..Troops Come Marching In

Yesterday the police came marching through our valley and our farm.  They were headed up the mountain for target practice.  In Ecuador, firearms cannot be bought or sold by civilians.  Most of these young officers were holding guns for the first time.  The boys were so excited and followed them up the mountain.  I stayed home with Zeb----

ready to call the US Embassy if no one came back in an hour :)

Troops marching through our valley

Will and David, (our Ecuadorian friend), were able to talk to the Captains for a while.  David is very politically minded, as is his family and the Captains recognized David's family name.  He knows the current president of Ecuador- Correa.  He was one of his university professors.  I am amazed as I truly learn how small this country is especially in its elite ruling group. Presidente Correa is about to be elected for the 3rd time and will be in office for 11 years once that term is finished.  

practicing formations

Will says they were treated like visiting dignitaries.  They were given a tour of what the men were doing.  They were learning to shoot a 223 rifle. When he told them that was Bleu's first gun and the men did not believe him.  Nor did they believe that Bleu was already a good shot at 11.  In Ecuador, no 11 year old would be allowed to shoot a gun.  In fact, the captains explained that if the officers made a mistake with a gun in training even once, they would never touch a gun again in their police career.   

After a long visit, 2 soldiers escorted our crew safely home.

  

A new mode of transportation...

Transportation here is challenging for us.  The 4 mile walk to town and back is fairly easy.  Yes, tears are shed on the last mile (some by me), but the boys will toughen up quickly I think.    There are beautiful hikes and rivers and small villages up in the mountains and the volcanos that are above us.   We are trying to get our whole family proficient enough to go on horseback up the volcano. I look forward to seeing such unexplored territory where no car has ever been and seeing how the indigenous people are living.  It is like going back in time 500 years I have been told.

Eli fell asleep ON THE HORSE his first lesson.  

Zeb's favorite was learning to "kiss"  the horse to make him walk.

Even Zeb practices balance.

The horse is a Peruvian Paso.  They are known for their smooth ride.

Working on balance and equilibrium.

This horse is a Criollo.

Our instructors only speak spanish so we are are not the best students.  They say things about 10 times while we try to think of everything they may be telling us to do.  When we finally do what they have told us EVERYONE is applauding.

whats wrong with this photo?

Here is some history about the Criollo breed of horses.

When the Conquistadors invaded Central and South America in the 1500s, 

they brought riding horses which were among Spain's finest. 

Inevitably many horses either escaped or were scattered during battles.

 Many of these horses survived in the vast pompas of South America. 

In this sometimes harsh and hostile environment, 

only the strongest survived to pass on their 

superior characteristics to their progeny. 

The breed of horse which is derived 

from these wild horses is the Criollo. -cowboyfrank.net

Mutton busting....

There is one lone sheep on the farm.  He lives on the hillside with a couple of goats.  I think he is so cuddly looking.  I asked the boys to go stand by him so I could take a picture and this is what happened next…….

Milk, Milk, Milk

Our first few days have been better than I imagined.  We are all moving slow due to the high altitude, but we are moving none the less.  Will has not gotten sick!  What an answered prayer.  Bleu threw up a few times last night, but I think it was a bug from home. 

 No one else has been sick, even after eating lunch at a dirt floor restaurant in the village where our whole families meal cost 6$.  

                                The farm is very tranquil, which is what I was hoping for.  

Never spending much time out of the city, everything here is so new to me.  

We have milked cows in the evening and the kids are facisnated by them.  

I learned to pasteurize the milk.  The first day, I threw the cream that you see above away in the compost bin(it looked like curdled milk to me).  Erma almost had a heart attack and informed me that it was the best part and in fact a delicacy on the farm .  This top layer forms after I boil the milk for 10 minutes and then leave it to sit overnight.  Then you take the cream and put it in a small bottle.  

We put cinnamon and sugar on it and spread it on bread, it is delicious.

The milk is delicious, but a lot of work!

Boys love to go get the baby cows to bring 

to their mama to start the milking process.

This baby cow loves Liam.  

Our walk to the stables to milk cows at 5:30 each evening.

Its only 1/4 mile and its beautiful.

We have had a lot of time to teach the boys and listen to them.  

I hope to grow all of our hearts closer together 

and the Lord will bring us closer to him, as we listen to

 his promptings in the quiet of our days.  

An Ecuadorian cookout…

Will was afraid he was going to eat beans and rice for 2 months.  

I was afraid the kids would starve.  

We had no idea what bountiful garden would be here as well as the grocery stores having all that we need( although they are all 45 minutes away).  

Although it is slightly different

 (buying a live chicken for our weekly meat) it is the same taste and much fresher.  

