Happy Valentine's Day! (pt. 2)

I meant to publish this last night, but when Zac and I got back from Valentine's dinner, we found the hostal dark and covered in raucous Argentines. The power was out. Unfortunately, it's about a gaZILLION degrees in Mancora and our room's fan runs on electricity. Needless to say, it was a hot night. I'm pretty sure the last time I spent a night feeling this way, I ended up crawling out of bed and sleeping on Jeza's grandmother's tile floor in Chihuahua, Mexico.

But I digress.

I came here to introduce you to Aase and Ove, who were our hosts at the Magic Stone for our week in Banos.

I wish I could introduce all of you to them in real life because they are some of the sweetest, smartest, and warmest people you'll ever find. They're both from Denmark, where Ove was a schoolteacher and Aase ran a shop full of treasures they've picked up from their travels through the world.

Each morning, we'd have coffee and crepes in their breakfast nook and discuss our plans for the day. (Zac and I are addicted to crepes. Don't worry, I got Aase's recipe.) Aase and Ove have lived in Banos for years and know all the best places to go.

Their house and grounds are cozy and immaculate. You can tell they've thought a lot about the design of the place and everything fits together neatly. A bird and several dogs that they've rescued live there, too.

The Magic Stone sits on a hill just a few minutes from the outside of town, so nights are dark and peaceful. Aase would sneak over to our room in the evenings with a bowl of popcorn or a piece of chocolate cake.

As you can imagine, Zac and I had a wonderful time with these two. At breakfast our last day in town, we ended up sharing with Aase and Ove that we were on our honeymoon and searching for wedding rings as we made our way through South America. This prompted a brief flurry of conversation in Danish and Ove disappeared into the next room. When he returned, he was carrying a tray of silver rings that they had picked up during a stay in Mexico. Normally, they sell rings to interested guests, but in this case, they insisted we pick out two for ourselves and made a present of them.

We'd hoped to find rings down here that carried meaning for us, rings that came with a story. Never did we imagine they'd end up being Mexican rings given to us by a sweet Danish couple in the heart of Ecuador. They're perfect. And they ensure we'll never forget our time here in Banos, with Aase and Ove at the Magic Stone.