Looking Back: Robb Becomes a Proud Papa

I mean...owner...of a 1975 VW Bus. A Westfalia, or "Westie", complete with pop-top camper, two fold out beds, a sink, a stove, and an icebox/fridge, he/she/it (a name has yet to be chosen) sleeps four comfortably and puts some major sparkle in the proud papa's eyes. We flew out to Phoenix this past Valentine's weekend, and spent three days driving it back to San Jose. The Grand Canyon was gorgeous (Robb's first visit), Hoover Dam at midnight was movie-set surreal (a first for both of us), and Death Valley was interesting (my first time there).

Miraculously enough, we made it home safely, and I have to say that, while I may not love the bus unequivocally, I do think it's pretty freaking awesome. If Robb hangs onto it long enough to be able to fix it up entirely (we're talking YEARS, mostly because it'll take that long to save the money for the minor body work and major paint job that need to be done), it will be absolutely amazing. For now, I'll just squint and pretend to be able to ignore the green-faded-to-blue curtains clashing with the orange-black-green plaid. :-)

Shaine and Kevin's Wedding

Yesterday the one and only Shaine Klima married Kevin Athey. It was a beautiful day at the Oakland Temple, and fun times both before and after the ceremony with friends from Long Beach and beyond. All in all, a fantastic time to reconnect with a lot of excellent friends.

And Shaine and Kevin, we all hope you're having a FABULOUS honeymoon.

:-)

The radiantly beautiful bride:

The happy couple:

The happier couple:

The shoes that inspired the outfit:

And the only picture I have of the LB/OC/DC crew.

(Patty and Carrie, I'm trusting you have much better pictures!)

A few more Ecuador pictures

How to keep Ecuadoran drivers from using a lane under construction:

fill it with rocks and branches.

A couple (out of hundreds) of the orchids in Loja's orchid garden.

Robb's favorite purchase:

a "cabeza del diablo" mask for his brother.

The best thing about Ecuador!

Ecuador, Part 3

After Christmas Eve in Quito we flew to Loja. (Ahem...well, after a LONG wait in the Quito airport. HINT: If you're ever waiting for a domestic flight in Quito, head over to the International terminal. Waaaaaaaaaay nicer.) It was truly wonderful to see my parents and have the opportunity to see first hand all the things they've told us about.

We went to Parque Jipiro (the coolest city park I've been to in a while - full of replicas of famous buildings in which we had fun playing around), an orchid garden, the city zoo (though we're told it's really not worth it anymore since the giraffe died - random!), and both ends of Parque Nacional Podocarpus - the high altitude end (ridgeline/cloud forest) near Loja and the rainforest-esque low altitude end (near the city of Zamora).

We ate frogs legs and guinea pig and Ecuadoran corn cakes, and we saw a lot of interesting (and random) sights, such as sections of road covered in rocks and small trees, to keep people from driving on them until construction is done. (Driving in Ecuador is only for the fearless. It doesn't matter how many lanes there appear to be - there's always only one lane: the one going your direction. My favorite memory? Passing another car on the left while being passed on the left. Oncoming traffic, schmoncoming traffic!)

After five days with my parents we had to head out, so we took a bus north to Cuenca. The city is full of beautiful colonial-era buildings, most noticeably the "new" cathedral (1800s), which has three blue-tiled domes. We saw some real (and really eerie) shrunken heads at a local museum, bought some cool handicrafts, and listened to some great ethnic music. On December 31 we passed numerous sidewalk stands selling yellow women's underwear (brings good luck if worn on New Year's Eve), and made our way to the airport. It was a fantastic trip!

Me, coming down a cement slide on the miniature Kremlin at Parque Jipiro.

Parks outside the US are so fantastically, dangerously fun! :-)

My mom, with her half-guinea pig (cuy).

Visiting the Sotomayor family with my parents.

The new cathedral in Cuenca.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Ecuador, Part 2: Shall we dance?

After 4 days in the Amazon we went back to Quito. We spent the night in our hostel and went up to Otavalo and Cotacachi the next day. Otavalo is the site of the longest-running and largest indigenous market in South America (it's been in existence since the Incan era), and Cotacachi is famous for its leather goods. (As we drove up to the town the air smelled like leather - it was pretty cool!)

We spent another night in Quito and found a few cool spots on La Ronda - a colonial era (1600s) street full of shops, galleries, and cafes. My favorite memory from our time in Quito was from our second to last night there. Robb and I were starving and tired (so I was rather grumpy), and we were walking up and down La Ronda, looking for a good place to eat. As it was the 23rd, there was a LOT of loud celebrating (and karaoke, oddly enough) going on. I was not in the mood for a noisy crowd.

We finally settled on a VERY small cafe on a side street (mostly because their sidewalk sign said they had pizza.) ;-) We sat down and ordered, and as we waited for our food the cafe owner very kindly changed the radio to American Christmas music. We started up a conversation with the lady and her husband, drank her amazing, out-of-this-world-delicious hot chocolate, ate our pizza, and talked some more.

Robb had been drumming on the table as we ate (a common occurrence) and we talked about rhythm and then dancing. When the owners found out Robb didn't know how to do any Latin dances they decided to change that. He, of course, protested, but they shoved the other two tables out of the way, cranked up the music, and the señora pulled him out of his seat and started teaching him how to cumbia. All in all, we had a fabulous time dancing with this older couple in their little 10x10 cafe. It was definitely one of my favorite experiences from the trip.

Long-overdue Ecuador Recap

Okay, so for Christmas break Robb and I went to Ecuador, ostensibly to visit my parents, who are currently serving as full-time missionaries in the Ecuador Guayaquil (South?) Mission.

Part 1

We started off our trip in Quito, where we found a hostel, crashed into bed (it was a LONG day of flying), and promptly got up the next morning for a 5:30 bus into El Oriente - the Amazon rainforest. We drove to Tena, and ended up in the Shangri La Lodge, above the Anzu River. We stayed there for four days and were able to go hiking through the jungle, white water rafting on the Jatunyacu river, as well as getting to know people from all over the world when the guests came together for dinner each night. We saw bats, river otters, parrots, snakes, and WAY more bugs (particularly ENORMOUS spiders) than I ever wanted - or want - to see. We also saw hundreds of amazingly beautiful flowers, trees, and shrubs, and ate a variety of bananas, plantain, and yucca. Here are some jungle pictures:

Chonta palm - VERY spiky!

The Anzu River

Leaf cutter ants

Pedro, our guide, painting Robb with achiote

Jungle fashion baby - HOT.

PS: I also got the WORST sunburn of my life while rafting. I'm pretty sure it was a serious 2nd degree burn, edging into 3rd degree territory. Thanks to my Mom and her tub of Watson's burn cream, I'm okay - though my legs may have a permanent tan line from the knees down!

Resolutions

This is a great talk by Elder Joe J. Christensen. I read it every year at New Year's and thought it might be helpful to pass it along. Check it out - it's good!

"Resolutions"