Chile V Ecuador

As South America has been in the news so much lately, I've had some interesting classes with my students and friends about what it all means. Most every class, lately, has started with "Well, what do you think of the Ecuador situation?" or "Well, what do you think of the Chile situation?" And then based on what my students have told me before, concerning their own beliefs, I try to bring up some aspect of all that has happened every class. Whether it's the political ramifications, or the trials or the police, or the impact of socialism, etc.

Roasted Veggies

Nothing says fall more than roasted veggies. Usually, here at 708, we just sauté our veggies. But yesterday, as I was getting lunch ready I had everything prepped and the sauté pan on the stovetop when I thought... 'why don't I bake these?' And that's what I did. I cranked up the oven and let them roast until they were nice and, well, roasted! I suggest you do the same thing real soon!

Last Night's Dinner

So yesterday was Friday and usually we don't do much on Fridays because we're tired from the week. I had class until 2 and then Ryan and I went to Megamaxi to look for some more herbs for our little garden and pick up a few things. Then I had a FABULOUS skype date with my dear friend Jenna! (Jen, It was soo great to talk with you!) Anyways, when I got home Ryan and Chuki went downstairs to play (read - I needed time in the apartment to myself!) I got the whole place picked up, and was just starting to clean the kitchen when our friend Sebas called!

Gardening

So we've been working on the compost for months now in order to get our soil in our flower box nice and healthy. But today the beloved compost went down the garbage shoot. We decided to start over! Hopefully we'll have better luck this time around. We broke down and bought some organic soil in a bag, I'm not quite sure what the name for it is.

We need your help, LIKE NOW! Our flower box is weeded and watered. We've put the 'organic soil in a bag' in and mixed it all around. But then what? See, we've never done this before.

We bought 2 basil plants, 1 thyme plant, and an oregano plant. Plus we bought 6 little daisy-like plants. But what do we do with them? How far down do we have to plant them? How far apart do we have to put them? Will they multiply? Or should we have bought 100 basil plants?

This is just the start of our little garden but we wanted to make sure everything doesn't die before we add more. So with that said, we could use your advice! How do you make your garden grow? 

We'll take comments, emails, facebook messages but whatever you do to not kill your garden, we want to know!

MULUB,
Taylor

The Whole World Rejoices for the Chilean Miners

We've just been a hot bed for news down here in South America lately. First, with the coup attempt, if that's what were still calling it, here in Ecuador and now with the rescue of the miners trapped in Chile. At least, one of the events isn't making a mockery of the continent!

Here's a brief recap of what happened:

On August 5 a mine in in San Jose, Chile collapsed with 33 men still 700 meters underground. They've went without any communication with the outside world for nearly 2.5 weeks and they made their food rations last that whole time. Finally, they received extra food, water, a video camera and even cigarettes while the rest of the world tried to figure out how to get them out of the mine. The major risk was that more rocks would collapse the tunnel even further, crushing the men trapped inside. The men assigned tasks to each other and remained relatively positive. They were able to talk with their families and they made videos of their life underground.

Yesterday the Chilean government began extracting the men through a small man-sized hole in a contraption that looks like a rocket. Families, spectators, and mobs of media have all camped outside of the mine. Although, the government has taken extra precautions to protect the men's privacy.

Finally the media has something JOYFUL to report about this beautiful continent!

Check out these articles for more info: this one, this one, and this one!

MULUB,
Taylor

Chicago Marathon

I would just like to publicly say, to all of my friends and all of the participants, CONGRATULATIONS on running the 2010 Chicago Marathon! 26.2 baby, 26.2!

No, but seriously, the Chicago Marathon is such an inspiring event, for runners and non-runners a like. If you live in the greater Chicago-land area and you haven't been, mark your calendars because you need to get there!

Rose Cottage - 4 Stars

We haven't even started to review hotels and restaurants like we originally planned on, so I thought today would be a great day to begin.

Rose Cottage - Otavalo, Ecuador - 4 Stars
The Rose Cottage is an amazing hosteria outside of Otavalo, Ecuador. The best thing about this hosteria is the location.