Our visit to Guallabamba

Our lovely neighbors invited us to spend the night at their family´s home in Guayabamba, just under an hour northeast of Quito. Of course we accepted without hesitation even though we knew Spanish would be the choice language. It turns out, we understand and can speak more Spanish than we may have thought...thank you Escuela Beraca! We arrived at Señora Maria´s house around 9pm on Saturday, she accepted us with open arms, kisses and warm Colada Morada. Her recipe was delicious! After a peaceful night´s sleep, we awoke for our day of fun. We got a thorough tour of the finca that the family owns. P was ecstatic over how many avocados they grow on their farm, so she enjoyed every moment of it. I, on the other hand, got excited over the fat, juicy moras (blackberries) they had! Nothing short of delicious. They also had a litter of 7 kittens and a litter of 8 golden retriever pups, so cute! We then got a tour of the market in the town´s square, where they bought tons of food for our BBQ. The BBQ was outstanding, tons of meat & chorizo, poor P, although I think she was pleased with the fresh guacamole served. Lunch was the event of the day, everyone relaxed and asked a million questions about the U.S. afterwards. Luckily our Spanish skills have come along, so we were keeping up with the conversation. It was soon time to head back to Quito, Señora Maria wouldn´t have us leave emptyhanded, we left with a bucketful of avocados and lemons...enough to last at least a month! We´re so happy to have met such a welcoming family, we love them! Check our Quito album (to the right) for more photos.