La Vida Dulce - The Sweet Life

The fact that we are truly blessed comes to me in odd, unexpected moments. Now that I'm up and about more, I get to see all the acquaintances that we've made in our neighbourhood and on our usual routes. It's nice to know that they noticed my absence and are glad to see me back up and around.

Then we go and do something crazy - like accept two invitations from hispañolhablantes (Spanish speakers) in one day. For us, this is stressful, despite our gains in the language. It hurts our brains to spend 3 hours trying to maintain a conversation with someone who has little or no English. (This isn't a complaint, we feel that learning Spanish is our most important task here - we just aren't fluent and it makes it challenging.)

We navigated some tricky political conversation with our neighbour Doña Bolivia, a very well meaning, kind woman who has adopted us in a small way. We find her worries and insights interesting and though we don't always agree with her point of view, it's an education to spend time with her in her tchotchke (chochki) filled house.

Ariel Dawi - Painter, Artist and Grill Master

Later we were invited for dinner at an expat Argentinian's house. Being Latino, dinner doesn't start until around 9:30 (blame the Ecuadorians, who seem to constantly run late - the invitation was for 8:30). If I know only one thing about Argentinians it's that they are passionate about barbecue.  

Argentinian Parrillada

On his deck, he has half an oil drum set up for grilling and if you aren't a carnivore, there's no point in coming for dinner. He served chorizo and blood sausage, chicken wings and parts, pork ribs, beef loin and steak. On the side we had beautifully breaded and fried eggplant, a salad of white beans, tomato and onion, fresh sliced avacado, bread and a selection of sauces to go with our meat. (This is something that the Ecuadorians generally lack - finishing touches like a selection of salsas, but the Argentinians have down pat.) It was then that I realized how incredibly lucky we are and how welcoming strangers from strange lands can we.