Escape!

 Last weekend this lovely couple, who happen to be our landlords, invited us to their Hacienda in the country. First time we have been out of the city for six months. A demonstration of how warm and welcoming all the Ecuadorians we've met have been.

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 Their place is south of Vilcabamba about an hours drive from Loja and on the way to Peru which is directly south of Ecuador

 As you can see it is a lovely  acreage nestled in the hills and very secluded. A river runs right past the property and we were lulled to sleep at night with the sound of the rushing water.

We stayed in the little guest house off to one side next to the river and we brought the dog and the cat since we were going to be away for two days. The animals had a great time.

As you can imagine our dog Dylan had a ball running around here.

 Sunday we drove south toward Peru and up into the mountains amongst the clouds, passing through a number of little villages on the way. Every village has it's own cathedral and town square. Then we returned to the farm , had lunch and spent the afternoon exploring the area around their Hacienda.

When was the last time you visited an orange church?

The area around here produces a lot of the vegetables for the various cities and towns in the south of Ecuador. It is also a large producer of sugar.  There are sugar cane fields everywhere. If you have a sweet tooth you can buy a kind of unprocessed sugar cane toffee which is delicious.

The rivers are fed by rain in the Andes mountains. You can just see them in the distance with the almost ever present clouds on top. On the other side is the Amazon Jungle

The air is beautifully fresh and filled with the scent of flowers and the fields.

Unusual flora is everywhere and the temperate climate means that it is always green year round. Unfortunately, Covid 19 has kept us from doing more of this kind of exploring but this too shall pass.  It's exciting to know that all this, and more, is just outside our door and waiting for us to find it.

Time For A Change

"We spend our lives learning many things, only to discover (again and again) that most of what we learned is either Wrong or Irrelevant. A big part of our mind can handle this; a smaller, deeper part cannot. And it is this smaller part that matters more, because that part of our mind is who we really are, (whether we like it or not)"

But What If We’re Wrong -   Chuck Klosterman

   Covid 19 has forced a reckoning on most everyone in the world whether they are admitting it or not. Nothing is going to be like it was, for a very long time. And if the truth be told (a scarce commodity in the present environment), things may never be the same again. The time has come for a reassessment of almost everything. How we live, what’s important, and what we should be striving for both as a person, and on a grander scale, as a species. Suddenly we have had to stop what has been routine for the past seventy five years. Most of us, if we even thought about it at all, have just been accepting the idea that the direction we were travelling in was the direction we should be travelling in. We’ve been walking along with our heads down, only looking up at loud noises. And it has led us here, trapped in our houses, fearful of our neighbours, having to wear a mask just to go shopping, and trusting our very existence to people that, if we met them in the local pub, we would laugh out of the room. The question now becomes, do we want to go back to what got us here, when the present crisis is over? Do we want to just sit and wait for the next threat, and the next one?

  But there is an upside. Suddenly we all have our heads up, looking around. And we have time. It’s like we are kids again and we’ve been sent to the corner of the room for a time out. Just enough time to think. Time to assess. Time to question long held beliefs. Time to wonder whether we can do better. Time to wonder if the promised rewards, now that it looks like they won’t be there, were even going to be worth the effort and sacrifice in the first place. How many times, both personally and as a society, have we walked past things that we knew should be changed and done nothing? Well there is no doubt now that changes have to be made, and are going to be made, if we expect to survive at all.

  So what are these changes? I’ll leave that to younger and wiser heads than mine. After all, I’m responsible for the present dilemma. I could have done more and didn’t. Trying to explain why at this late date would just be whining. I swallowed the Kool-Aid with the best of them. I grasp the straw of hoping I did less damage than some, but the effort to stand up for what I knew needed fixing was sadly lacking. And now that I’m old and hiding out in South America like some repentant aging Nazi maybe I’m safe from retribution. I feel sorry for those to whom the burden is falling and I can only hope they are more up to the challenge than I was. If you are one of those, don’t look to the past for any answers. You only have to look at your current leaders in almost every field to realize the futility of that course of action. Perhaps more than at any time in the past they are emblematic of the futility of the old ways of thinking. Literal live embodiments of stupidity and avarice. Fiddling while the world burns. This pandemic is giving you the chance to throw those people and ideas away and head down a new path, look for new solutions. Scary, and exciting at the same time. Because the next fifty years will decide how the story of Us turns out. And you will be its authors. Remember the old saying, "Risk is its own Reward". Don’t be afraid to burn some bridges, in fact burn a lot of bridges. Not being able to go back will keep you going forward. Not much can be worse than what we have now so what have you got to lose? This old geezer will be cheering you on. And I won’t be the only one.

