April

Hard to believe it is the middle of April. Semana Santa is in full swing. Life is good.

I had a great weekend with some of our neighbors, Patricia and Jefferson (the gardener at Mundo). Emily and I went with Patricia and the three boys, Jefferson, Joel and Abrahm, to a town about an hour north of here, called Nobol. This town is the birthplace of Saint Narcisa de Jesus. Although she lived in the 1800's, her body is still there. As you can imagine, the entire town was packed for Palm Sunday. People were everywhere, selling candles, rosaries, and many odd religious things that Ecuadorians love. We went to mass and could barely see or hear anything amongst the hundreds trying to view the body and get their palms and jugs of water blessed.

We had a great time with the family, though. We took a canoe ride in a canoe that was overloaded with people and at times irregually lopsided. The boys (okay, myself included) were scared to make the return trip on the canoe so the six of us piled into a motorized tricycle for the return. We all had some good laughs. On the way home we stopped at the suegra's house (Jefferson's mom's house). There we enjoyed the best seco de pollo we've had in 8 months and an interesting conversation about religion as his mom is a recent convert to Jehovah's Witness.

I really value the opportunities that we have to spend with the families and experience Ecuador all at the same time. It is amazing to have friendships that completely transcend all barriers. Experiences like I had this weekend are a reminder to me that we are all connected and that we are all one family.

I'm looking forward to more experiences like this one.

Happy Easter,
Erin