Finally, baby Maëlle has made it home!  After spending the first 13 days of her life in hospital, she, along with her parents and especially Happy, are happy that everyone is home!  Baby is doing well and has added the weight she needed.

Welcome home!

Happy is excited to meet baby.

Baby's room all decorated for the homecoming.

It was quite a two weeks, with plenty of ups, downs, highs, lows, laughs, tears, smiles, amazement, wonder, and re-learning of childhood lullabies (in English, French,  and now in Spanish!).  It was incredible to see how much the baby has grown over this short little time.  While it was tough surviving 13 days worth of hour-long visits (three or four times a day), at the same time we realize that we had it the easiest out of the other families in the neonatal unit.  Some babies already had been there for two months and had much more time left, and definitely were not as well off as our little one.

Dreaming away.

With Mommy.

Now we are all looking forward to spending as much time together as possible, without having to worry about scheduled visiting times, language barriers, and spending a small fortune on taxi rides!

Baby Maëlle!

Just doing what I do best!

Welcome home, baby Maëlle!

Hi everyone!

Thanks for all of the love and support over the last few days.  The whole family really appreciates all of your kind thoughts and congratulations.  Things have been pretty crazy, and while we are all a bit tired, things are going great so far.

We are going to be keeping a separate blog where we will be posting a new picture of little Maëlle pretty much every day, so you can watch her grow!  Join us as we follow along the little one’s progress – she’s tiny now, but before we know it, she’ll be walking around and making plenty of mischief.  Maë, Oh My!  can be found here:

http://maeohmy.wordpress.com/

Here are a few more pictures from the last five days:

Hello, World!

I'm hungry!

Look at how tiny I am! I inherited Alana's small hands and fingers.

What does that thing do?

Proud mama and her baby girl.

Dad and baby.

Alana just after finding out that the baby was going to be born in a few hours.

Michael finds out that the baby will be born in a few hours.

… Maëlle Chelsea Ferraro Jones!

Baby Maëlle. Born April 7th, 2012 in Quito, Ecuador.

Weighing in at just over 4 pounds and 44 cm, this new generation of MJ will thrill ya with her dance moves.

Everyone is happy and healthy and we are looking forward to introducing her to everyone and showing cuter pictures of her soon!

I am ready to pop!  At least I feel that way.  Semana Santa (Holy Week), Latin America’s version of Spring Break, starts on Wednesday, and while everyone else has packed their bags for the beach, we’re packing ours too… for the hospital!

My due date is supposed to be April 30th or May 1st, but our doctor has already told us to be ready for our baby to come any time now.  Before Baby J makes it any closer to her grand entrance into the world, we want to hear your predictions as to when that will be.  To make things extra fun, we will have a special prize for the winner.  Just post a comment below with your name and your guess (date and time), and check back here soon to see how you did!

Just waiting patiently....

This is one thing that I like about Quito:

Sun on Pichincha at 6.15 this morning.

Waking up to the sun shining, snow on the volcano, and knowing that it’s going to be a nice day!

This is one thing that I don’t like about Quito:

And this one isn't even that bad.

The blacky-blue-grey fumes that the buses, cars, and trucks spew out.  It’s gross.

The view from our bedroom window as the protesters begin to arrive

 

The crowd stops outside a government building in our neighbourhood

Police presence! Unheard of in this city!

More protesters arriving as I turn back towards our place

 

Last September marked the one-year anniversary of some protests in Quito. So, naturally, all the teachers at Michael’s school were sent home with the news that school would be cancelled the next day in case of repeat uproar. Of course, for all the hype surrounding the anticipated re-run of protests, nothing happened and it was a nice and quiet day for both of us.

The government in Ecuador is known for acting against the will of its citizens (to say the least). Citizens often hold mass protests to demonstrate their disagreement with the government’s actions. In return, the President hires indigenous people from rural areas and mandates government workers from nearby cities to congregate in Quito and hold counter-protests that support whatever issue is being fought against. It’s actually pretty wild to see these “supporters” infiltrate the city by busload for a few hours and then be gone as quickly as they arrived.

