A Happy Couple... and a Christmas Surprise

We are engaged! We wanted to share the news with all our loved ones, and we thought this was the best way let everyone know! We are hoping you are all still following our blog... :)

True Tony style, he has been planning this since July as I think many of you out there knew! (Great job keeping the secret) He asked my father to design the ring and it is absolutely perfect! The two stones on either side of the diamond are our birth stones and the band has two types of gold in a vine pattern intertwining... so beautiful! Unfortunately, I am going to have to send it home with my parents for safe keeping, but for 10 days I get to wear it!!!! He proposed after dinner by putting the ring in my dessert...he got down on one knee and asked and I said yes!!!

We are very, very happy and can´t wait to share our pictures and stories with all of you!

Love and a VERY WONDERFUL HOLIDAY TO ALL OF YOU!

Ecuadorian Coast!

So we headed out to Parque Machalilla on the Coast of Ecuador on the evening of the 17th... we left cold quito after getting our bus tickets pick-pocketed using the public transportation. Luckily all our valuables were hidden well enough and they only got the bus tickets (which we didn´t have to re-pay for) and my little notebook that had all my daily budget information in it... They were really quite good, but we were on to them as they shoved up against us on the Trole... sneaky and we thought we outsmarted them! But they were able to sneak into the breast pocket of my jacket without me knowing it! Well, once again, we were lucky! So much for cheap public transportation!

We caught a night bus and made it to Puerto Lopez by morning. It was a cold airconditioned ride, and a little bumpy, but we made it! We practiced our spanish in the local market where they were hacking at dead animal carcasses on wooden stumps, hacking through bones and meat...flinging raw meat everywhere...the stray dogs were loving it... I was a little grossed out! But we were on the coast and it was HOT! we got some information on the national park and took a moto-taxi (a contraption where a cart is attached to a motorcycle to carry passengers) to the park entrance. There is a picture of a few kids crawling on one...check it out....so we hiked into the park and saw lots of different animals like pigs, birds, horses, goats, and cows. We hiked to a town called Agua Blanca where a guide took us on a 2 hour tour of the area. We settled into our campground, the only ones, and enjoyed a nice evening.

The next day we headed to Los Frailles, which was another region of the park...a beautiful beach which we got to enjoy almost completely to ourselves...lots of sea life and we ran into a large iguana on the trail on our way out! We camped in the town on the beach and got up this morning and walked through the town´s morning fishing frenzy to catch some busses to Canoa. We walked along the beach as boats were bringing fish in, and women, and children were be-heading and gutting the fish to be sold in the markets. It was amazing and beautiful. There is a picture of one of the boats we saw. We are now in Canoa and have just enjoyed a free drink at the bar of our hostal because we each picked up a bag of trash on the beach. It is a hostal policy...so we helped the environment and got rewarded for it...good times here in Ecuador! We will enjoy the coast a few more days and then head back to Quito to meet our parents on Christmas Eve! I can´t believe it is almost Christmas...sure feels strange to be in another country... we would like to wish everyone a healthy and happy Christmas and an even healthier and happier new year!

In and Around Quito

So while we were at the Secret Garden we were able to explore in and around Quito. Here are some pictures of what we saw. Some of the places we went were... a beautiful park overlooking the city with a fantastic art gallery, also a wildlife refuge where Cassie got to see a jaguar up close and personal, and the amazing botanical gardens in Parque Carolina right inside the city! So many people were using the park, it was amazing seeing all the families and festivities! We also said good bye to the Secret Garden for a few days and traveled to the coast to see some more of Ecuador before the holidays. So we enjoyed a final night in Quito with some great friends we met at the Secret Garden. Maria, one of the amazing chefs, lovingly calls Tony ¨Fidel Castro¨we are gonna miss that place!

The Secret Garden

So in our first week of the Secret Garden three staff members have left and we have quickly become the ¨experts¨at the hostal! Go figure. We are having a lot of fun meeting travelers and helping the Secret Garden get organized because they are really really popular. We help out in the kitchen, serving breakfast and dinner, we are bartenders, and we also check people in and out of the hostal and everything in between. We are having to use Spanish more and more. Other than the free, drinks, food, and housing we have other perks like we can make commission on booking the other hostal they run as well as booking Spanish lessons, it is turning out to be a great deal.

This week was ¨Viva Quito¨week or the week of fiestas for this city a celebration of Independence Day. There are bull fights, and live music, parties and Chiva Buses that go around the city. Thursday night our hostal organized a Chiva Night and rented one. They are open air buses with a band on top that drive real slow around the city at night. Our Chiva bus came a little late and it was a bit of mayhem.... we are waiting for some people to email us pictures so we can post them for you. We forgot our camera that night. After the Chiva bus dropped us off, we went dancing at a salsa club.... later that night we ended up at a Mexican food place and had yummy burritos....reminded us of New Mexico!

I had my day off yesterday and Tito has his day off today, we have two new staff that we are training, two nice guys from Hawaii... Carlos and Anthony, we also work with another guy named Eric.... That´s all for now, not too exciting...we have been busy planning things and checking places out for when our parents arrive in a few weeks. It is nice to be able to unpack for a little while and not completely live out of our backpacks!

The pictures are of the Secret Garden Terrace Restaurant. It is where we spend most of our time right now... :)

Hope you are all enjoying the holiday season!