AJ visits Ecuador. Part Two.

On Saturday we took our time in the morning, enjoying a later breakfast before stopping by the apartment for some sunscreen for poor sunburned AJ. After visiting with my friends for a bit we walked down to the market, where I showed AJ around and bought him a granadilla, or "snot fruit". Once he'd finished his fruit we walked up to a cafe for an almuerzo, or a typical Ecuadorian lunch. Here restaurants offer a "menu of the day" for lunch that's a really good price for a lot of food. This time we enjoyed noodle soup, salad, pureed potatoes, chicken parmesan, juice, and a fried banana. 

After lunch we hopped on the trolley to another market that specializes in souvenir-type things. We had a good time browsing through the stalls and thinking about what we'd like to have in our apartment together. AJ ended up getting a t-shirt, and we now have a painting, an alpaca blanket, and a table runner for our apartment. I can't wait to be using all those things in the home we'll finally share again. 

After a quick break in our hotel (which involved calling the airport once again to try to find his suitcase) we went back to the mall for Crepes and Waffles, a nicer restaurant that sells exactly what it says in the name. AJ loved the waffle with ice cream, caramel, and whipped cream, even more than our chicken crepe!

On Easter we decided to just take it easy, since it was our last day together. We got such a late start that we ended up just getting lunch to start the day. AJ tried hornado, which is pork (with the crunchy skin), avocado, llapingachos (potatoes), and mote (kind of like corn, but not really). After that we got some dessert from an ice cream place called Corfu and took it to the park to eat. We spent a lot of time in the park just people-watching and talking. We didn't do much for the rest of the day, and just had dinner in the food court again (which is better than it sounds! AJ got a steak that came with a bunch of food). We both agree that it's more important for us to just have time focusing on each other than trying to see and do a lot. That night we tracked down his suitcase (of course they take down your information yet never let you know they have your stuff) and decided he'd just pick it up before he checked in to leave. Which means I never got the stuff he brought down for me. :(

Sunday night was an early bedtime, as we had to be up early to take a taxi to the old airport so AJ could get on the shuttle to the new one. We said goodbye there, because I needed to get back to the apartment to get ready for field. It's still so hard to let him go. I'm pretty sad today because of it--honestly, after these seven months, I'm so tired of spending three days at a time with my husband before saying goodbye for another month or more. We're really ready to be living in Texas together. But at least we were blessed to see each other this weekend, if only for three days. And in a month and ten days, we will be together without having to worry about saying goodbye.