At the beginning of March, it was announced that a local non-profit organization would be organizing a month-long march from Zamora, Ecuador’s most southern province, to Quito. This action was against a pending bill that would allow a Chinese company to begin mining for copper in national parks and other reserved areas — without conducting any environmental impact assessments or community studies. Obviously, this doesn’t sit well with a lot of people, particularly indigenous groups who still occupy that land.

The protesters were scheduled to arrive last week, but didn’t arrive until today. A few nights ago, while I was at book club, a friend received an email saying that the Education Minister was considering cancelling school on Thursday (today) because it would be safer for students to be home during the protests. But, that didn’t happen.

So, this morning, Michael got up and left for school like any other day. And then a few hours later, I started hearing noise. A lot of noise. People shouting, singing, drums, marching bands, air horns – you name it, I heard it. Right outside my window. Within a matter of minutes, about 1,000 people were blocking the main street outside our apartment and holding a rally at the government building at the nearest intersection. Since then, it’s been crazy outside – traffic is shut down, police are monitoring the crowds, and people just keep flowing in. I have no idea how I’m going to get to my doctor’s appointment today, but this has definitely been one of the most exciting days in Quito so far!

I should probably begin this post with full disclosure and honesty – it’s taken me over a month to start writing about our last pre-baby excursion and I have no excuse other than being super-lazy these days. Sorry to our faithful followers (read: parents) for taking so long to give you my impressions of perhaps one of the most interesting places I’ve seen in Ecuador so far.

My parents came to Ecuador for a week-long visit in February that coincided with Carnaval. Since their future visits will likely be very grandchild-oriented, Michael and I thought it would be a nice idea to explore a new city with them on this trip. And so we headed to Cuenca, which was amazing (but you already know that because you read Michael’s blog post here).

During the four days we spent in Cuenca, we decided to take a day trip to one of the surrounding sites of interest. It was tough to decide whether we would visit Cajas National Park, or Ingapirca, Ecuador’s most impressive and important archaeological site. Cajas National Park looked amazing, but at 30 weeks pregnant and with my city-slicker parents, we didn’t think it would be as rewarding as seeing the ancient Inca ruins of Ingapirca. So, an easy decision was made and our day trip began.

View from the side of the road - farms, homes, and the morning mist rolling in over the hillsides

Ingapirca is located about 2-2 1/2 hours from Cuenca, so we rented a taxi for the day, leaving at about 8:30am and arrived at just before 11am. The site is quite far off the main road – and involved almost 45 minutes of slow driving up and down switchback dirt roads in the hilly countryside, climbing up to 3230 meters. It was a long and nauseating car ride, but some of the views from the road were breathtaking, and it’s always interesting to see rural lifestyles in Ecuador.

Another view of the incredible landscape.

Only a minute portion of the site could be seen from the road as we approached. My initial thoughts were “Oh God, we drove all morning to get here and we’re just going to be let down.” Was I ever wrong!

We paid our admission ($5 each, I think) and waited for a guide to host our private tour of the ruins. In a very atypically Ecuadorian way, our guide was amazing – she spoke English very well and provided us with a lot of detail about the history of the site and the society of the Incans and Cañari people who lived in the area.

The Cañari were an indigenous group of people who inhabited the area in and around Ingapirca until it was conquered by the Incans in the 15th century. Once the Incans claimed the region for themselves, they and the Cañari lived at Ingapirca in harmony. The site’s history is an interesting blend of these two cultures – and while visiting, it is difficult not to compare their beliefs, values, and ways of life.

Family shot upon arrival at Ingapirca

One of the first sites we came across was a collective tomb that had contained the body of a virgin sun princess, surrounded by a dozen of her slaves. We learned not only that these sun-worshiping virgins were sacrificed to the gods, but that their slaves were also buried alive with them at the time of their death. The bodies were all found in a fetal position, which was thought to be symbolic of their return to “Mother Earth”.

The ruins at Ingapirca

It was really incredible to learn about how both the Cañari and Incan people created systems that eased their way of life – from storage buildings and tools, to irrigation systems that guaranteed flowing water throughout their village, and even a “bank” of sorts, for trading goods with indigenous groups from other areas (the coast, or the jungle, for example).