This Hacienda is completely organic.  We don't have trash, we have a plastic and paper recycle bin, a compost bin and a tiny garbage bag for diapers, that is it.  So different from home where we have 5 bags of garbage a week.  I love learning how to not be so wasteful and Erma, the woman who takes care of the house has taught me so much.  

It has opened my eyes to how much I take for granted in the states and how wasteful we are. 

Here is a photo from Saturday's cookout.  These are our new friends that have been so welcoming.  Janine and David are the owners of the Hacienda and the other family are their friends in from Quito for a day of tranquility on the Hacienda.  Their little girl Emma, and Zeb had a blast together, when they weren't fighting over toys.  It was fun to watch them both speak spanish to each other.  Zeb learned the word Mio(mine) very quickly.  

Zeb and Emma are both 2.

Waiting for the cooks to serve them.

Janine teaching Bleu to make naranjito juice in our kitchen.

Janine and David with us.  

We ate beef and salad and potatoes and we all cooked together.  David is a master chef and they taught us much and Bleu learned to make a wonderful juice from the garden.  The fruit is called naranjito- it is not an orange, and it is very thorny, you have to boil it then juice it.  Muy Rico!

We sat and visited for hours about the Ecuadorian/USA politics, lifestyle and compared our advantages and disadvantages of both cultures.  So eyeopening and expands our understanding of international politics.  

Otavalo Animal Market

Our Dinner.

Today we went to the Otavalo Animal Market. I have wanted to visit it for years.  The city of Otalvalo  is host to the oldest and largest market in South America.   The market  dates back to the Incan Empire. It was overwhelming and amazing.  It was dusty, dirty and very fun!  Imagine people and animals crammed into a plot of land the size of a city lot. Everone was trying to touch Zeb because of his rare blonde hair so we had to hold him most of the time.  You can buy anything from a cow to a lama to pigs.  We came home with 2 chickens, one to lay eggs and one for dinner, 2 baby chicks, and a kitten.  The boys were thrilled and we spent the rest of the day trying to figure out how to get Suco and Carnella away from the baby animals as they would follow the boys holding the chicks and the kitten literally licking their lips.  

Bleu's chicken lays blue eggs.

Boys ride back with the animals.

Eli's kitten

We are finally here!

Vaccines are not a requirement in the Andes region of Ecuador where we plan to stay.  When Will and I went last February we went sans vaccines.  However, the coastal region, the amazon and the galapogos are a different story.  If we visit certain parts, you cannot get back into the country without your immunization card. So, to avoid complications I decided at the VERY last minute to vaccinate us all.  I know some of you are gasping, it is so popular now to not vaccinate with all of the known risks.  However after researching some of these diseases that are still prevalent in developing countries, I was willing to take the risk.  

We had to drive to dallas and take everyone out of school- a very fun field trip for our clan-.  Everyone did great- with the exception of our little middle.  When faced with the shot, he simply screamed no.  We tried to reason with him.  "Eli, you cannot go to Ecuador with your brothers if you don't get the shot," I explained to an  irrational 4 year old.  "I'm staying here then he decided."  Trauma - after a few minutes, I sat on him and we were all done! 

We are all aboard the airplane.  We left the house at 4:30 this morning and it is 11am now and Eli and Zeb are sound asleep next to me.  Bleu and Liam are sitting in first class(only miles tickets left) and the rest of us are in the back of the plane.  The last thing Liam said to me as I walked to the back of the plane was what do I do if I have to toot?  Oh heavens I feel for those people up there.  These probiotics I've been loading everyone up on has done a number on our whole families system.  

 We have arrived at the Hacienda.  It is 3am.  The bumpy dirt road we were on for the last hour in our jeep has lulled everyone back to sleep.  Will sat in the front with our driver and I sat in the back seat with all 4 boys.  Very Cozy.  Most of our bags are tied on top of the car and we sat on our  carry ons.  The plane ride was very uneventful thank goodness.  The airport is another story.  Quito airport is notorious for being unsafe, aren't all big city airports though?  The only problem with this is there is no order---bags tossed all over the floor and once you exit customs it is a free for all.  Thank goodness the kids were so scared they voluntarily stayed close to us.  Will sweating as he was stepping over the people(He is very tall here-Ha!) and gripping our 70 pound duffles all over the airport.  I was standing by the luggage with all our computers and told to keep an eye on everything- well a few seconds after he left us I turned around and a woman had her hand in my purse holding one of our passports.  I grabbed her hand and she dropped it, smiled and walked off.  I didn't tell Will until after we were out- no international scene was needed as she simply emailed and gave it back.  

At least she was pleasant!

We are all tucked in soundly going to sleep.  We have big fires and water bottles keeping us warm that our new friends had ready for us when we arrived.  It is beautiful in the middle of the night, I cannot wait to see it in the morning.  The men that just left us after building the fire said it was time for them to go start milking the cows…I am glad I am not a farmer today.