Ecuador Day 8

We had another really good day around here. We are definitely starting to get into a groove, and that is nice. We also almost went another day without going to the Mega Maxi, but then I was in the middle of cooking dinner when I realized that we have no baking dishes and what I was preparing needed to go into the oven. Lovely. So that ruined that.

This morning after the three hour ordeal that is getting our children ready, we went on an outing to a local market, the Santa Clara Market. It is an indoor fruit/vegetable/flower/meat/whatever else your heart desires/ market. We had a good time looking around at everything. We bought a ton of fresh fruits, vegetables, some meat, and a half dozen roses for just $13. Ecuador is the rose capital of the world, just in case you didn't know, so roses are cheap and plentiful. Hallie got to pick out today's bunch and she picked red roses. Nice. Devin is eying the lilies for next time. We will probably go here at least weekly to keep a good supply of fresh fruits and vegetables.

We came home to lunch, naps, and then a movie- Sword in the Stone. Devin has never seen it...can you believe that? He thought it was weird. I loved it, as usual. Hallie also liked it, which is a good thing! After our down time, we decided to take a stroll to a nearby bakery. Little hole-in-the-wall bakeries are to be found everywhere in Quito, but just our luck, there doesn't happen to be one near us. So we had to go quite a few blocks to the nearest bakery, which is not a little hole-in-the-wall one, but a bigger chain. We picked bread, rolls, and danishes to our heart's desire and along with three drinks paid $4.75. Cheap. We sat outside and ate some...poor Flor just has to have wheat bread every time, while we are all sampling everything else. We then walked home. This trip took a good chunk of our afternoon. We decided that we need to get out and walk somewhere everyday with Flor. She is a good walker, but can be lazy if we don't make her walk. She walked the whole way to the bakery and the whole way back, which was probably a mile or so overall, so that is really great. I am posting a video of her walking for those who want to see. She has only been walking for six months and having not walked for 6 years prior, I'd say she does pretty well!

Tonight was chaotic around here. First we had the dinner fiasco (no pan), so I had to send Devin and Hallie to the maxi. Dinner was later than intended due to this, and as it was still cooking, my old friend Maria Dolores came by with a friend of hers. Maria Dolores plays an important role in this story in that she took me (and the other OSSO volunteers) under her wing when Flor was in the hospital here in Quito when I was here 6 years ago. Flor was in the Hospital Baca Ortiz, which is just down the street from the where the OSSO house used to be (where I stayed.) Maria Dolores works at the hospital and is a very kind lady. She would bring me food during my shifts with Flor and took a special interest in her and her well-being. Maria Dolores has kept in touch with me over the years and has always wondered how Flor is. She was excited to see Flor again after all these years. The last time she saw her was close to the last time I did, when we both went out to see Flor at Precious Miracles. Maria Dolores' friend who accompanied her is a lady who works at the same hospital with kids with special needs. I don't know if Dolores wanted her to check Flor out or what, but she was very nice too. Neither of them really speak a lick of English and Devin's and my Spanish is only marginal, so that was interesting. The best part was Hallie talking to them a mile per minute and trying to get them to play pretend with her, when they couldn't understand a thing she was saying. That didn't stop them from playing hospital, pretend telephone, and playing with a ball for a good half hour with her. It was comical.

At the same time that Maria Dolores was here, Pamela stopped by with our documents for Flor. We got her whole medical/social history, her list of foods that she can/can't eat again (though the list is different this time. Very odd), and a paper saying we are authorized to take her with us throughout the country. Good thing..since we have been taking her with us everywhere anyway! We will see Pamela again and the other friends at the orphanage for Flor's going away party, which we wanted to have the same day as her birthday, Jan 6. So that's the plan for now.

So the process from here in case anyone is wondering--Pamela now needs to write a positive report of bonding stating that the adoption should proceed. She has until Thursday to do this, so even though it could be done before, we are not going to plan on it. Then, INFA has to write a report as well, which takes who knows how long. After that, we should get a court date to get this thing final! wahoo! So probably 2-3 weeks from now, I am guessing.

One question I have been asked a few times is how I have time to keep up on the blog so well. The answer is -- the kids all go to bed about 7 pm and so that gives us about 3 hours before we go to bed, which is when I update the blog (after we clean up the huge disaster of a kitchen post-dinner, of course.) We really have little else to do at night, other than read (and Devin is no reader), because who wants to watch Spanish TV? Not us. We brought about 10 movies with us, but most are kids Disney movies and we are getting plenty of watching of those during the day, so we haven't really watched movies. Thus, the long blogs! I plan on making the adventure here into a book when we get home, so it is nice to have the details and pictures all in chronological order. So, it's really a selfish thing...but I am glad there are a few of you reading it, too.


And finally, some pictures from the day:

Hallie and I in front of one of the meat stands at the market we went to today. Gotta love salmonella on a platter!

Can we get any grumpier? The girl gets flowers and that's the response we get??

Devin and kids. There was one lady there who asked if Flor is adopted. She is the only one so far! Everyone else just stares and tries to figure out what in the world we are doing with an Ecuadorian child.

Again? Seriously?

On our walk to the bakery today. Decorations on the walls are common here.

Just a little view down the street. I love the different architecture here. Every house/apartment has a large concrete fence and you must use a buzzer to get in. Standard practice.

Enjoying our bread at the bakery. Don't mind Flor's open mouth, but if you spend any time with us when we get back, you will have to get used to it. She is a very messy eater!

Hallie and I

Everyone enjoys making themselves very secure here. This house has an extra gate in front of their front door, in addition to the gate in the front surrounding the whole house.

Some people even have a security guard in one of these little boxes outside their house, in addition to the extra gates. This man looked extremely bored. I snuck a picture of him-- he was playing on his phone and watching T.V. What a job. I would get claustrophobic, though, sitting there all day, I'm sure.

The girls needed a break. Hallie actually took a break about every other house and would park it on the large concrete chunk of sidewalk to wait for the rest of us to catch up.

Maria Dolores insisted that I not take any pictures of her since she had to walk a few blocks to our house and was not looking at her prime. I did, however, sneak this picture of her playing with Jace. She, like every other Ecuadorian, commented multiple times on how fat he is.

Video of Flor walking, for those who want to see! We are so proud of her and how well she does.

A few oddities about Ecuador:
*You cannot flush your toilet paper. Instead, you put it in the wastebasket next to the toilet. Therefore, the toilet paper here is scented. Ours, like flowers. Nice.
* No carseats. Wild drivers. Whenever we go anywhere in a taxi, Devin sits in the front seat with Flor on his lap. I sit in the back with Jace and Hallie, both not in car seats. I know some of you car seat nazis are freaking out right now, but that's just the way it is here. It is scary at times.
*We haul in all of our own water from the Mega. No drinking the tap water.
*The owner of our apartment has a car, but he told us that there are some days that he has to take a taxi still because certain license plate numbers are not allowed to drive each day, in an effort to help alleviate traffic. Doesn't help.

That's all for now! I am sure we will gather more as we go.