Three out of Four

It is funny how things seem like a good idea months before doing something and then when it gets close it hits you that maybe you were absolutely crazy to think so.  Even when we flew to Barbados I knew it would probably be hard flights, but that did not prepare for me for the exhaustion I felt after wards and I would never do it again.  Six months ago getting married and moving to Thailand in the same four weeks seemed easy peasy.  Even the 'wedding week' seemed doable, I mean it is easy to plan seven events for 120 people when you are thousands of miles away, right?  Well nope, coming back after Easter break it has hit me hard how much we have to do in the next few months.  Moving to another country is not easy and there are loads of things to do, planning a wedding week also has some challenges.  But I know we will manage and get it all done and I need to stop stressing. 
Well last night we decided to move next door, the neighbour is leaving and we will save some money and also helps with people buying our furniture.  So now I will have lived in three out of four flats in the building.  Last night this seemed to make sense, this afternoon I am a bit like 'what the heck are we thinking!'  But hopefully after the weekend I will have new pictures of my third and probably final flat in Quito.

5 Airports, 34 Hours and $9

Well due to the strike that cancelled Luis's flight on Thursday and messed up my plans to get home on the weekend, it took us 34 hours and 5 airports to get back from Barbados.  We went from Barbados to New York JFK and then took a bus to La guardia airport where we slept on a floor until the next morning.  But the fun did not end there we then traveled to Houston and waited there for nine hours before finally boarding a pane to Quito.  In all our return flight to and from Barbados took 60 hours when it should have taken about twelve and a half!  I can say I am now fairly experienced in wasting time in an airport and what to look for in a good layover airport.  By far the best one out of all was Toronto, the newest terminal is amazing with comfy places to sleep and free iPads to use with great WiFi.  By far the worst was La guardia, no where to sleep and freezing cold.  Oh, I forgot to mention we only had $9 to spend. So we discovered great priced bagels in La guardia and bought 5 to get us through the rest of our journey.  Houston is by far the most over priced airport, but it does have free WiFi so that was a bonus.  We managed to only have one little disagreement over bagels, but at this time we had been sleeping or lying on the hard floor for hours.  We passed a few wonderful hours playing cards, Luis's national game, and like usual I won.  I wish I had some pictures but of course my phone is still broken. I must say the last leg was not bad as we got to go in first class, of course they had run out of veggie meals but at that point I did not really expect things to go right.

Bigg Irie and Good Friday

The strike has seemed to be sorted and me and Luis are now all set to leave tomorrow.  We have thoroughly enjoyed our extra days taking advantage of every minute.  The Biggie Irie night was fabulous, Luis really got a taste of the Bajan music and met lots of new people.  Good Friday we were invited to lunch down the East Coast by Kerri and Fabian.  The amount of food was ridiculous but delicious and as Good Friday all fish and veg.  They cooked the fish at least five different ways and three or four different types of fish.

It was a little rainy on the East Coast on Friday so ended up playing Charades, well a sort of version anyways.  We all got up to make a full of ourselves, even Luis which I thought was very brave considering he had never met most people there.  We are enjoying last evening at home, me a little sun burnt and tired and Luis just relaxing.  Cannot wait till our next trip!

Airport Strike

Yesterday we enjoyed a wonderful full day at the beach, in fact the only real beach day we have had.  We have been running around trying to do all the wedding stuff.  It was a lovely way to spend what we thought was Luis's last day.  We have just had the worst luck when it comes to flying this time.  His route home was going to be Here-New York (and change of airports) - Panama - Houston and finally 33 hours later, Quito.  We even booked the first leg of the flight and paid full fare to ensure he was back in time for work Saturday.  But nope, not meant to be, we got to the airport and everyone is on strike.  So Luis gets to stay a little longer, in fact maybe till the wedding as who knows when we are getting out!  And being stuck in a cold place sounds believable, but being stuck in paradise is a bit harder to get sympathy from employers!

 Well I am thrilled as he did not get to meet all that I wanted him too and Biggie Irie is playing at Blakey's tonight and I am so thrilled he can make it!

Ecuadorian Meal with the Bajans

Last night Luis invited some of the family over for an Ecuadorian meal.  He spent so much time and effort and it was delicious.  I cooked the night before and it was not half as well received (not that I am bitter or anything!).

The whole night was great and I am just so thrilled to have him here!

To be fair I was critical for the success of the meal, I was in charge of cutting cucumbers and carrots and it was done perfectly.  

Half Island Tour

As not to spoil the island tour during wedding week and also because we started a bit late and had a lovely swim on the West Coast Luis went on half an island tour.  I always love seeing Barbados through fresh eyes and also every island tour I manage to see something new or at least something I have not seen in a while.  I cannot even remember the last time I have swam on the West Coast and it is stunning.  The water is ridiculously beautiful and clear, you can see fish under water with your eyes open meters in front of you.  I had truly forgotten how gorgeous the West is, which I guess is why all the rich and famous stay there.  I am still definitely a South Coast girl but I definitely need to remember that is worth a trip up West once and a while.

And of course we love the East, I think Luis's favourite Coast.  A really lovely day out with Vicki, Luke, Nats, Jodi and Kailee. 

