Wordless Wednesday

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Why Ecuador in March?

Ecuador is a small South American country on the Equator (hence the name) where both my mother and father were born. I was born in NYC where my parents migrated too. They actually met in NY and not in Ecuador. My dad was from the big city (Guayaquil) and my mom from the fishing town (Manta). My sister and I were both born in NY where I spent my entire life until I met Papa Peep. (more on that some other time)

OK back to my original story! So Ecuador is partly above and partly below the Equator. Quito is where the actual divide happens. Since Quito is located high in the Andes Mountains it has much cooler weather than Guayaquil. The summer is very mild but the winter can get very cold. Remember the seasons are flipped below the Equator. When we are enjoying cold weather they are enjoying warm weather and vice versa. Think Australia at Christmas time...they are at the beach and we in the US or above the Equator are digging ourselves out of snow.

Now in Guayaquil the weather is always hot. The winters are dry but hot and the summers are wet and hotter. March is cold in most parts of the US. Even Atlanta had cold weather in March.

Guayaquil in March is wet, and hotter than I have ever known a place to be. It rains in spurts but so hard that the streets flood almost immediately. The rain brings some relief from the heat but then the mosquitoes are rampant. So if the heat won't get you the mosquitoes will. It really is a miserable time. I do not recommend Ecuador in their summertime.

Knowing all this, you ask me why was I in Ecuador in March? Because my aunt was getting married. There was no way I was going to miss that. She is the youngest of my grandmother's 10 children. She is actually younger than I am. My mother is my grandmother's 2nd child but the oldest girl. While my mother was already a mother of 2, my grandmother became the mother of 10 children. Amazing!!!! I ask her all the time how she managed that many children. She still doesn't know.

Here is a picture of the beautiful bride.

Here are the bride's siblings....my aunts and uncles minus my mother and two uncles (one of them, the oldest child, passed away a few years ago. The other and my mother could not attend.)


Maybe tomorrow I will tell you all about the wedding.......

Grandma

These are some of my grandmother's flowers. Since she lives in a city (Guayaquil) space is limited. She has no yard to plant these in. They are all in flower pots and she cares for them the same way she cared for her 10 children.....lots of love, lots of patience and GREAT food. I am still downloading pictures of my trip and haven't found the right picture of my grandma to share. Soon to come......

But here is another picture of the crazy cousin peeps.

The Threee Musketeers

Here you find oldest peep with 2 cousins. Since the seasons are opposite in Ecuador, the children were on their summer vacations when we arrived. The cousins got to spend lots of time together which helped the peeps in their Spanish language acquisition. All 3 are girly peeps who got attacks of the giggles constantly. Over the following posts you will see these cousins and others who made our visit in Ecuador so much fun.

I will miss them all very much but I am really glad to be home......finally.

Back and gone again

I only have a brief update. I have returned from Ecuador safe and sound only a little sadder because I do not know when I will return. The flight is so much farther now and therefore so much more expensive.

We had a wonderful time. The peeps made many new friends and thanks to the internet they will be able to keep in touch easier. Many of them have already called them to make sure they made it home safely. I promise pictures soon but unfortunately my laptop has decided to not work properly. Papa Peep is on the case but I may end up with a new desk top. I am using Oldest Peep's computer for the moment. My pictures are not stored here but I doing some transferring.

But that will all have to wait until next week because......... We are headed out of town again. A vacation from my vacation! Since Papa Peep was not able to join us on our previous trip we are all going this time. It is a family retreat with our new homeschool group. We can't wait. The peeps are especially excited because we will be taking a ferry in a few shorts hours. You all have a fabulous week and I will post pictures upon our return.