Another road trip through the mountains.

Cumi drove for 12 hours to get us to the coast (near Peru) for a family reunion of her father's.

We stayed with her aunt and uncle. The first floor is a rental. They have the second floor as their residence and the top floor is guest quarters. This is a beautiful home on a dirt road. (soon to be paved.)

It is diffucult to tell the flowers apart.


Ater mass and the cemetary (this is a latin cultural, don't forget) we all went to the beach front.

All 70 of us had lunch after the cemetary and before the beach front. The place had only one waiter! So I gathered up four of the young men and said: "No hay sufficiente mesors. Quien ajuda? Ven a cosina!" We served the soup, cleared, served the entree, cleared, served the dessert." I got a free glass of wine for my leadership. It was well worth it! I got to meet the entire family with my waiter's apron on.

Having a good time at a local fiesta. These are cherries dipped in chocolate.

This is a short demonstration of public dancing before the main show.

This photo demonstrates how hard it is to break into showbusiness in Tumbaco.

But the audience is not that tough!

This is the finished work. Our palm tree had not been trimmed in years. I bought a bow saw and tied it to a pole and did the work myself. Papa trimmed the palms with his machette. (Mine was in the shop.)

This is bullfighting in Ecuador! Everybody gets a chance at the bull. Just climb in the arena when the excitment moves you. The bulls are never killed. Mostly teenage boys (and me) participate. I didn't have a cape so the bull wouldn't charge. Next time I will go by the cape booth and rent a nice red one. Then see what happens..........