18 Hour Bus Ride to Cotacachi!!

Last weekend Adam and I made the long trek up north to visit Mary in her beautiful sierran town of Cotacachi in the province of Imbabura. It took us two bus rides and 18 hours to get to her town, but it was definitely worth it to see friends.

We spent our time in Cotacachi playing with Isa Ecuadog (Mary's adorable 12 week old puppy), shopping around at all the leather shops in her town, traveling to Otavalo to buy souvenirs at the huge outdoor artisan market, eating expensive pie at the Shanendoah pie shop, riding a boat on Lake Cuicocha, and just catching up with Mary and Nancy.

Although we were there for Christmas, it didn't feel even remotely like Christmas Day, though Nancy did bring her iPod with Christmas music and we did see parades with little angels and wisemen. We are a little bummed that we didn't get a chance to stop in Puruhantag (which we passed along the way and heading back home) to visit our host family from training. But hopefully we will get a chance to do that in the future...the next time we decide to brave such a long bus ride. Though we did enjoy theatrical delights on the bus like XXX with Vin Diesel and some horrible movie with Dolph Lundgren. Never heard of him? Neither did I before I came to Ecuador!

Streeview from Mary's porch

And the other direction! As others have mentioned, it does seem like we are in a little beach town, but she is smack in the middle of the Andes!

View from her front door onto the street

Her central park! So clean and pretty!

Of course Isa is just a puppy, so we were practicing our good "No" voices. In this picture, Adam is saying "No biting Isa! No biting!"

I want a puppy!

And another Isa picture

We ate great at Mary's house- homemade English muffins from scratch! We are definitely getting a great lesson on making things at home instead of picking them up at the store!

Honey, jam and fresh squeezed oj!

We are wishing we had a porch to sit out and breakfast on!

Just another porch photo

Coffee sock in action- I can't wait to drink coffee brewed from a machine in Feb!

$2.80 for pie and ice cream??? I know, that is cheap by American standards, but for us PCVs it was more than a drop in the bucket!! But it was delicious (even if Adam insists that it was way too buttery and not as good as his apple pie...which I agree to but you can't compare apple pies to apple pies)

Jewelry in the Otavalo market

Adorable Ecuamommies with their little babies

Thunderstorm coming in over the central park in Cotacachi

Boat ride on the Crater Lake Cuicocha? Don't mind if I do!

Looking good in our life jackets- we all know I need one!

Nancy and Mary getting wet from the rain

Ducks on the crater lake

Another parade passing Mary's house on Christmas night- and yes, they are lighting fireworks at the front of the parade, nearly missing pedestrians and passersby! It was an old man holding the fireworks and another guy lighting them. I figure if he has lived to be that old, it must not be that dangerous...ha!

Festivities and Activities in December

I've mentioned different events, activities, etc that happened throughout the month of December in my emails or other blog posts, so I figure since I have a bajillion photos, I might as well get them posted up and share some of those stories here and there!

Adam's counterpart organization CASMUL and my counterpart organization INFA were both really busy during the month of December. As social work organization, they were doing a lot of events for the holiday season. One of the campaigns that INFA was organizing was Navidad Sin Mendicidad (which I believe roughly equates to Christmas Without Begging... so essentially trying to eliminate need during Christmas time) so we had a big event to collect food, clothing, gifts, and money. My coworkers had to come in on their day off to hang up posters around town, and we spent an entire day flyering and talking to people.

Every big event needs entertainment and a big stage

As volunteers, we got the XL shirts...hooray for free baggy event t-shirts!

Some of the kids I have worked with in Loja were at the event to help pass out flyers. I was worried for them because they were on stilts and I could just imagine an accident happening

Phillipe and I passing out flyers asking for donations

A parade for another program that Adam's org was putting on

During December we also were invited to a sushi party by Lori, who was a PC volunteer in Loja in the 90's and now lives in Loja with her husband and daughter. We made california rolls with avocados, cucumber, smoked salmon, and green onions. It was totally fun and I think I will be making more at home one of these days, now that I know the ingredients are available in Loja! We had a great time and met a lot of other foreigners who live in Loja. Although we are still trying ever so hard to make some Ecuadorian friends, we won't turn down other kinds of friends either!

Deliciousness!

The beautiful spread...and that is amazing teriyaki chicken in the middle too!

