Mother´s Day.

Before I start on Mother´s Day, a few interesting things all-Ecuadorian:

This fruit is called ¨pepino¨, which also translates to cucumber.  I am not sure why it shares the name, as there is no similarity.  It had a bit of a strange taste, but was still good.  I just think the outside skin is so pretty!

This is really interesting.  As cool as it would be, those are in fact not dust bunnies from our favourite Totoro.   Those are a phenomenon: they are rootless plants!  They start to grow from the seeds that collect in bird feces, getting their initial nutrients directly from the feces.  Then they continue to survive on the wire without any roots!  They can be found all over Ecuador.

My host mother and Abuelita and I.  I had bought them flowers for Mother´s Day, spending a whopping four dollars in total for two beautiful bouquets of flowers... imagine if they were that cheap in Canada!  Apparently this is even a little bit expensive in Ecuador.  My host mother bought two bouquets for $1.50 together.  Crazy!  There are so many people that work on flower farms too, including my host mother.  For the past two weeks, she has been working intense hours to accomodate for the uprise in sales for Mother´s Day, including weekends.  She leaves the house at about six in the morning everyday, and often returned after I had gone to bed around nine in the evening.    

In Ecuador, Mother´s Day is a very important celebration.  While walking around the town, you can spot dozens of people carrying delicious bakery cakes, decorations in all the stores, flowers readily available to purchase in fruit stores, bakeries, convenience stores, the works, people buying gifts all over and an overall air of celebration.  Something that is really interesting in Ecuador is the respect of women.  Even maternity is so much more openly appreciated here.  Although Canada is pretty advanced, though not perfect, when it comes to equality and respect of women, Ecuador presents a special dynamic where all women are appreciated so openly and often. 

I also explained some of our own traditions in Canada for the special day.  I started by explaining that in Canada, we celebrate for our Mother´s, grandmothers, and sometimes even aunts.  I the proceeded to explain that we all have different names for our grandmothers, since we come from so many different cultures.  My host mother seemed baffled when I told her that the use of ¨Mommy¨or ¨Mummy¨is typically reserved for young children.  She still calls her own mother ¨Mami¨, as is customary in Ecuador.  It is so interesting to see some of the similarities and differences in our cultures.

I also made some dinner and dessert for Mother´s Day, starting with spaghetti with tomato sauce and roasted zucchini, and ending with some intense bread pudding.  All enjoyed!

I hope all enjoyed their Mother´s day in Canada, including you Mum! Thanks for all your love and support over the years.  It is greatly appreciated. <3