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!