Both the Incans and the Cañaris had methods of keeping track of days and lunar (Cañari) and solar (Incan) cycles. In each culture, a person or people were assigned the task of keeping time. This was an important task for both groups, as lunar and solar cycles dictated both agricultural and religious practices.

The Cañari people followed a lunar calendar, believing strongly in a female-centred religion that favoured Mother Earth and honoured the natural 28-day lunar and female reproductive cycle. They formed buildings, temples, and other important cultural pieces in circular shapes to represent the moon. To keep track of time, they used a rock with a number of circular holes cut into it at different angles. Each hole was filled with water and would reflect specific constellations at various times, thus indicating the date.

Our guide explaining the Cañari calendar system

In contrast, the Incans worshipped the sun and a male-oriented religion that glorified sun gods and offered them virgin “princesses” to curry favour. Their buildings and important items were all made in a rectangular structure, which were evident in everything they built. It’s no surprise that the Incans used a solar-based system for keeping a calendar. Perhaps most amazing about this trip was that the degree of accuracy with which the Incans calculated time. Ingapirca’s most famous ruin, the elliptical shaped “Temple of the Sun” was constructed in a location that celebrated the solstices and equinoxes with perfect illumination of altars on either side of the building.

Temple of the Sun, as seen from a valley below

Each of the squares between us would be illuminated by the sun at noon on specific days of the year. During the solstices, they would all be illuminated, but during the equinoxes, they would see no sun at all.

Even though each of these cultures’ beliefs were quite different, it was interesting to see how they each developed comparable calendar systems. Each group demonstrated an incredibly broad understanding of science, astronomy, and physics that would only later be attributed to European scientists such as Galileo.

Unfortunately, when the Spanish began to conquer Ecuador in the 18th century, they did considerable damage to the structures at Ingapirca in search of gold. Once they discovered that there was no gold to be found, they left the remains in their wake and carried on. Ingapirca was then neglected for a long time until the Ecuadorian government began to make significant efforts to preserve it. Today, the area is managed by the indigenous Cañari people, who are still actively present in the region.

Overall, our time at Ingapirca was informative and insightful, as well as breathtaking. I never imagined that I would enjoy it as much as I did and I was really glad we had a chance to see the ruins and understand a little bit more about Ecuador’s complicated history and rich culture.

Oink! This guy apparently chased my mom and tried to "attack" her... I wasn't there, so I can neither confirm nor deny

Ingañawi, Face of the Inca - do you see it?

Alpacas! My favourite! Apparently, they were very friendly to visitors, except they get frustrated when children try to ride them (understandable, if you ask me!)

Gratuitous alpaca shot!!!

Goofy Michael - my other favourite!

We live in a neighbourhood called La Carolina, which would be Quito’s equivalent of Yaletown, if such a thing existed (it doesn’t).  It’s named after the nearby park, Parque La Carolina, which is in the middle of the northern section of the city (“New Town”) and is about a 5-minute walk away from our apartment.  So far, the park is my favourite place to go in Quito.  Happy especially loves it there, as there is always some new dog to meet, trash to pick up, or smell to roll in.

Parque La Carolina, with Pichincha in the background.

Bordered by five busy streets, the west side of Carolina has many office towers, the east side is full of condos, and the north is flanked by shopping malls.  A somewhat equivalent park that comes to mind is Central Park, although Carolina is a fifth its size and has nowhere near the grandeur.  Carolina is also very different from Stanley Park, since it doesn’t have the forests, beaches, or same views.

An early morning game of Ecuavolley.

On weekends, the rectangular-shaped park is bustling.  By 8AM, it’s busy with people playing sports (Ecuavolley, soccer, soccer, tennis, soccer, basketball, soccer…), doing yoga and pilates, and people running, cycling, and walking on the paths, or just relaxing.  The park also includes a botanical garden, a vivarium, and the museum of natural sciences.  For kids, there are paddle boats, several run-down playgrounds, and horse rides.  The park is much quieter during the week, but still many people visit the park after work to hang out or to play sports.

Little canals for paddle boats.

Hoops.

There are also plenty of food stalls where you can buy pretty much anything, from ice cream, cotton candy, juice, fruit, grilled meats, ceviche… you name it.  The park also hosts many cultural events or has fireworks, concerts, protests and demonstrations, races, markets, to name a few – it always seems like there is something going on.  It has great views of Pichincha, and if you are lucky, you might spot Cotopaxi off in the distance.