Local Lojano Food

Since we are still not patronizing the local restaurants, we have taken up the hobby of cooking local meals. We have enjoyed preparing and eating encocado de pescado (a coastal fish dish cooked in a sauce of cilantro, onions, tomatoes and coconut milk), menestra de lentejas (lentil stew), empanadas de carne (a common stuffed pastry), pan de yuca (fried cheese balls made with a yuca flour) and patacones (an appetizer of thick green plantain chips)
Here, Sharon is preparing a traditional southern Ecuadorian soup called arvejas con guineo. It is a version of a typical dish called 'repe lojano' from the province of Loja. This version is a split pea and green banana soup which includes other local ingredients like garlic, cilantro, achiote (a subtle spice that is used more often for it's red colouring) onions, and a fresh, young cheese known as quesillo (similar to feta). It's typically served with sides of avocado and hot sauce. It was easy to make other than finding the right kind of banana since there are many kinds of bananas and plantains in this part of the world. Interestingly, the chef of this recipe warns one to be careful when peeling and dicing green bananas, and true to the warning, my hands got very stained after preparing them. The finished production:

We are becoming accustomed to shopping daily for fresh produce and learning about all the new ingredients. I thank Layla Pujol, an Ecuadorian chef, now living in Seattle, who has created a really thorough and interesting website about Ecuadorian food which includes many recipes - laylita.com. When I visit her site I get so hungry from the photos of all the amazing dishes, desserts and appetizers. We are so grateful for this website during this pandemic. It has educated us on the local foods and kept us busy at home cooking up feasts for ourselves.

Above is a meat dish called carne colorada with a side ensalada (salad), rice steamed in ground achiote which gives it the yellow colour and mote. Mote is prepared from dried hominy corn and then one can add onion and garlic, or spices. Colorada refers to the marinade of the beef. It is ground achiote, cumin, oregano and beer. It has an amazing aroma...and so tasty!


Around the corner from where we live is a family run business selling freshly made tamales, humitas and quihimitas for 50 cents each out of their home. Humitas and quimihitos are corn cakes steamed in corn husks each with a different level of sweetness.  I often ask Ken to pick up a humita for my breakfast on his morning walk with Dylan. The family usually has a line up outside their door just before the afternoon siesta or at dinner time for their delicious tamales. These are wrapped in banana leaves and stuffed with chicken, pork or cheese. For the price, and the taste, we're not making these at home!

Another common Ecuadorian breakfast or lunch is the bolon:

Bolones are large plaintain dumplings (balls) stuffed with cheese and/or chicharrones (chorizo or bacon) fried until crispy and often served as a breakfast or lunch. We bought 2 for $1 each to go alongside our homemade corn and lentil soup.

Sharon's favourite salsa (below) is made with tamarillos - tree tomatoes/tomate de arbol which is a South American fruit, orange-red in colour, similar shape to a roma tomato but has a thicker skin. They are often made into sauces and juices. We have been regularly making this local aji hot sauce that has hot peppers to accompany everything Sharon eats!

What do Dylan and Coral eat? 2-3 times a week they get fresh liver to supplement their regular diet. One lb of liver = 25 cents!


Buen provecho! (Bon appetite)

IT'S DIFFERENT

THE SUN COMES UP HERE   

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every morning at 6am. Never earlier, never later. And it goes down at 6:30 pm. Never earlier, never later. In fact, the length of the day here varies by a total of 2 minutes over the year. One of the things that is noticeably different here from what we were used to.

   Well here I am again with another installment of Ken Taylor's, “What shall we talk about today?” Brought to you by the ever present sunshine of Ecuador and the ever looming “When’s your next Blog post?” There are times when having friends can be a burden! And you know who you are!

    I thought I would ruminate today on a few things that are different here. What brought it to mind was watching the garbage truck pick up our trash today. Monday, Wednesday and Friday they pick up the green and recyclable garbage and Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday it’s the… what, garbage garbage? Anyway, the truck has three or four guys hanging off it and, unless there’s a big pile of stuff, the truck doesn’t stop. The guys jump off, run to your garbage can, grab it, run after the still moving truck, throw your garbage in and then just pitch your can to the side of the road as the truck keeps motoring down the street. I can tell you, these guys are in great shape! Sometimes your poor can is a block up the street and you have to go out and fetch it and bring it home like a wandering puppy. Today my lid was around the corner. And you better grab your can right away or it will get run over or disappear. But on the up side, as you will have noticed, some kind of trash pickup Every Day! How good is that!

