Un Cafecito

Walking with your family in the spring has got to be one of the finer things in life. The air is rich with flower scent and thawing earth.

Walking in Boston's Arnold Arboretum and in the hills around Ecuador's Mount Imbabura both hold good memories. I also remember walking with my father in Quito, looking up at the office buildings where his jewelry customers, well paid receptionists, worked. Those walks often ended in a stop for "un cafecito" where we rested our feet and dipped fine rolls in the sweet brew.

Our walk this weekend was less about business and more about getting the noodle out of doors. It's been raining a lot and we were all itching to stretch our legs and look for blooms.

Blooms found.

It's hard to believe she's almost one year old.

This walk also ended with un cafecito. This one enjoyed in our local Costello's Travel Cafe. Sylvia nibbled on crunchy snacks while her parents tucked into frothy lattes and sweet muffins. With her keepers distracted, Sylvia took in the travel footage for which Costello's is known.

The Great Wall.

Can you hear "mama" and "baby"? I can.

Once home, and Sylvia napping, we discussed which color we would be painting her bedroom. Not sure which one we chose but the paint is bought so that ship has sailed. Hope she likes it.

Torcasita Superstar

This just in...Torcasa and Juan Manuel are going to have a baby!!! She is approximately 5-6 weeks along and enjoying the wonders of morning sickness. We send her, Juan Manuel and the little Ochoa-to-be much love.

Ecuador- Chapter 5- The Wedding Fiesta!!!

Drum roll please! After a great week in the North of Ecuador we returned to Quito and hopped a plane to Cuenca. Torcasa and Juan Manuel picked us up at the airport and drove us to our hotel downtown-The Santa Lucia.

Central court of the Santa Lucia

Through a bit of planning and some good luck we were staying in the same place as much of the rest of our family (the Seattle clan in particular). This made coordination before and after the wedding so much easier. We had arrived on Thursday and the wedding was to be on Saturday. I could go on and on about the fun we had walking the beautiful city of Cuenca (an UN World Heritage site) but the wedding was some much fun I'm going to skip forward with just this image of a church in the center of Cuenca and the flower market that resides next door.




The morning of the event the gang was at the hotel getting pretty. I even managed to get the wrinkles out of my suit. Before we left a few pictures were taken.

Torco holding court with the lovely ladies of Seattle

After a quick taxi ride we arrived at the hacienda near Cuenca where the marriage was to take place. When the wedding began at noon, Fidel and I walked Torcasa, radiant in a gown of her own design, toward the small gazebo where the ceremony would take place. He and I stood on either side of the gazebo as Torcasa and Juan Manuel said their vows and the witnesses did their duty. The completed the ceremony by planting a tree.

JM's last few moments of freedom

Then we all followed the newly married couple towards the hacienda where a magnificent spread was prepared for us. There were easily one hundred and fifty people at the tables when everyone was seated.


Aurelia and I were seated with Sarah, Fidel, Juan Manuel parents, brother and his girlfriend. The food was wonderful and the favored drink of the evening, "whisky", (whisky and water) began to flow. As a musician it is not surprising that Juan Manuel's wedding would be full of good sound. A number of bands played with one high point being a duet between JM and his father. The dancing began with Torcasa dancing with her uncle Gary, then Fidel and then me. Wonderful.


Soon many people joined in and the dancing got underway in earnest. Food continued to arrive at the tables: beef, chicken, salads, Cuencano sweets and the drinks flowed. Fidel and I took a break from the dancing and were caught being the boyz.

The happy couple. (What a lucky guy!)
More dancing and more whisky...



After eight hours of dancing and drinking the party turned its attention to a series of delicate tissue paper balloons that are held aloft with hot air generated from a tiny ball of alcohol soaked cotton suspended below their bottom. The rise slowly into the night sky carrying the name of the newlyweds into the thin Andean air.

The party began to dissipate but since we still had energy a bunch of us headed to a downtown hotel for after party whisky and food. After more eating and drinking and joking Aurelia and I crashed into our beds with sore but happy feet. Torcasa and JM headed off to a nearby resort for some much needed rest (ahem).

Ecuador- Chapter 4 - Peguche and Inti Raymi

After a day spent on a very enjoyable tour of the pueblos around Otavalo (which will not be illustrated here) Aurelia and I were both kinda pooped. However, being the trooper that she is, Aurelia suggested that we go visit the small town of Peguche which is a few minutes out of Otavalo.

Peguche is a town known for its weavings and other crafts and is mostly populated by indigenous Otavalenos.

So we hopped into a cab and after a pleasant conversation with the cabby on the virility enhancing effects of eating cui (cooked guinea pig) we arrived in Peguche in a light drizzle. As we stepped out of a cab we noticed that a group had gathered ahead of us. Most were dressed in traditional Otavenlos garb but a few, like the gentleman below, were more brightly dressed.


A moment later two large saints on platforms came out of a nearby house, someone lit of some fireworks, and the band struck up a one -two marching beat. The whole group then shared a few slugs of chicha (corn beer) and marched towards the center of town to celebrate the Festival of Inti Raymi (which was renamed by the Spanish as the Festival of San Pedro).

The procession moved through the narrow streets of Peguche, lighting fireworks and gathering followers. As it meandered through some back alleys we followed much of the crowd to the central plaza where stands had been erected. Soon the Saints and their attendants reappeared and marched through the plaza to the church. The dancers who accompanied the saints a stayed outside to entertain the crowd.

Children and non-costumed folk joined the masked and cross-dressed dancers. There's an entire Anthropology PhD dissertation in the photo below.

On the outskirts of the festivities were a bunch of kids playing a game where you pitch nickles onto small pictures framed with glass and tape. If your nickle fall on the tape you lose the nickle. If it falls on the image, you get to keep it. I managed to lose over fifty cents in less than a minute.


We left Peguche after an hour or so but were told that the festivities would go on for the next three days.

Next time....Cuenca and the Wedding!!!!