Little Girl, Big World

Last week I welcomed my BEAUTIFUL mommy to South America! We met many new places, mandatorily cuddled in the small beds we slept in, laughed over things we couldn't believe were happening around us, and ate  so  much food. I wish she didn't have to leave! We visited Cuenca over the weekend, which was my first time there. We walked a lot, definitely not enough to keep off the calories we consumed BUT nonetheless, we walked. We also took a "hop-on, hop-off" bus, which was more like a "stay on until we tell you to get off" bus. We saw beautiful views of the city this way, although we didn't learn that much as the tour was only in Spanish. LOL.  The food in Cuenca was perfect. My top 3 favorite restaurants were Sunrise Cafe, Cafe de Nucallacta, and Tiesto's. There were many English speakers, especially at the restaurants which definitely made it easier on both my mom and me. We aren't huge museum goers but we went to Homero Ortego, the museum...

  The last time I was in Dominican Republic I was much younger, and I stayed at a beautiful resort with my family. This time, I was able to see historical Santo Domingo, a bit of the terrain through the country, and Las Terrenas.   We lived like absolute queens this week. We stayed at an Airbnb called Villa Ribera Mar in a gorgeous two-bedroom penthouse suite. Although the weather got a bit rainy at times, we called in a massage therapist, and a personal chef to top it all off. It was beyond perfect.   Being with Julie and Vicki made me really think about and miss the rest of the tight community we had in Vzla, and I wish we all could have been together for this mini reunion. I hope that in the future we can organize a place where we can all meet again. We parted ways only after a few short hours together! So many squeezes!! Not enough time! Love you Eli. I will definitely take credit for some of the insane conversations we had at lunch. Sorry not s...