Mindo a go go

After sending Mom off back in Quito, we spent a couple of days there to do a little kid-centric exploration before heading to the cloud forest of Mindo.

Clinics and Condors and Commerce...oh my (Mom 3)

We were a little reluctant to leave Baños after having such a simultaneously invigorating and relaxing visit. But the legendary market of Otavalo is not to be missed by visiting retirees with a little extra room in the suitcase.

A visit to Bathroom (Grandma part 2)

Get your picture with a gringo -- one dollar

Some people may think twice about visiting a place named after a bathroom, but this was actually our second time to Baños de Ambato (or officially, Baños de Agua Santa, which I think is much prettier, and more appealing to think you're flushing with holy water).

(Go here for more general first-time impressions of Baños, but read on for more of Teddy and Nana Bear's adventures this time around.)

Club Med this ain't -- a visit from Grandma (part 1)

My mom was recently here for a visit that was probably for her more like vacation boot camp. But, c'mon, who comes to South America for two weeks? Whatever happened to that tradition of travel where you loaded up two or three trunks with leather straps, covered all the furniture in the manor with sheets, and spent 3-6 months on trains and steamer ships to visit distant relatives on their country estates? Oh yeah, egalitarianism happened. Damn.

The Super Double Secret Major Sporting Event Appreciation Society

We managed to get to a soccer match the other day. Now before you go wondering what kind of schedule a family on sabbatical could possibly have that would keep them from seeing even one soccer game in ten months, you should know that soccer here is like one of those flash rave parties they used to have in my 20s. You know, it would be in some warehouse one week, and in an empty parking garage the next, and they would only hand out flyers to certain people and let news spread by word of mouth. Same here; you have to be "on the inside" to know when a game will be.