also made us an amazing meal of cuy, chicken, rice, potatoes, corn and salad.

The cuy... oh gosh, reflecting on it, I can't believe I ate that! I would compare the meat to dark meat, but silkier (maybe because of the fat content). There isn't a whole ton of meat on the cuy. I would guess that it weighed about 3 pounds. Conor and I were each served a hind quarter. And it's eaten with your hands. I just can't get the image of that little claw so close to my face out of my mind! The skin is really thick and difficult to eat. While it was roasting, we sampled the liver and that was actually really good.

Don't get me wrong, the meat was tasty, or bien rico. However, it's the getting my mind around eating something that is a pet, a rodent back home. Super glad I did it. Not biting at the bit to do it again!

Oh, I have to note that while the cuy was roasting over the charcoal, rain came. And to solve that problem, Gustav and Conor brought the grill into the house and opened a window. Not going to lie, my first thought was that we were going to die of carbon monoxide poisoning in Ecuador. It was fine, but the grill did go in and out of the house a few times! 

Also have to note, that when we asked our friends in Quito about cuy, they thought it was yucky to eat. So it's definitely a regional dish! 

After lunch, our friends took us on a driving tour around Cuenca. They were seriously so generous to spend so much time with us!

Here are a few photos of my cute, sleepy baby. Pretty much the best thing in my life. Although I wish she would sleep through the night...

Cuenca has a few different markets. We finally made our way to one on Thursday. Grocery shopping is tricky for a few reasons: first, we can only buy what we can carry. 2. There are different ingredients than from what I'm used to. 3. It takes a good chunk of time to walk to the Super-maxi or the market, buy the food and walk home. In Quito, I would often stop in at the market on our way home from school. That was really easy to do. Here, we have decided that on market days, we will eat a meal at the market while we are there. 

This market is three levels and as soon as we stepped foot onto the "food court" level, a couple of women were immediately holding out meat from their pigs in their bare hands, inviting us, kind of forcefully, to have a sample. After we sampled, I felt obligated to buy, and buying eliminated the decision making process. And so we ate pork, potatoes, corn, salad and juice. It was great! I love the market experience. Next time we go to the market, I want to spend more time checking out the venders set up outside of the market.