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Monday, August 30, 2010

Busy Sunday

Dear Family and Friends,
Yesterday was packed with fun and friendship. We started our Sunday off with an early morning walk to the Kookaburra with Rich and Nancy. The walk was invigorating as always. After breakfast, Chuck and I caught a taxi back home. We had made plans to go to La Union with Lourdes (our housekeeper) and her family. They came over to our condo at 10:00am.

We headed out in Puff-Puff. The drive was beautiful and we conversed in Spanish (mostly). La Union has had three days of celebration....Sugar Cane Festival (Fri, Sat and Sun). We were there for the tail end.

Lourdes and William


Their son, Ivan.


We watched Ivan enjoy some of the children's activities and we watched a futbol (soccer) game.


We went back out to the main highway to have our lunch. We had passed several crowded outdoor roadside restaurants on our way into La Union. Lourdes showed us which restaurant she thought was best and by golly her choice was right on.

Us adults all ordered chancho (roasted pig) and Ivan had a chicken (pollo) plate. Our lunches were $3 a plate. We had more roasted pig than we could eat. It was a fabulous lunch.

Everything was prepared out of doors. We ate under on a covered patio right next to the highway. They were so crowded we had to wait to get a table.

In the picture below this lady is cooking soup stock and corn. Notice the banana trees behind the building. La Union, although only an hour from Cuenca is much lower and warmer.




Check out these chickens being roasted over coals. This is only one of several cookers operating at the same time.


Pretty Lourdes....


We stopped along the side of the road and bought cane syrup on the way home. Here is a picture of the syrup in front of where it was made. This is a real treat since I was raised in Georgia and grew up on cane syrup.

On the way back to Cuenca, little Ivan sang most of the way. Such a sweet voice. After we dropped Lourdes, William and Ivan at their house, we drove to the Super Maxi to get pan de yucca. This is the closest I have found to biscuits. I was getting ready to do some serious sopping.

When we arrived home, we had an email from Karen and Randy. They were proposing that we get together for dinner. Chuck called them and Randy said for me to preheat the oven to 350 because they were bringing the dinner over to cook.

We sat around on the patio, snacked and played UPWARDS while the chicken and veggies roasted in the oven.

We had a delicious dinner, although it was a late dinner due to technical difficulties....I did not set the oven to the correct temperature. My oven dial is in Celsius and I just guessed at what 350 should be. Ooops....it took about 4 hours to cook the dinner.

We really enjoyed our dinner....Thanks Randy!

We woke up this morning to horrible news. A passenger bus, traveling from Cuenca to Quito on Saturday night, went off the highway and fell over 300 ft down the mountain side. More than 40 passengers are dead. Chuck and I have heavy hearts.....our thoughts and prayers are with the families.

Share your love today!

Nancy (and Chuck)


10 comments:

  1. Thanks Nancy for the fun nite. We were so happy to hang out with you.

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  2. Karen,
    We feel the same way about you guys!

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  3. Muchos gracias por las fotos.

    Terrible noticia sobre el accidente de autobús.

    Mirando hacia adelante a conocerte y Chuck en Cuenca

    Adios y Saludos,

    Len

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  4. Len,
    We are looking forward to meeting you also.

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  5. For the oven temperature problem - suggest you check out: www.convert-it.com. You can convert anything using this site.

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  6. Gracias. I am going to make myself a little cheat sheet to keep near the stove.

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  7. Thanks Nancy, being a Georgia boy myself that completed it. Found Lard, flour, butter and now cane syrup...time for a little soppin' of some "cat head" biscuits!

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  8. I'm laughing....just thinking about Sapa soppin'

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  9. I like very much pictures you are taking. Also, your writing is very vivid and full of life and so many interesting information. In my imagination I am also living in Ecuador!
    Tee Doubleyou

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Comments are welcome.