Last few days before...field!

Sunday was another busy, sunny day in Ecuador. Went to church in Spanish, this time with a larger group of brave souls from our program. After that, some of us went to lunch at a restaurant called Crepes and Waffles, which serves...you guessed it! Oh my goodness, I should not have discovered that place. Here is what I had for lunch:

In case you can't tell, that's peach juice along with a waffle covered in coffee ice cream, whipped cream, and caramel sauce. Oh yeah. They serve healthier stuff too, but really--if you had this as an option, would you go for the vegetarian crepe?!

We had a great time eating our yummy crepes and waffles and getting to know two other missionaries from the jungle visiting Quito. One of them actually slept in my room over the weekend. They're a lot of fun and I can't wait to see them again when our group comes to the jungle for a visit.

Lunch was followed by a trip to the local Supermaxi (the supermarket down here), where I was quite surprised to find that a small bottle of olive oil can set you back $12 here, and peanut butter is at least $5.50. Yikes! You can buy at least two meals for $5.50. Some missionaries were hosting a super bowl party on their roof that night, but I decided to skip since I had a lot left to do that weekend. It was a good decision.

On Monday morning we saw the changing of the guard at the Presidential Palace in Old Quito. It poured the whole time, so we were completely soaked. I had no idea what was going on, and the president wasn't even home at the time, but it was still quite a show. They do that every Monday apparently.

After that we caught lunch before Spanish class. I had locro de papas, which is a standard potato soup with avocado and cheese, along with a chicken sandwich. Both good, and most importantly, warm. That afternoon I had my last day of Spanish class, after which I raced home to cook community dinner for all the girls (sloppy joes, fries, and chocolate cake--and I read all the instructions in Spanish!). We had some more testimony time later before I fell into bed after a long, rainy day. 

Tuesday was just a chill day, since I thought I was supposed to start my field placement but didn't. But I'm officially starting today! Can't wait to finally start on the reason why I'm here and catch up to my classmates in the states!