Friends and Inca Pirca

Dear Family and Friends,

Chuck and I have had a wonderful week with our guests. Ricardo and Vanessa Santos, from San Pablo, Brazil and Jim and Robin Morris from USA - Richland, WA.

Ricardo and Vanessa prepared several dinners typical of Brazil for us. We enjoyed a Caribbean inspired dish of black beans, many types of pork and rice. On another occasion Ricardo prepared a barbecue of Argentina beef. It was all so delicious.

Here is a picture of Vanessa in our kitchen. I am sure she knows her way around my kitchen better than me.



We went to Inca Pirca, ruins from an Inca city located north of Cuenca.

I sent pictures of this site last spring upon our return from Ecuador. A picture of Chuck and me, with the ruins in the background, from this trip.




Going to the ruins was one of the highlights of Vanessa's trip. This trip was very spiritual for all four of us. One special gift we had was a spectacular rainbow circling the sun. We had never seen anything like this before. I tried to photograph it, but my picture does not do it justice it all.



After Jim and Robin arrived, we all went out to a get acquainted dinner at a Cuenca restaurant.



Tonight we celebrated Vanessa's birthday. Our new friend and neighbor, Milena, went with us. She is the lovely lady in the bottom left of the picture. We went to a Mexican restaurant in Ecuador, wore Japanese "Hello Kitty" birthday hats, and sang Happy Birthday to Vanessa in Portuguese. We had much to eat and drink and a wonderful time was had by all. We will miss Vanessa and Ricardo as they leave tomorrow morning going back to Brazil.

Have a nice week.

Our love,
Nancy and Chuck