Sunday with our family...

Yesterday morning we went with our host family to have a traditional soup dish called encebollado. We ate it at a popular restaurant that Wilson's cousin owns. It was soooo good! It had tuna, yuca, cilantro, tomatoes, onions, and probably a ton of other things to make it taste delicious. Mayra told us that in order to eat it the traditional way, we needed to add everything to it: pepper, salt, ketchup, yellow mustard, chili sauce, and freshly squeezed lime. Then, you can put popcorn and plantain chips (or chifles) on top to give it some crunch. After we finished eating, Mayra and Wilson took us to the Virgen de El Panecillo (or La Virgen de Quito), which has an awesome view of Quito. The Panecillo is the tallest aluminum sculpture in the world, and represents ascension into heaven with her wings, and victory over sin with the snake she's standing on. We went inside, and climbed up a bit to get a better view. Inside, they have a little museum that tells about different Latin American countries and how they celebrate Christmas. Good information to use with my students!