Food stalls.

Happy in Quito. Just above the trees you can (barely) see glacier-capped Cotopaxi way off in the distance, south of the city.

It’s a nice place to get away from the hustle and bustle of this busy and noisy city.

I made it a goal to purchase a bicycle as soon as I could after arriving in Quito.  In early October, I bought one off of a colleague, and am I ever happy that I did.  My favourite thing to do in Quito is to go on the Ciclopaseo, which is a 24km-long bike ride that stretches from the northern end of town to the southern suburbs.

Each Sunday between 8Am to 2PM, several major thoroughfares normally clogged with cars, taxis, and diesel-spewing buses are closed to traffic to make way for upwards of 40-thousand bicyclists, runners, and families out for a walk.  It’s a refreshing and interesting way to spend a few hours on a sunny day, and a great way to see the city.  It totally changes the way the city feels.

South Quito, with Corazón volcano in the background.

The Ciclopaseo takes you through several different areas of town.  The route begins in a fairly non-descript and boring part of town in the northern end of the city.  It slowly slopes downhill, and a few kilometers into the ride you hit the airport (where I love stopping just to watch the jets take off and land – they are so close that you feel like you can almost touch them).  From there, the path takes Av. Río Amazonas, past New Town, which is home to many modern office buildings and condos, and the bustling Parque La Carolina (which is not far from our house).

Parque El Ejido.

Soon after you hit a part of the city called La Mariscal (also known as Gringolandia, because of the many foreigners who stay in hostels located in the area) and Parque El Ejido, which has a weekend market where you can buy many local crafts, such as alpaca sweaters and blankets, hammocks, paintings, and plenty of trinkets.

Continuing along southbound, you pass Parque La Alameda and begin to explore the heart of Quito: the narrow, cobble-stoned streets of the old colonial centre, known as Old Town (which was the first ever UNESCO World Heritage site). This part of the route is spectacular, as you pass by several interesting and important historical sites, such as the Plaza de la Independencia (or Plaza Grande). Quito’s main square contains the four pillars of society: a cathedral, city hall, the Archbishop’s palace, and the Presidential palace.  Indeed, it is quite grand and is full of people on a Sunday morning.

Quito's main plaza, Plaza de la Independencia or Plaza Grande

Quito itself has historically been divided into two by Old Town: the northern section is privileged, and the southern part impoverished and long forgotten by several governments.  Indeed, something I heard during my first days here in Quito seems to ring true – that the Virgen de Quito (the north-facing monument of the madonna at El Panecillo, a hill just south of Old Town)  turned her back on the people living in the southern part of the city.  With the advent of the Ciclopaseo a few years ago, this has allowed people from these two parts of town to interact with one another.

Looking down a narrow street at El Panecillo.

The impressive Basílica del Voto Nacional, the largest church in Quito.

Up a hill and around El Panecillo, you continue through some of the toughest areas of Quito, heading towards the southern end of town.  Here is where I find it to be the most exciting, as you spend time dodging kids learning how to ride a bike, numerous stray dogs, and people who cross the street in front of you without looking.  This neighbourhood is also alive with people playing organized and impromptu soccer games in parks, alleys, and plazas, as well as men, women, and children dressed up in their Sunday nines as they head for church.  All sorts of varieties of smells emanate from restaurants,such as meat cooking on grills and fresh bread from panaderias (bakeries).  It’s on this part of the ride that I like to admire the views and the colourful houses that line Pichincha to the west or the slopes of the valley to the east.

The goings-on in south Quito on a Sunday morning.

The Ciclopaseo ends at Viveros Las Cuadras, which is a beautiful and tranquil park.  There, I like to get a delicious cevichocho (the local attempt at ceviche, which contains popcorn, plantain chips, tostados (toasted corn), and choclo (a type of bean), topped off with a wedge of fresh lime and home-made aji, a spicy sauce that contains tomatoes, cilantro, and aji pepper) from a street vendor for $1, and relax in the sunshine in the park. If I feel like splurging, I’ll also buy a large cup of fresh fruit (also $1) that has sandia (watermelon), uvas (grapes), papaya, bananas, and my favourite, fresh piña (pineapple), and sometimes topped with chocolate or honey.

