So it’s almost two weeks since we got Tali! We’ve been wanting a dog since we got down here, but we were thinking it would be too bold to get a puppy before construction. So it was a little unexpected but not totally surprising when Malena called Thursday evening excited saying “I almost adopted a dog!”
That evening Malena went to hang out with a friend who had to swing by the adoption center to pick up a friend who had just rescued/adopted a dog that followed her for three hours on a mountain hike. It was there where Malena fell in love with Tali. She would have taken her that very moment if it wasn’t for paperwork required for adoption.
It was Tali’s puppy sad eyes and tame behaviour that caught Malena’s attention. So Roger and Malena went the next day to see if she was still there and luckily she was! Tali recognized Malena and again gave that puppy look. 20 minutes later Tali was officially our new family member!
We were a bit worried of getting a dog that would terrorize our cats, so we are happy we found a dog who’s first instinct wasn’t to chase after our cats. In fact Max is the one chasing her down and showing off who is the alpha furry butt.
So far she’s adjusting to a home and starting to bark a bit more. The first week her tail was always down and her ears flat, but now she can’t stop jumping and smacking her tail everywhere! She also finally knows how to fetch!
She likes to chew on just about anything. So after spending way too much on actual toys from the pet store and watching them get destroyed instantly or sadly ignored, she’s decided her favourite toy of all is a dollar’s worth of rope from the local hardware store.
Going to Quito Again .. but for a good reason!
So Roger had a solo mission to Quito with two objectives: 1) find out what is going on with his “Amparo” (part of the visa process) and 2) finally get some brewing ingredients. Both successful.
As well prepared at 5am as ever, he forgot his notebook, pen, Malena’s phone in case of emergency, and Spanish dictionary to practice on the nearly three hour bus ride. So thumb twiddling it is!
First time at a government office alone so Malena had sent along a bunch of useful sayings and questions to get the answers we need and he spent the entire wait practicing and getting nervous until the queue number came up. There were only 75 people in front this time!
Finally get to the counter and stammers out….
“Lo siento, no hablo Español…..” (I’m sorry, I don’t speak Spanish)
Super lucky, the staff member spoke English.
So far the visa has been approved but there’s a huge backlog so it’s taking longer to fully process than normal. Going to be a couple extra weeks. Good news, if a bit bittersweet.
The next task was to hit up a home brew supplier in the north and bring home a load of ingredients. Republikan Brewing Supplies is located at Tadeo Benitez y Vincent Duque smack in the middle of the Carcalen industrial area. What was not known at the time is that Duque is shaped like an upsidedown U and there is actually two of that intersection. Fun.
So after an hour of stumbling along and asking very confused industrial workers and shop owners if they knew where a brewing supply place was, it was finally found. A short interaction with an equally confused security guard later and access was granted, ingredients are obtained, and a long ride home nibbling bus fritada awaited.
Only thing missing though is yeast, they were out but will send some up to Cotacachi when they get their next shipment.
Runoff Election
So the top two candidates from the election in February are going head to head, Lenin and Lasso. And as with any election, Sh!t’s getting real.
There’s green flags everywhere for Lenin and white flags everywhere for Lasso. Crowds for both on almost every corner of the major roads. Lasso has seemingly spared no expense and even has these giant fake heads of himself on supporters in the streets of Quito and have seen at least one in Cotacachi too.
Catharsis
After emptying out a ton of boxes into the storage room and making homes for many a thing we had ourselves a small clutter-buster fire. Felt good to be rid of all that.
Malena’s first brew
So some of the many bins and boxes unloaded or reorganized was the brewing gear. Finally mounting the spigots to the 10 and 20 gallon pots (ollas), leak testing and test firing the burner with its new hose and regulator.
Now that we have ingredients on hand, including a bit of yeast thanks to our friends over at Rio Blanco Brewery who were kind enough to supply some US-05, T-58, and even a dash of Warrior hops to experiment with, we were ready to get started!
Although present on many brew days Malena has never actively taken part. Well it’s about time that changed! So we opted for a small 1-gallon test batch to make something a little hoppier than Pilsener and get her feet wet with the process.
Much measuring happened.
Life in Cotacachi
