Home in Yanapamba

Our first day in our house was joyous.  The daunting disarray and mess did not crush our spirit.  We've been in our new home for almost three weeks and every day we wake up in awe.  It's not that we own some sort of mansion.  At 1600 ft square it is far from it.  It's just that it is so right for us.  Every day we find new favorite spots; playing Mexican Train up on the terrace, passing the Kindle scrabble game to each other on the front porch on our rockers, sitting on the stools behind the kitchen island looking up at snow covered Mt. Cotacachi, Rachel in her craft room looking at Mt. Imbabura.

We chose NOT to have a dishwasher for several reasons, but not the least of those reasons is the sight from our kitchen window.  Washing dishes with a view beats a dishwasher and no view.   Mt. Cotacachi (kitchen and dining room windows) never gets the attention of Mt. Imbabura (front windows) but we feel it is a very special mountain also.

We did however opt for an oversized kitchen island and we're glad we did.  It seems like the kitchen is always a gathering place and in our home that is no exception.  We wanted seating on one side and lots of storage on the other.

Only our great room has cathedral ceilings and by pure dumb luck, I think we're happy with that also.  You see the house warms up all day and by evening everything cools except our lower ceiling rooms which is where we hang out at night anyway.  I really wonder if we will use our fireplaces much.

Our bedroom is a cozy example of how the lower ceilings give us great comfort in the morning when there is a bit of a chill outside.  We may use those fireplaces when winter sets in and the temperatures drop nearly a full degree farenheit. 

Ok guys, this is my pride and joy....the Man Cave.  Our woodworking maestro custom built this cabinet to exacting specifications to house integrated components that work together for the multi-medium sources of music CDs, videos, computer, and Play Station 3.  The programmable remote quickly jumps from application to application with a touch of the button.   The love seat recliner insures Rachel's and my complete hedonistic comfort in those subwoofer charged surround sound movies.  College football is right around the corner and we hope not to miss our Cyclones and Cowboys.  We skype with friends and family
and can even catch the local news back in the states from Slingbox.  We can be as connected with the world as we always have been.

We still have much to do to get settled.  Rachel will be making curtains.  We'll probably be getting some rugs to warm things up a little more.  We've just begun the wall hangings.


While the homes in Yanapamba have been under construction an indigenous family lives in a little block building close to us.  The father, Rodrigo is a laborer in construction and doubles as a security guard for us at night while construction continues.  The building will soon be removed and will be replaced with a nice guard house.  The family will eventually move to the new Yanapamba II construction site and live a similar lifestyle there.  In the meantime we are overwhelmed by the contrast in our homes and lifestyle.  You never have to go far in Ecuador to see the poverty.  Rodrigo's family actually has it pretty good compared to some.

Lately, Rachel and I have engaged Rodrigo's children in playing frisbie.  It is a new game for them and they seem to love it.  They seem natural at it.  The children have very few toys so tossing the frisbie around is a great treat for them.  It is a blessing for us to see their smiling faces.   Each day they dutifully knock on our back door and bring the frisbie back to us. It is a ritual of gaining trust with each other.  If we just gave them the frisbie we'd lose our connection.   Sometimes all it takes to bridge the gap between our ages, our cultures, our homes, and our languages is a simple toss of the frisbie.

I certainly don't have my form back, but it's great exercise and an unexpected perk from living here.

Now we have a problem.  Her name is Daisy.  Her Spanish name is too difficult so we just gave her a gringo name.  We have fallen in love with her.  She comes to visit us numerous times every day.  She's very pregnant.  She seems to be wanting to adopt us before the litter is born.  We have agreed to be petless but a face like this seems to just make common sense go out the window.  Stay tuned.