Standby Barbados

Luis works for United Airlines and the big perk with that is free flying.  In February we went first class to London, it was properly amazing and everything worked like clock work.  This holiday we tried to do the same to Barbados, but we had a different sort of experience to say the least.  It is safe to say we did not take the most direct way here, and after four flights and a train we were fairly exhausted.  Our route:
Quito - Houston - Fort Lauderdale - Miami (by train) - Toronto - Barbados
But we made it, and even more importantly we were still talking and happy after this ridiculous journey.  To top it all off, I dropped and smashed my phone which is also my camera and also have some sort of flu.  However, even sick and camera less I could not be happier to show Luis beautiful Barbados and see my fabulous family.

 
 I feel so proud to have such a wonderful family.  Luis loves my Dad, Nicola and Paddy so much that I think he thought there must be a less desirable family member lurking somewhere.  But nope, he realised how great they all are here too.  He has now met everyone and we can now relax and enjoy some beach time.

Cyclo Paseo con Lucho

I finally got Luis out for the Sunday Quito bike ride, Cyclo Paseo.  To be fair he works nights so it is not that easy for him to get up and moving in time.  It is such a lovely way to spend a Sunday, you can see so much of the city, North to South and old to new.  It was not the nicest day weather wise but even the little bit of rain did not diminish what a nice day it was.  Jodi, Dylan and River came with us, which was lovely.  I think it is safe to say that River is not really into it yet.  He definitely did not enjoy being in the bike seat with the helmet on.  But hey who would enjoy that.  We rode to the old city and stopped for some coffee and Ecua treats.  I think this is my favourite way to spend a day in the city.

In other good news (not that  our bike ride is particularly good news), Carlo has been found a new home.  And turns out he is quite young, probably around four, the neglect had him looking a bit older.   He will now be a new family member in one lucky family's home.

Murder Mystery at the Four Dueces

For Jodi's birthday she decided to host a murder mystery party, thirty different suspects, a few murders, a few cocktails, made it a great night.  I love a murder mystery party, I have not been to one for a decade or two and it was great to be invited to another one.  Or maybe I really just like fancy dress and fancy dress  in character is even better.  

I hope it is obvious that the 1920's was the theme, we were all invited to a grand opening dinner.  I was married to a congressmen, but in love with Bill Bumpkin the Mayor.  I was not killed nor did I kill.  After all the murders were committed and suspects charged we turned the dinner into a roaring twenties dance party.  There are a few videos that I hope never ever surface!

Betsy is 40

Another day, another Cotopaxi birthday.  This one was extra special, lovely Betsy's 40th birthday.  I had a small intimate birthday dinner for her at my house.  Mexican and Moijtos, a pretty good combination.

I have now eaten so much cake, properly.  Big cake last night and then another one was given her today that I happily helped her eat.  Worth it to help celebrate such an amazing women (although not sure two pieces added anything to the celebration!).

A Dog is not just for Christmas

Luis and myself were watching a movie when he heard something walking on our roof.  Upon further inspection we found a very sad lonely looking dog walking on our roof.  Our roof is made of slippery tiles and as we are three stories up we were pretty concerned of how to get him down and a little bewildered how he even got up there.  Luis managed to get him down to our balcony and we set out to find out who he belonged too.  This in itself was a difficult task for me, as he is an old lovely dog, obviously was/is a pet and clearly mistreated.  He was in need of some medical attention so finding his owners did not really seem like the right thing to do but we decided we could not really steal him either.  No one in the neighbourhood claimed him, so we set up a bed for him at ours.  Of course, Lola was thrilled with this idea, the kind hearted soul she is to other dogs...  Luckily later that night my neighbour climbed over to ours and explained she had found him in the park and looked like he needed medical attention and when she was out he must have climbed from her patio to the roof.  The lovely dog, we named Carlo, is now getting medical attention and a home is trying to be found.

Thankfully there are lovely people in the world like Pia my neighbour who take it upon themselves to help dogs like Carlo.  It makes me so mad to see such a lovely older sad dog abandoned and neglected. He was clearly once upon a time someone's pet and clearly not any more.  I hate that, so not ok. He was so happy to be with us and I hope we can find him the loving home that he deserves.  A dog is part of your family, if you do not feel this way then really do not ever get one.

The Birthdays Continue

The week ahead is another big week of birthdays after having another celebration over the weekend.  It was Shannon's birthday on Saturday and I began the festivities by having a pre party for her (most went out later that night but some of us stayed behind at mine).  I was quite honoured as her husband asked me to do it, as well thinks I am fairly good at it (or he just thought my flat was the right size and location).  Either way I love decorating and getting things ready.  It was difficult to decide that to do as also hosting a 40th here on Wednesday and wanted things to look totally different.  But I got something up, and most importantly the drinks chilled and nibbles out, and we had a pretty good night.

I am also fairly lucky as Jodi is making our wedding cake and is taking all these birthdays to try out a new style for the cake.  The one she made for this party was particularly good and I think we may have a winner.

Birthday Curry

There is a ridiculous amount of birthdays in the next two months within the Cotopaxi crew.  It kicked off on the weekend with Deegan's first birthday and now it seems every few days there is someone else to celebrate (my only hope is that people are not burnt out by the 21st of April!).  Last night it was my Maths department buddy, John, 39th birthday.  Not only is he fantastic to work with and a great guy he is also a 77 baby so dear to my heart!  He arranged a night at a little curry house in the bar district.  It was so yummy and ridiculously cheap, $6 for my scrumptious meal.  He had a big turn out of about twenty people and it was a really nice low key evening. 

I just cannot believe how different my body temperature is from most.  Within half an hour of being there people were stripping off and changing clothes, full of sweat from the heat and amount of people in the small room.  I was totally content with my big wool jumper on, I could not have been happier.