The Life of a Young Expat: Adventure to Paute

Sunday found us adventuring with Arturo's Godmother's family to their country home in Paute.

I LOVE this house. When we finally build a house this is what I dream it will look like. It has acreage (we think about 18 acres). It has cows, geese, and all types of fruit trees (tomate de arbol, fig, avocado, etc.) and the property comes all the way up to the Rio Paute. The house has two amazing balconies (more like big porches) with barbecues (the real kind where you use charcoal instead of gas).

Kesh getting ready for our big day out.

A view of the house's porch

Another view from the house's porch

Rami, Alex, and Aida on the porch enjoying the sun.

My mom enjoying the sun and the garden in the front of the house.

We arrived around noon, hung out in the wonderful Paute sunshine (Paute is warmer than Cuenca... the temperature is truly perfect). We broke open Toctes (like a walnut) with stones, ate amazing barbecued chicken with a naranjilla marinade, and took a nice stroll down to the river and back.

Mom and Aida (Arturo's Godmother) with a bag of Toctes.

Mom showing off the Toctes (they are still inside the shell).

All of us down by the river.

The view from the riverbank.

After spending time at the house we went to see the family's caballos Peruanos de paso (Peruvian step horses) at another property they own. (for those of you who remember my entry about Macara, these are the same horses I talked about in this entry) This property is also in Paute and currently houses 15 caballos de paso with another 4 on the way. These horses are only for show and range can cost up to $50,000 each (depending on how good they are, how well trained, and their age). It was so amazing to see these beautiful animals! The son-in-law even offered to have Arturo come and help him with the horses on Saturdays, which would be great! Arturo LOVES horses and we can't wait to get our own (these will come with the dream house!).