Shh! It's a Secret.

Well, our city experiment lasted a little more than two weeks. As of Sunday, June 1, we are the official renters of both a city apartment and a house in the suburbs. Add those properties to the Alexandria row house that we own and we start to look a bit like Donald Trump.

Our suburbs house, located in Tumbaco (pronounced Tomb-bock-oh), is undergoing some final touch-ups to the kitchen and master bedroom suite, and should be move-in ready (we hope) by next weekend. Tumbaco is located in a northeast valley between the West Andes chain and East Andes chain. It is about 30 minutes by car from the city center of Quito. All the rich and powerful folks who work in Quito live there. So, we'll be an anomaly.

Beginning last Fall, when Rebecca was looking for a place for us to live, we considered many places in Tumbaco, and its sister barrio, Cumbaya (pronounced like the song). In fact, a native Ecuadorian that Rebecca met on-line (don't ask what she was doing meeting guys on-line. I don't) strongly recommended that we look for a place in the valley as opposed to the city. City-living would not suit the kids, he suggested. Instead of taking the advice of someone who was from Ecuador and had lived with children in both Quito and Tumbaco, we took the advice of an American friend who had lived in Quito many years ago, when she was a childless, swinging-single. Don't live in the valley with the rich and powerful Quitenos, she said. Experience the real thing! Live in the city.

So, we ended up in the city. We actually hooked up with the apartment that we are in through a friend of a friend of that American. And, as much as I've complained about this apartment - its smallness, the dog shit and broken glass on the playground, the absence of water in the pool, I have mixed feelings about leaving. City-living is kind of cool. Maya, Jonah and I have started a routine here that I think we would really enjoy. We like walking to the fruteria and grocery. The many parks and museums are easily and cheaply accessible by Ecovia or by taxi. There are a million places that sell ice cream. I get to confuse the heck out of all the city-folk we encounter with my bastard-ized version of Spanish. Plus, it's relatively convenient for Rebecca to get to work.

All that changes in the country. Nothing is walking distance - except the bus stop. And, it's nearly an hour bus ride to the parks and museums of Quito. Our neighbors speak English. And Rebecca is going to spend most of the rest of the summer commuting.

So, why are we moving? The development to which we are moving is like a city-state of nine houses - only some of them occupied. It's very quiet. We spent the night there on Saturday and the only thing you could hear was nothing. There is a pool that is open all-day, every day. There is a playground with grass under the various playthings, not rocks. There is a tree house at the playground (in an avocado tree). On Sunday when we were playing in the tree house, Rebecca mentioned that you could spend all summer just in the tree house.

And, the house we are moving to is so sweet. It's big. Probably three times the size of the apartment (though, we decided it doesn’t matter how big a place we have, Maya and Jonah will still be under our feet). The view of Quito and the mountains and volcanoes from the upstairs master bathroom suite can't be beat (Talk about taking a crap in style). We've got a dozen fruit trees on our property (Mostly lemon, but so what. There are fruit trees on our property!). We've got property. There's a grill. Plus, the neighbors are great.

The neighbors, incidentally, are the brother and sister-in-law of the wife of the guy that Rebecca met on-line. That wasn't a coincidence. Guido (the guy Rebecca met on-line) put us in touch with them (and lots of other folks he knows here) and they are really nice and helpful and Rebecca and I are looking forward to getting to know them better. And to start giving back to them instead of just taking.

Paul and Sylvia (our new neighbors) have three kids - Carolina (age 8), David (age 6) and Elisa (age 3). So, there are playmates for Maya and Jonah. Plus, there is this great school in Tumbaco (called Pachamama) and Sylvia pulled some strings to get Maya and Jonah in there (Carolina and David go there as well). So, all things considered, it was just too good a deal to pass up.

There are still some things to iron out though. Foremost, we haven't told our current landlord (Carmen). Our lease on the apartment is paid until June 15. When Rebecca gave Carmen a heads up last week that we were thinking about moving from the apartment for the benefit of the kids, Carmen let us know that she was counting on our rent to pay for the operation she needs to have (she's pretty sick with some stomach ailment). So, throw guilt into the equation that includes that fact that Carmen has been real great to us.

She's gone out of her way to make us feel welcome and at home. She picked us up at the airport at midnight. She's driven us around a couple of days for no reason other than she wanted to. Whenever she stops by she is real sweet to Maya and Jonah. So, it will be hard to tell her the news. Fortunately, I don't speak good enough Spanish, so it's on Rebecca.