A Week at the Temple

 We returned to the Quito Temple for a week of worshiping and recharging. The temple has a split schedule (or a siesta schedule) so they open in the morning, close for the afternoon, and then reopen for the evening. This means we can attend an endowment session and then an extra ordinance before leaving for lunch. 

On Monday we arrived about 4pm and went to the Scala Mall for dinner. They are adding a 4th floor, so in the 6 weeks we have been gone, they opened the new food court up there. It is an exact replica of the 3rd floor. As you look across the open area of the mall (with its tarp roof), you can see where the 3rd floor was open. We would eat KFC there by the windows. Today we are enjoying McDonalds for the first time in over 2 years.

On Tuesday-Friday we walk up from the Scala Mall on this wonderful ciclovia. Some of its largest trees were blooming with huge yellow flowers.

One of the most popular restaurants in Cumbaya, El Palacio de la Fritada, is always busy. I ordered the vegetarian plate and got corn on the cob, baked plantain, beans, cheese, and patacones. The salsa was delicious.

Something is fruiting on the trees. The mango/red fruits are about the size of cherry tomatoes.

The weather was quite pleasant and we didn't see a drop of rain all week. So sad.

The yellow flowers covered the dirt path.

One of our favorite restaurants is Sazon Manabita. We were upsold a little tray of 6 of these little concoctions. Our Spanish isn't good enough to understand what it was before it arrived, but we were pleasantly surprised. These are plantain based cups, filled with shrimp and topped with a Thai coconut/peanut sauce. The dry crumbles are pulverized peanuts and they sit on guacamole. Amazing fusion. We were served 6 and it was only $2. 

If you look at this map, you can see the green trail come from the Scala Mall. If we turn right at the fork and travel east, we arrive at a large river. This is downhill.

This is looking south off the bridge.

And looking north off the bridge. It's amazing that I can get my camera through the chain link fence.

Also, north. We will turn around here and go back to the fork and continue uphill towards town. 

This day at la Parrilla de Manolo was after a wonderful trip to Shawarma Estanbul on Thursday. It was the most delicious food we've had in Ecuador. This barbecue restaurant is our Ecuadorian favorite.

When we returned home we counted up the number of ordinances we completed and were surprised to see it was 160. We enjoyed seeing our missionaries in the baptistry and my friend, Bertha, caught up with me on Friday during a session. So many blessings!