10 Cups of Rice, Yes, 10

*So this is a draft a few weeks late, as you’ve read in previous posts we’ve had a lot on our plates and finally getting around to posting. We’ve made some corrections here and there but read most of this in past tense, we aren’t going to fix every little grammatically incorrect moment. :p

Also we’ve added a few things that have happened more recently.

We seriously haven’t slept in past 9am (happened once on a Sunday) since leaving Toronto. Now that construction has started even less sleeping in. We’ve had to get cracking with the logistics in general to plan for space, storage, supplies and food preparation for four workers, every day.  Yep, that’s right, we are cooking for 6 of us every day.  Wait.. we also cook up some food for our dogs (yep 2, another story) and cats, so really we feed 10 mouths including ourselves, starting at 6am every day.

The second day after construction started was actually quite funny because Malena was panicky thinking we need to make sure there was enough rice. First day we hardly made enough for all of us, and Malena was feeling guilty so she decided to put 10 cups of rice (max amount) in the rice cooker along with some carrots and peas. Good thing rice cooker has a locking lid, because that rice would have literally exploded out of the pot! Lesson learned, don’t push your rice cooker limits, also 10 cups of rice resulted in 3 days eating rice with leftovers for Tali.

Te gusta la comida?

It’s customary to feed your construction crew twice a day. At 9:30am they get a snack which involves a bread and soda, then at 12pm – 1pm they get their “Almuerzo” a gigantic lunch. We’ve learned to tackle things as a team, trying not to bump into each other in the limited space of our kitchen (we have no storage or cabinets, working on shelves).  We are also tag teaming washing dishes. So we spend about 3 hours per day prepping/serving/eating/cleaning more or less. That doesn’t seem to bother us as much as making sure the meals are delicious. We’ve somehow become self conscious about our cooking and still learning not to take it personally if the construction crew basically tops our dishes with a spoonful of salt. FYI, Ecuadorians love salty food. By the time it’s 8pm we are pretty much in bed crashing.

Funny Moments

• Tali thinking the cat litter box is a cozy bed, lol, she likes sand piles too. Total beach dog, one day we’ll take her to the coast to see the ocean.

• Witnessing a dog stealthily steal a bag of dog food from a tienda, walk two blocks away before opening and chowing down. Reminded us of Sam the seagull stealing Doritos. If you have no idea what we’re talking about watch this:
• First day of construction, we open gates for crew members to come in, only to be flooded by half a dozen dogs trying to pile in. (That’s what happens when you feed stray dogs too often)
• Surprise! Gandalf the Grey is actually female, and she also is getting waaay too comfy with us that she pretty much knocks on our front gate so she can come in and play with her best friend Tali. We adopted Tali, and Gandalf seems to have adopted us. She comes and goes as she pleases.

  

• There is a brand of doorbells called Wookee. Yes there is. And no we have no idea what sound it makes.

  

Doing homework with cake and beer :p

Roger has started Spanish lessons and has homework from class to class. Hard to find the time and energy but it definitely is helping. Cake and beer are definitely helping as well. A small yummy cake at any bakery nearby runs about $1.00-$1.50.

Rainy season is finally coming to an end

The rain was brutal early on, even lost half a day of construction because the crew couldn’t do anything in a torrential downpour. They huddled on our platform under the roof for a couple hours trying to stay warm and wait it out but eventually we all just caved and called it a day. Go figure that about half an hour after they left the sun came out.

The wood lot near Otavalo where the crew gets their “madera” has some really cute puppies and chickens everywhere. Super cautious, and super friendly once they get to sniff you. The chicks just play in the dirt cleaning their feathers.

So on the first day, a giant CAT backhoemonsterthing came in to dig up the ground. Since it was here we asked them to dig up the hole for the brewery Roger was digging by himself. Due to the rain he hadn’t been able to make a dent in a while, and in one day it was dug out to the dimensions we need. Just need to make it a bit deeper, level it, and get started on the foundation.

For the last week or so we’ve had next to no rain. It’s nice right now finally not drowning but eventually we know the dryness and heat will get overwhelming as well and we’ll welcome the sight of a cloud. They’re here for now but not much longer.

Then there’s the dust. We have huge mounds of stone and sand (ripio y arena) right outside our door and we’re doing everything we can to minimize how much gets into our rooms but….dust will dust. Everything is covered. There is no escape. We were warned by friends here that during dry season it’s pretty much unavoidable, and with the sandpile for concrete and mortar only 10 feet away we could make a Dune fan film in our kitchen. Too bad we can’t dig for Spice, might pay for the rest of construction.

Visa… no word yet, but wait!

So for the longest time no word on Roger’s Visa. As it crept on towards almost a month since we submitted the final paperwork Roger went to Quito to find out what’s going on. In true bureaucratic fashion there was a problem, no one contacted us and of course he had to go all the way there to find out. So anyhow there is an error and more paperwork needs to be done back in Canada but we’re on that. Also, this reminded us that the lawyer at the Ministry said they would email me confirmation of all of what we discussed at the time…. go figure we haven’t received anything yet. Yay. So here we are, 5 months later and still no visa. Woohoo. Another trip to Quito coming soon.

Ginger Ginger Ginger

So we’ve got a ginger beer starter on the kitchen table in a giant mason jar. It smells amazing, like a flower garden. It’s delicious on the nose and we can’t wait to use it in a batch! It snaps crackles pops like a certain cereal and trimming ginger every day or two to feed it has become an oddly relaxing ritual.

Errors Erroneously Erred

So Roger is looking for the phrase “fermented cabbage” in Spanish in order to describe sauerkraut and kimchi. This is what happened:

“Col Fermentada” is actually how it goes. Or at least how he can be understood.

It’s been two weeks since Athena died, still stings.