Amo mi vida

Cami y Mi Padre

I am blessed to have been placed with such a wonderful family.  Before arriving in Quito I had heard that the people of South America are very welcoming and hospitality is one of the virtues they're known for. This could not be more true. The Murgueytio family is no exception. I have only been living in Quito for 6 days and yet they have completely taken me in as one of their own. Mi mama, Lupe, insists that I am her hija (daughter) and that she will treat me as such. Thus far she has kept true to her promise. She wakes up every morning at 6:30am to make me 2 eggs, bread with cheese or jam, and coffee. The first two days of school she and mi hermana (sister) helped me figure out the complicated bus systems of Ecuador. Before I go any further to how dedicated mi mama is about my well being, let me tell you about these Ecuadorian buses...

• It only costs 25cents to ride the bus
• Nearly every bus plays loud Latin American music
• There is no machine that takes your money, it's always a separate person than the driver
• The buses hardly ever actually stop completely--yes that means that you jump on and off the buses
• Street venders are permitted to come on the bus to sell things like gym, fruit, candy, shoe rubber, etc. if they give the driver/money collector a few bucks of their earnings from the bus riders
• The buses are super jerky, as in they stop abruptly and begin again very very quickly--it feels like an amusement park ride

Anyway, so for an older women, taking me to school on the bus is a big deal. So I go to school roughly from 8am-1pm--I'll go into further detail about my school in a future post--and then return home around 2pm ish for almuerzo. In Ecuador, and I'm pretty sure most of South America, lunch is the big deal meal. Mi Mama is an AMAZING cook. Everyday she makes a different kind of soup (I love soup for those of you who don't know), rice, beans, veggies, and some sort of meat. She always compliments the meal with a fresh squeezed juice from some exotic fruit. And yes, I actually mean exotic, not like starfruit or passion fruit. I'm talking things that we don't even have names for in the US. For example, mi familia made me try that yellow fruit in the picture on the right. It's called a taxo and is not that sweet of a fruit. It's pretty good, but I probably wouldn't be able to eat more than one at a time.

Andres

 So after almuerzo mi mama and I take naps--I know, I live a hard life here in Ecuador. Then around 5 or 6 we start to move around again. We eat a smaller more like snack meal. Normally we eat some bread with cheese and jelly and drink coffee. If there was a lot left over from almuerzo mi mama will sometimes heat it up and we'll eat that. But she normally will only do that for me. Score. Then we all hangout and around 8 everyone goes to their bedrooms to do bedroom things. This is normally when I do my homework.

Like I said, my life is good.

The other people in my family include this little guy to the left. He is my nephew named Andres. He's 1 year and 4 months and super adorable. He doesn't contain a shy bone in his body and will constantly want to hangout on your lap or in your arms. His older sister, Cami is pictured above with her abuelo--mi padre. Cami is so sweet. She is very patient with my broken Spanish and does her best to help me understand what is going on around me--which by the way, I've just gotten over never being able to fully understand what is happening. Mi padre knows English very well because he lived in New York for 3 years. Although I prefer that mi familia talk to me in Spanish, it is nice to get some English every once in awhile. Last night mi padre with mi hermana Paula showed my friends Maria and Stephanie and I around the old area of Quito. It was sweet to have our own personal tour guide and to see the city at night. Mi hermana Paula is the mother of Andres and Cami. I think he husband lives in Quito, but a different part. Or something like that <-- language barrier. She has been such a help getting around my neighborhood in Quito. The first day that I arrived she showed me the way to the mall Bosque and helped me buy a watch.

Here are the pictures of my house! Note that this is not my house in it's entirety, only the rooms that I spend a lot of time in. 

The Kitchen

The Living Room and Dinning Room

The hallway on the 2nd floor where I like to read and look out the window at the beautiful mountains

My Room!

The view out my window

 Well it's about that time where I go and drink coffee and eat bread con mi familia, but before I do, watch this video of mi madre from El Día de los Padres (Father's Day). 

Buenos noches!