Up to Quito...and other things

So tomorrow we are going to Quito to wait for this new baby to come...hopefully it doesn't wait too long.

John's licence saga...although John finished his driving course about 6 weeks ago, it took the driving company until Christmas to get the necessary paperwork so that he could apply for his licence. Armed with a billion bits of paper, he went to the appropriate police station but was barred from entry. No licences are going to be issued until....March or April. Why? Because they have run out of the paper to print the licences on. So, until then he has a 'permit to drive' which runs out mid-Feb. Needless to say, paperwork takes a lot longer to complete here in Ecuador.

Check out this pic of Evie swimming, her Dad is a good teacher.

Crazy Christmas and Polluted New Years

What a couple of weeks we've had!! Normally we prepare for one late night (New Years) in Australia, this year however brought two late nights. Christmas here is celebrated on the 24th with a dinner around 10 or 11pm followed by present opening at midnight. Evie had a blast, so did we when she slept till 9am the following morning. We are grateful for our Pastor and his family for welcoming us into his home on a day which is very much a family affair.

After a well earned rest we then prepared for New Years. We had been seeing many paper dolls on the streets for days. Then during the day of New Years Eve we went for a walk to see what was happening in the streets. There were guys dressed up as women blocking traffic and people had to pay a toll in order to walk or drive past, very funny! There were masks for sale that people wore. Why? Who knows? We saw stands with very political messages and many people driving their cars with dolls attached somehow to the car, apparently the thing to do. As night time approached, Evie had a sleep for a while before we all headed to Evasion to bring on the new year. My what a lot of noise and smoke. People lit their dolls at midnight and began the traditional jumping of the burning doll. During all this there were firecrackers going off all over the place. We started to head home around 1am and were very surprised at how quiet this place had become. Appart from a burst of fireworks at 3am it was relatively silent, such a nice change to what it can be when there are parties.

Happy Christmas

Thought we'd better get a photo on this sunny day in Loja! Don't worry, it didn't last for long. Evie loves this christmas tree, so we stop and look at it every time we pass. I made some christmas stockings, so we are busy filling it up with little nonsensical presents, bemoaning the lack of ham and thinking about what are good alternatives for this christmas feast.

John is planning one last fishing trip (fly fishing) before baby no.2 comes, maybe this time with a bit of sucess. Evie said today she wants a brother, lets see what she wants tomorrow. And that about sums up our plans for the next little while before we head up to Quito.