The nice Parque de las Cuadras.

Cevichochos!

With my batteries recharged, I’ll head back home and hope that, on a clear day, I might catch a glimpse of the several glacier-capped volcanoes that surround Quito as part of the ring of fire, such as Cotopaxi to the south and Cayambe or Antisana to the north, far off in the distance.  It’s days like this that make Quito enjoyable.

Given that it was the Family Day weekend back in Canada, we couldn’t think of a better way to spend the weekend here in Ecuador than with Alana’s parents, who decided to come down to South America to check up on us for a week.  It also happened to be Carnaval weekend here, and we figured that it would be great to get out of Quito for the four-day-long weekend and to show them a little bit of Ecuador.

The four of us headed down to Cuenca – a place that we had heard plenty of great things about – for three nights.  A Spanish colonial city of about half a million people (the third largest in Ecuador) and capital of the Azuay province, the city is known as the “Athens of Ecuador” for being home to many local philosophers, writers, artists, and poets.  Cuenca is located in high up the southern Andes, 2500 meters or so above sea level.  The city is surrounded by mountains and has 4 rivers bisecting its borders (Tomebamba, Yanuncay, Tarqui, and Machangara); the name literally means “a confluence of rivers,” and its official name is Santa Ana de los cuatros ríos de Cuenca.  Aside from tourism, it’s also well known for crafts, ceramics, and the infamous Panama hat.

Terra cotta roofs and early morning in Cuenca.

Plaza de San Sebastián, with its church.

About 500 years ago, the city was briefly an Incan capital called Tomebamba (“Valley of the Sun”) and was second in importance to Cuzco in Peru.  Cuenca was destroyed in 1531 in the Inca civil war.  Spanish settlement shortly followed, in 1557.  The Spanish influence still holds in the old historic centre of the city: it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site and the second most important colonial centre in the country, after Quito’s.  Cuenca became independent from the Spanish in 1820.

Cuenca is quite a nice city to walk around.  Narrow cobble-stone streets are lined with beautiful Spanish colonial buildings, and elegant churches are to be found on just about every other corner.  The main square of the city, Parque Calderón, is a nice plaza that is flanked by two cathedrals – the ‘old’ cathedral (built in 1557) and the massive and impressive ‘new’ cathedral (started in 1885).  Several other plazas, museums, and markets are found a few short blocks away, giving the centre a bustling vibe.  The city also has a large student population and is a favourite destination for expat retirees.

The old cathedral, El Sagario.

The new cathedral, Catedral de la Immaculada Concepción, topped with blue tiles.

Old colonial buildings line cobble-stone streets.

Aside from walking around the historic centre and eating good food in the restaurants, we walked along the nearby Rio Tomebamba, which features several buildings that hang above the river along El Barranco (cliff) that lines Calle Larga.  We also visited the interesting Museo del Banco Central (also known as Pumapungo), located on the site of the old Incan ruins of Tomebamba.  The museum houses a collection of ancient Incan artifacts such as arrowheads, ceramics, and fabrics, as well as plenty of modern day cultural items from around Ecuador.  It also includes five shrunken heads from the Shuar people from the Amazon, which was pretty cool to see.

Rio Tomebamba.

Another view of colonial Cuenca, with Todos Santos on the top of El Barranco.

Cuenca itself was fairly quiet for much of the weekend.  My guess is that most people took off for the long weekend or were spending it with family.  We had heard that Carvaval was like most other festivals in Ecuador – crazy – but we found that it was actually pretty mellow.  Water and foam fights are usually the highlight of the weekend across the country, and while we saw a few (and were targets on more than one occasion), the city was much more subdued than we expected.  Which was nice.  Maybe Carnaval is only really crazy in Brazil.

Playing Carnaval. And losing.

A Carnaval parade.

Anyhow, it was an enjoyable weekend that the four of us had.  I would love to go back to Cuenca and explore some more of the surrounding area, such as Parque Nacional Cajas and some of the small towns that are well known for their traditional handicrafts.  Next time!

Relaxing and watching the scene in Parque Calderón.