The day after our sushi party, we headed up north about 2 hours to have a fun Chanukah Latke and Housewarming party at Liz's new apartment in San Lucas. Seeing as how I am not Jewish even a little bit, I didn't know that applesauce and latkes go together. I knew they were two delicious things that people eat around this time, but I had no idea that they were served together, so I had the joy of learning something new (and enjoyed listening to Liz and Jason sing songs that they learned growing up!). The made-from-scratch latkes and applesauce were totally fantastic, and even better served alongside the menorah shaped sugar cookies that Liz dished out.

Steven and Jamie peeling and grating the potatoes

Adam's turn to grate!

Jason and Liz frying them up! Yum!

Also in December, we had a Thanksgiving Part 2 celebration. We all had such wonderful Thanksgivings that we decided we needed to eat more! We made a turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and roasted potatoes and Jason made more of his cockaputzy (see Thanksgiving blog post). Jason also made apple cake and a carrot mold. Although carrot mold may not sound appetizing, it was one of the most delicious things that I have ever tasted (Liz renamed it Carrot Deliciousness, because that is exactly what it was). This was on the same day that I got pickpocketed so I was too paranoid to bring my camera. Hence no photos. But I will ask Liz if I can get some from her to post up. Oh, and just so I don't forget, we also had a menorah that night all beautifully lit up because it was the last day of Chanukah. Jason had a wonderful singing voice and sadly I don't have that on video! Lol.

Last thing I will share in this blog post is about the Christmas dinner we made for the kids at the orphanage. During Thanksgiving, Adam and I talked to the kids about the American tradition of Thanksgiving. The kids mentioned that they had never had turkey before (it is a big thing for Christmas...but since it is so expensive it is really for the wealthy) so we thought it would be fun if we made a turkey dinner for them. Adam decided to ask the director if there was a small budget that we could get. To make a long story short, we did get a budget to put the dinner on, but it came with a few strings attached...it wasn't going to be a small intimate dinner but a full on dinner banquet with many special guests, including the Presidenta of CASMUL and the Reina de Loja. We arrived the morning of our dinner to find the turkey frozen solid and the staff at the orphanage unaware that there was a big event that night. But, as Ecuadisasters go, everything turned out well in the end despite the rough start in the morning, the number of unexpected guests, and the fact that the scheduled power outage happened between 5-7pm when dinner was happening. The kids had a great time and loved trying turkey and receiving presents, and the turkey was cooked all the way through and tasted fine!

Tablesetting for the dinner- the kids got the head table!

Adam checking on the turkey

The kids messing around and getting excited before dinner

Photo with the Reina!!

Seco de Pollo Mas Grande De Todo Del Mundo

This also is coming a little bit late. On Nov. 18, Loja celebrated its Independence Day and Adam's organization CASMUL was hosting a big fundraiser event in Parque Jipiro to raise funds for a center for kids with disabilities. They sold tickets for a typical Ecuadorian dish called Seco de Pollo. When I first heard about the "Seco de Pollo Mas Grande De Todo Del Mundo" (or The Largest Seco de Pollo in the World) I imagined a really large dry chicken. But in reality, it was 2000+ plates of seco de pollo (chicken marinated in sauce) with rice, veggie and mayo salad, and pieces of yucca. There were hundreds of people at this event, along with vendors and entertainment. Adam's organization didn't need us to help out much other than set up some tables and chairs, so we pretty much just showed up, hung out, and ate! Recipe for Seco de Pollo is below!

Exciting vendor stuff like a blow up Winnie the Pooh!

Alex, El Gato de Loja (the term "gato" is used for Ecuadorians with green or blue eyes)- we had seen Alex perform during the Posta Civica too...the young Lojanas LOVE this guy

The long line of hungry customers in front of the blow up Mr. Pollo sign...yes, they were sponsors

Seco de Pollo Recipe
Chicken legs
2 tbs of vegetable oil
1 tbs of tomato sauce
3 cloves of chopped garlic
2 tbs of sugar
1 cup of beer
1/2 onion, chopped
2 tbs of cilantro
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
3 peeled and chopped tomatoes
Salt, pepper and cumin to taste

Fry the chicken legs in the oil with the onion, garlic and bell pepper. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, sugar and beer. Cook for 25 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, cumin and cilantro. Serve with rice and fried bananas or yucca.

November Visit to Palmar!

In early November, Adam and I visited a fellow volunteer, Stephanie, in her site of Palmar. It was great to see her projects and also visit the coast to get some change in weather and environment from the southern sierra. She was a great hostess and showed us around her town, introduced us to her counterpart and people that she works with in her town (as well as the man that sells delicious homemade avocado ice cream from his bicycle). I have to say, she has a really nice view from her house- right onto the beach and the Pacific Ocean!

