My comfort foods are running out....

I just finished watching Phenomenon for the first time, and one of the special features was movie recommendations, you know, "If you liked this film, then you´re sure to like...." Only, the suggested movies for people who liked Phenomenon (a family drama) were: Ransom with Mel Gibson (action/suspense), Tombstone (western), Nightmare Before Christmas (kids movie), and.....Scream (horror).... I am for the life of me trying to figure out what these movies have in common that they would be similar enough to recommend to fans of Phenomenon...please help...

Also, I cannot tell you how comforting it is that even in a different hemisphere, in a country that does not speak english, or any asian language for that matter, that they still sell Cup of Noodles....

So, as many of you know, on February the 3rd my wonderful mother and HER even MORE wonderful mother, came down to this wonderful country of Ecuador for a wonderful 5 day visit. Marking the first visit from someone from back home, it was so incredibly great to see them. I took a minivan from Machala to Guayaquil, where they were arriving from Miami, Tuesday night, and then took a taxi to the Hilton, because for some unexplained reason my mother went completely against her nature and reserved a room in what is close to the most expensive hotel in Ecuador. I arrived there first, as their plane was delayed, and it was a slight shock to my system. When I travel around Ecuador, I am used to spending my nights in hostels or hotels that at the very top of their game are two stars....and these are ecuadorian stars, which are scientifically proven to shine brighter due to their proximity to the equator, but merit less when it comes to judging things. To stay at a five star hotel, with a shower that had BOTH hot water AND good water pressure, well lets just say I believe I´m going to be experiencing a bit of a cultural readjustment when I come home for good...because I was very aware of the luxury that we were experiencing.

They arrived around 1230 or so, and then they gave me gifts. This was not nearly the most important part of getting to see them, but it is important enough to warrent a sidebar on the food down here: Yes, they have cup of noodles, as well as strawberry and cream cheese toaster strudel (which for those of you who know me is HUGE, that´s really the only way I eat breakfast down here)...however, a couple things that I am missing in terms of normal everyday US food are as follows: Anything from Valentinos, Chipotle burritos, Arby´s beef n´ cheddar roast beef sandwiches, Duangrat´s spring rolls and that amazing sauce, anything from Cookout, and of course Ishi´s hibachi chicken with their amazing shrimp sauce. However, mom and grandma did not bring me any of those, altho I still hold that it would have been completely possible to bring me a Chipotle burrito... More generic, non-specific to any restaurant foods that I am missing are: Pumpkin pie with Cool Whip, barbeque of any kind, Lay´s KC Masterpiece BBQ chips, chili, Miller High Life Lite, Root Beer, Butterfingers, and Altoids. Again, they didn´t bring any of these things either. HOWEVER, what they DID bring, which is probably more important than the majority of anything already mentioned, was.....drum roll please....TWO kinds of beef jerkey, spicy and sweet oriental and teryaki nuggets, as well as a bag of fritos honey barbeque flavor twists, which ever since they discontinued the texas grill fritos, is my favorite chip. And, as the title of this entry suggests, even though I´ve been trying to save and ration and not chow down on those delicious snack foods, I am almost out of them all. Now, I would never do anything as crazy as request that these foods be delivered to me just out of the blue by wonderful family members and friends, however, if you are ALREADY sending me a package and there is space...well, I´ll leave that up to you....

Anyways, to more important things, like the reunion of the 30 year club...that first night, I got my grandma to stay up till 2AM, something she said she hasn´t done in many many many years...which I consider quite an accomplishment. The next day we headed down to see the center park, headed over to the iguana park, (I may have mentioned this before, but I find it fascinating that because of the differences in the climates or biomes or whatever, in a park filled with iguanas, a single squirrel causes everyone´s head to turn. You know what someone told me the other day? SQUIRRELS are considered an endangered species here in Ecuador....if I brought anyone back to Heywood Glen on any given day their head would explode), we continued with the Malecon, Ecuador´s version of a sweet boardwalk, and then, for dinner, we ate sushi at the San Marino Mall (which also features a TGI Fridays) with Craig and Carrie, the WT Volunteers in Guayaquil, and finished it off with a nightcap back at the hotel. That was the end of our first day.

Oh, and for those of you who didn´t catch the 30 year club reference, mom´s 30 years older than I am, and gma´s 30 years older than she is, i know, it´s cute, we planned it that way....

I´ll post this now so people don´t complain about the length of my entries, the rest of the trip will be coming soon...