Try Climbing Those Suckers

Well, friends and family, the moment has come for the proof of Lima eatting cuy. Yes, that's right. I finally have the pictures and internet to post these lovely documentations of me eatting guinea pig. Boom.

You remember the before shot of a furry little cute looking thing?...

...afterwards, there he is and there I am...freaking out. Apparently in my head, I thought that at any moment, he would have come back to life.

Then I took the plunge and took a bite of the cuy. Yes, I ate it. It was chewy and salty. I did not like it at all. It was probably the most terrifiying food experience I have ever had. I was shaking...that's how much I was freaking out. My students got a kick out of watching me freaking out touching the cuy. For the rest of the night I filled myself with potatoes and mote (a corn type food).

Well, now I can check that off the bucket list...check.
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Saturday morning my host family and I took an adventure to Paute. My family is buying property to continue to build their business. This has been our lives for the past week of business talks and meetings at the banks. Finally, I was able to see the land that the family has been buzzing about. The property is huge. The scenery is breathtaking. The house is beautiful with all of these hidden antique features. I will retell my lovely Saturday through picture form...(These pictures don’t do justice of providing a glimpse of the place but it will have to do).

The property is located on a mountain, so numerous set of stairs were found all over the place. Here’s one set that I thought looked pretty cool. Try climbing those suckers…thank you, altitude....I can never breath again.

Mama-Cuenca, Abuelita-Cuenca, Megan (one of my students and my "second cousin") and I took a mini hike through the property.

We stopped to take in the scenery for a bit. Abuelita-Cuenca was in her element at this point. She grew up in the country.

We found berries on our mini hike.

I was skeptic of trying the berry even after mama-Cuenca reassured me a billion times that it was ok.

I ate the berry. Then I made the executive decision that it was probably one of the best berries I have ever eaten.

During our mini hike, we had a mama-Cuenca moment. We lurve each other.

Then abuelita-Cuenca decided to continue on her exploration. I followed. I thought Surely if she can do it, then I can too. Little did I know...

By the time I caught up to abuelita-Cuenca, I was huffing and puffing. Again, thank you altitude. Abuelita-Cuenca then decided to go back the stairs and I just stared after her.

Lesson of the day: Don't mess with abuelita-Cuenca.

Even primito-Cuenca was so happy because of the awesomeness surrounding him.

This was one of my favorite moments of the day: abuelitos-Cuenca sharing a moment by the poolside and I was able to capture it.

While exploring the property and the sweet house, I kept finding hidden antique treasures. They made me drool with delight.

Of course, I have to give out a shout out to the flowers. They made up about 50% of the awesomeness of the place…and pretty much all of Ecuador.

As you can see, it was a pretty awesome day. It was much needed. At one point, I just sat on the steps and gazed at the scenery before me. All I could do was to sit still. I needed to stop and recollect myself. That place made me be still and soak in what the Lord had created. I prayed some prayers of worship. I could not help but praise the Lord for how mighty and powerful He is.

When was the last time you sat still?....that you stopped and sat?...with no ipods or cell phones?...where it was you, beauty and Jesus?

Are we too afraid to stop and face what’s actually there? Or are we too consumed in our constant go of our lives that we don’t have time to stop? Why can’t we stop? What will it take for us to stop? What will happen when we don’t stop?

...what are we going to lose?

I came back from that mini adventure and took a nap. Boom. That’s how much it relaxed me.
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Sunday I was reunited with my students at church and spent the whole day with them. Monday we went to the Banco Central of Cuenca and was immersed in Ecuador’s history. We saw different exhibits of Ecuador’s tribes and some old school ruins, which we became a little creative to interact with. I just would like to give a little shout out to my students. There’s never a dull moment with them. Somehow they can make the boring museum’s fun. There’s always a story to tell or a joke to laugh about. From double espresso’s and ice cream at the Fruitilado or random dance moves in Spanish class, my students make the trip worth it. Funny thing is that I’m probably learning just as much from them. They keep me on my toes. They find the most random questions to ask about Ecuadorian culture that most of the time I say “I don’t know”. My favorite part about my students is the ability for them to laugh at different situations. They laugh at themselves when thinking gringo meant handsome in Spanish to throwing away half of their breakfast when their host mom is not looking because they are too full too eat. They never stop to amaze me to find creative ways to make culture learning fun…even it meant laughing at silly things like butts.