This weekend was the first spent in Cuenca with mi familia. On Saturday, my host mom unfortunately had to work, so I spent the day with mi hermano (brother), two cousins, and a family friend, instead. After enjoying a late lunch of traditional Ecuadorian seafood, we spent the majority of the afternoon simply relaxing, laughing, and making good conversation—I think. Even though I couldn’t understand the majority of what they were saying, they were all very friendly and happy to have me around. They joked with me and treated me like part of the family, giving me a hard time when I stumbled on words and speaking extra slow when they wanted me to understand what they were saying.
On Sunday, my host mom did not have to work so we were able to spend the day together. In the morning, we went to el mercado (an outdoor market) to buy groceries for the upcoming week. She took me around to a bunch of vendors, chatting up a storm while simultaneously bargaining to get good prices on this, that, and the other thing. It was tough to keep up! When we returned home, we made a big lunch for mi mamá, hermano, hermana, y yo (my mom, brother, sister, and I). She showed me her tricks for making some tasty sopa verde (a type of creamed pea soup), tomato and onion salsa, and jugo de fresas (strawberry juice) to die for. After we finished lunch and the dishes, we set out via car to the local national park, Cajas. We were almost turned away at the gate upon our arrival around 3:30 pm. There is a limit of 114 persons in this certain portion of national park at one time, and, because it was late in the day, the cap had been reached. However, she worked some magic and convinced the ranger to let us in—and thank goodness she did! It was absolutely beautiful (as you can see in the above photo). We walked around a big lake on a path that weaved through lush forest, open prairies, and crossed over bridges and covered pathways. The sky threatened of rain the whole time, but we managed to avoid precipitation and thoroughly enjoyed the entire afternoon. Once we returned home, we were both in need of a good rest, so we made some tea and munched on the sweet bread we picked up at the pandería (bakery) on the way home, chatting a bit and just enjoying each others’ presence.
Overall, the weekend was a wonderful experience and gave me the opportunity to really feel like part of my family here in Ecuador. I’m looking forward to spending more time with them and know I will form a relationship that will last for much longer than the time I spend in Cuenca.