During our time in Palmar we helped her prep her new garden, showed her kids' group how to make origami birds (they were so creative in Ecuadorian standards- making eggs out of pebbles and creating nests in the dirt!), sat on the beach watching crabs, sand dollars, and starfish, and tried to make a fire pit in the dirt to bbq fish (no luck, we ended up baking them in a campo stove). She also teaches an aerobics class to women in her town, but it was too early in the morning for me so I didn't quite make it. Maybe next time. It really is amazing to see such different sites from our own. It almost doesn't feel like the same country- the accent, the attitudes, the clothes, and the people in general.

Stephanie prepping her new garden in the beach sand

One of her friends prepping some poles with a big machete

If you click on the picture you can see the starfish on the beach!

Trying to get the beach pit bbq going- no dice!

Stephanie keeping track of all her well behaved kids!

We stopped in Guayaquil (largest city in Ecuador) on the way back to Loja where we were treated to a delicious meal made by Molly (second from right) and the fun company of other PC volunteers from our training group

Happy Holidays!!

Adam and I are currently sitting in our friend Mary's house in the beautiful little town of Cotacachi, in the northern sierras of Ecuador. Essentially on the opposite end of the sierra, just a hop, skip, and 18-hour bus ride away from Loja. It definitely doesn't feel like Christmas Eve, although there is celebrating in the park and fireworks not too long ago.

Of course we have been getting into the holiday spirit over the past few weeks- we passed out candies and cookies to kids in Loja for Christmas, we handed out flyers about the donation drive to give to families in need, we made a special Christmas turkey dinner for the kids at the orphanage (more about that later), I made hundreds of gingerbread cookies and sugar cookies with green, red and white sprinkles to share with the organizations we work with and people that we know in Loja, and we also attended a Noche de Velas where we lit candles and sang Christmas songs like Joy to the World in Spanish. Yet there is something that seems to be missing, and perhaps it is the fact that we weren't heading somewhere to spend time with our families (like Hong Kong and Taiwan last year, or Key West, FL the year before). But we are enjoying our time here in Ecuador and are glad to be spending our first Christmas in Ecuador with some great friends that we have made here...and in a very beautiful part of Ecuador (tomorrow we might go take a boat ride on the lake by a volcano!). Hope you all have a feliz navidad!!

So something awesome came in the mail last Friday!

Before I forget, Adam and I had the most exciting Friday because when we went to the post office, a package that we thought was forever lost finally showed up! Jennifer sent us a totally fun package full of exciting goodies and hilarious notes and it only took 2 months to get here! See, you can depend on Ecuadorian postal service after all! (Thanks Gamble for the old tabloid news on J+K+8, Halloween goodies, friendly reminder that corn syrup is not "bad" for me, delicious bread in a box, and everything else! It made our week!)

My reaction

And this is only some of the goodies!

Same Same...But Different

There are often times where Adam and I don´t feel like we are living all that different of a life here in Ecuador because we live in Loja. However, there are often little things that remind us that although things here might feel ¨same same¨...they are definitely different (do you like that Jennifer???). For example:

1. They use the U.S. currency here in Ecuador. Same same right? But different because you are more likely to see a Sacajawea dollar coin than a $1 bill. And forget trying to get change for a $20!

2. It is totally ok to publish photos of dead people in the newspaper. Recently a woman's body was found on the old road from Loja to Catamayo...and La Hora printed a nice close-up of her face as found on the side of the road.

3. Adam and I have running water and a pretty modern apartment (like we mentioned before, this is not a mud hut in the jungle!). But as with most homes here in Ecuador, there is not hot water so we have grown accustomed to washing dishes with cold water and using an electric shower head that heats up water as it comes out (kind of scary with all the wires hanging over your head!).

4. You can get DSL here...maybe...if you wait long enough... Our landlord tried to sign up for DSL so that we could share internet at home. However, one week turned into one month turned into 3. And still no internet! But Easynet is supposed to install it by December 15 at the latest. Oh wait...

5. We have fabric shops, hardware stores, and clothing boutiques in Loja, just like home! Except that you can fine more than a dozen fabric shops in 2 square blocks, hardware stores every other block, and the clothing boutiques all sell the same thing- Abercrombie, American Eagle and Hollister.

There is plenty more that is same same, but different. I just can´t think of any because now this is our daily ordinary life!