Our last Saturday in Quito...

Funny how I was so overwhelmed and crying when we arrived, but leaving was SO hard. We loved the people we met. We hope to make similar connections here in Cuenca.

Our last Saturday, we went to a park with our friends. It was wonderful and chill. Then we went and ate comida rapido (fast food), which may have made Conor sick... It was that or tap water. 

Our last Saturday in Quito, we went to our friend's for lunch and it was AMAZING! The lunch was soup with fish, yuca and fresh tomatoes, jalapenos and onions. Just like the ceviche at the church, the soup was topped with popcorn and plantain chips. It was so good. I did not want to stop eating! We were also served naranjilla juice and a fruit that only grows in Ecuador and is only available for one month of the year. It's called Sapote and it's very different from any other fruit I've ever eaten.

Holly and Greta got to have a soap fight and a water fight with their friend, followed by a warm shower.

We were so incredibly blessed by the hospitality of this family! They had actually invited us for lunch the Saturday previous and we feel so bad that we didn't fully understand!

Here are some photos of Guayasimin's home. It took over a decade to built and he built it with the intention of it becoming a museum one day. The whole building felt very thoughtful and was filled with light. I wouldn't say no to living here!

It took us three tries to visit this museum! Talk about lost in translation. Tours are at specific times and the website we found for the museum is not very helpful at all. It's a beautiful building right in old town. The architecture of these old homes is amazing!

Did this house live up to trying to visit three times? Well, it was free. But, I couldn't understand anything the tour guide said. It was all in very rapid Spanish! Regardless, the house was beautiful and the tour was less than 30 minutes.

I can't say I loved everything about our apartment in Quito. It wasn't very clean, the kitchen was sparsely equipped (for example, when we arrived there were only 3 forks), and the curtains were pretty much sheer (Conor made a make-shift curtain out of garbage bags in the middle of one night - that's true love!). 

However, our location was ideal. For one we made friends with our neighbors. We were a short walk to our Spanish school and our chapel. We were close to parks, museums, and old town. One thing we loved about that apartment was that because it was on a busy street, we walked into the busy-ness of the city as soon as we walked out our door. So many people, so many things to buy and see! I loved that energy.

One location we were close to was old town. There were always a lot of police in old town and a lot of people! Old men smoking cigarettes and playing cards. All the benches full of people. It was a fun place to eat chocolate and people watch. But do not buy anything from any of the stores. They are 100% overpriced. Go to the market instead.