Dinner with the folks
After a very full day of tourism, Maya and I rested and then took a cab to where she first lived when she arrived in Cuenca. Isabel and Xavier had invited us over for dinner at their condo. I, unfortunately, did not get pictures of the home (inside or out) but I know Maya has some somewhere. I did get these photos of the host family and the hosted one.
Nate (current exchange student), Maya, me, Isabel, Xavier
Unfortunately, baby Lucas went to sleep before photo time so he's not in the pictures. He rolled around in his walker thingy while we ate dinner, and luckily he didn't knock any of the candles over, although it came close! Both of Maya's host families are into art work, this home had modern art made out of various metals - wall hangings and a sculpture type structure. Turned out Xavier's relative (cousin? brother in law?) is the artist. The apartment/townhouse had two stories, and Maya showed me the fireman's pole in the corner that goes from the upstairs right into the dining room area. The family was preparing to move, since Lucas is learning mobility and it's not an easy to baby-proof home.
We had a nice visit, a lot easier for me than visiting the other host family who spoke no English. Xavier helped Maya translate conversations for me, and talked slowly in Spanish so I could understand. Nate from California, I swear, spoke English with a Spanish accent. Xavier twice forgot to translate and instead turned to me and repeated what had just been said...again in Spanish! We laughed about that. Then Lucas had a fun spitting on mom game, well more like blowing raspberries at her, that he could've played all night but he got put to bed. I got to talk with Isabel about Maya's little habits from a mom's perspective, and thanked them a lot for taking good care of her for the first half of her trip.
Dinner was delicious yet again. Little hamburguesitas, rice, potatoes with white "salsa" (since "salsa" just means sauce) and fruit salad for dessert. And chocolates. Lots of little chocolates that Maya and Xavier especially loved. I was told that Nestle has bought out just about every Ecuadorian candy factory around except this one. They were miniature marshmallows with a hard chocolate shell around them wrapped in foil. They weren't very good, but were very addictive. Unfortunately the ones I brought back to the states were SUPER stale and pretty horrible.
Xavier drove us back to the hotel in the rain, and once again we had to ring the outer doorbell (as opposed to the actual bell at the inner door that we usually rang) to roust someone to let us in. Then we conked out.
Nate (current exchange student), Maya, me, Isabel, Xavier
Unfortunately, baby Lucas went to sleep before photo time so he's not in the pictures. He rolled around in his walker thingy while we ate dinner, and luckily he didn't knock any of the candles over, although it came close! Both of Maya's host families are into art work, this home had modern art made out of various metals - wall hangings and a sculpture type structure. Turned out Xavier's relative (cousin? brother in law?) is the artist. The apartment/townhouse had two stories, and Maya showed me the fireman's pole in the corner that goes from the upstairs right into the dining room area. The family was preparing to move, since Lucas is learning mobility and it's not an easy to baby-proof home.
We had a nice visit, a lot easier for me than visiting the other host family who spoke no English. Xavier helped Maya translate conversations for me, and talked slowly in Spanish so I could understand. Nate from California, I swear, spoke English with a Spanish accent. Xavier twice forgot to translate and instead turned to me and repeated what had just been said...again in Spanish! We laughed about that. Then Lucas had a fun spitting on mom game, well more like blowing raspberries at her, that he could've played all night but he got put to bed. I got to talk with Isabel about Maya's little habits from a mom's perspective, and thanked them a lot for taking good care of her for the first half of her trip.
Dinner was delicious yet again. Little hamburguesitas, rice, potatoes with white "salsa" (since "salsa" just means sauce) and fruit salad for dessert. And chocolates. Lots of little chocolates that Maya and Xavier especially loved. I was told that Nestle has bought out just about every Ecuadorian candy factory around except this one. They were miniature marshmallows with a hard chocolate shell around them wrapped in foil. They weren't very good, but were very addictive. Unfortunately the ones I brought back to the states were SUPER stale and pretty horrible.
Xavier drove us back to the hotel in the rain, and once again we had to ring the outer doorbell (as opposed to the actual bell at the inner door that we usually rang) to roust someone to let us in. Then we conked out.