   Next we have groceries. Everything is grown locally and comes into the market fresh every day. All the fruits and vegetables you could want grown right outside the city by little family farms and brought to the Market daily, sometimes in the trunk of a taxi. The variety is astounding. All the things you would recognize and a lot you wouldn’t. And the prices are... well reasonable is an understatement. It's an adventure for Sharon to ask questions about how to cook things that we have never seen before, and then after dinner to watch me closely and see if I die before deciding whether it’s safe to cook it again! I hadn’t thought about it until just now but at dinner she is always about three or four bites behind me! I thought she was starting to call me Petey for some reason but now that I think about it, I think it’s Petri. (Think about it!)

   What about meat? Well there’s lot of it, again all local and fresh, but good luck recognizing a cut. In the supermarket you can get something that is recognizable but the cost is quite a bit more. If you go to the market, find some beef, (at least I think it's beef, for now I've decided not to ask) and indicate what you want they will cut you off a nice chunk of steak (???) for the price of what you would pay for a single sausage in Canada. And if we get something on our plate that is… slightly inferior… to what we had hoped for, then the fault is mine.  I’m the one with the pointy finger who assured Sharon that I knew what I was doing. Good thing she was standing behind me and didn’t see me close my eyes and cross my fingers. More Spanish lessons here I come. I’m not sure but I thought I heard a woman the other day say, “They must have a Very big dog!” But it was in Spanish so I was probably mistaken.

   A lot of people here cook with propane and there are trucks with full propane bottles prowling the streets from six in the morning, all playing the same tune announcing that they have propane for sale. You can hear them everywhere. Talk about an ear worm. But after awhile you don’t even notice. And if you run out of propane, no need to get in your car and go to fill up. Just listen for the ice cream man and go to the curb with your bottle. How convenient is that. Quite often there is someone with a loudspeaker going by with a truckload of produce as well, so you don’t even have to go to the market if you don’t want to. On the side streets next to the market are stores selling whole chickens. Somewhere from $4 to $6 dollars for a whole chicken depending on the size. Plucked and cleaned with the feet inside to be used for stock. And guess what. I’m getting quite good at butchering a chicken at home in the sink. Sharon uses the carcass for chicken stock and Monday, Wednesday and Friday (see above) they come and pick up what’s left.

   This is also a great area for coffee growing and there are a myriad of choices of really good, fresh ground coffee for around $3 a pound. Before the virus every street had a little restaurant with great coffee for breakfast and lunch. Lunch would be something like a hearty soup, rice, beans, and chicken with a big drink for $2.50. Couldn’t make it at home for that. A lot are closed at the moment but hopefully they'll be back. And then we come to dessert. Called pasteles. They love their pastries here. There is a pastry shop on every block in the downtown area. When we are out shopping Sharon has provided me with a special pair of blinders, like the old milk wagon horses used to wear, just to keep me focused. So I just plod along in a straight line, pretending not to see. But I do get out by myself occasionally, and, like the milk wagon horse, I don’t forget the route. And there are little fresh homemade bread stores everywhere. When I am out walking the dog early in the morning the whole city seems to be filled with the aroma of fresh bread and buns. Not great for my aim to cut back on bread. 

   And finally, it seems as if every second house here has a dog. But they never take them out for a walk or let them in the house. In fact, half the time they are on the roof of the house since there are a lot of flat roofs here. So that means occasionally there is a concert. Hundreds of dogs, all over the city, barking, barking, barking. Luckily they are usually short five minute sonatas, not symphonies. Sharon can quite often follow my progress when I walk the dog because as we walk by each house the resident two pound killer canine will come rushing out to protect his or her turf, barking furiously and warning the next dog in line to get ready to take up the chorus.  And then in the morning roosters, crowing. The city seems to always be alive somehow, at least when I’m awake. And then, because of the curfew, at 9 pm it all goes quiet. Sparkling street lights on the hillsides. No traffic, no dogs, no roosters, just quiet. Getting up the energy for another day of crowing, barking, baking, cooking, talking, laughing, and just living. To hell with Covid 19, it’s a new day, we’ve made it this far, let’s not waste it.

                                 PS. R.I.P Carl Riener Thanks for the laughs !