Going to Otavalo

We're going away for the weekend. It's Carnaval here so we have Monday and Tuesday off of work. It also happens to be Valentine's Day!!! So we're headed out of town, along with the rest of the Quitenos.

We're planning on leaving any minute now, well as soon as finish the dishes and the laundry. Supposedly there's a bus that leaves every 20 minutes from the main bus station. So we'll head over there and wait until the next one comes.

Once we get to Otavalo we plan on going to the markets all day tomorrow and then Sunday hiking around Cuichocha lake (Guinea Pig Lake). And yes folks, we plan on eating lots and lots of cui, otherwise known as guinea pig. =)

We'll be back either Sunday night or Monday morning, depending and then we're going out for dinner at Zazu to celebrate Valentine's Day (a day late).

We'll take lots of pictures and post them to Facebook when we get back. Plus we've got some skype dates that we're really excited on Monday!

Ryan is excited about going to the markets and possibly buying an Andean ukulele thingy (his words, not mine).

I'm excited to be in the mountains.

Cheers Mates,

Taylor and Ryan

It's like on MTV Cribs

This is what we have in our fridge and our cupboards!

Top Shelf: Brown Eggs (the only kind I've seen here) and Extra Yellow Butter

Second Shelf: A bag of olives, Brie, Cheddar (A note on cheese, they really only have Queso Fresco, everything else is garbage.)
The Freezer: A Turkey (It's not ours, it's the landlords), that thing wrapped in tin foil is a chicken.

Top Shelf of the Fridge: Bread, yogurt, beer

Second Shelf: Water, Milk, Juice

Bottom Shelf: Ground beef, left overs, and a cantaloup
In our cupboard: quinoa, black beans, brown sugar and regular sugar (the sugar is like cane sugar which is cool but not the same), flour (most of the flour has baking powder in it already... weird) rice, pasta.
A whole myriad of things: snacks from the plane, granola, oatmeal, chocolate bars (because there are no chocolate chips), syrup (for granola), walnuts and prunes (also for granola)

Then we've got some tea and coffee filters and our small collection of spices!

*Side note: those three little jars are a house warming gift from Maria Jose and Casey! They're filled with Cumin, Aji powder, and Oregano! Thanks Guys!

And that's it. Just thought you'd want to see =)

MULUB,

Taylor

Mystery Fruit #2, 3 and 4

Ok, well we know that the Kiwi is a Kiwi. All of the others, well, we're not quite sure.

The little banana looking things were filled with orange seeds that tasted kind of sour. Ryan mashed them and tried to make a juice. Meh, not so good.

The green and brown thing that looks like a mini-watermelon tasted like a pear combined with something else, but I'm not sure what. We sprinkled some brown sugar on it and it was pretty tasty.

The red things that look like sea urchins were by far the best thing we ate. You peel the spiny skin off of them and the inside looks like an eyeball. Yes this part was slightly unappetizing. They have long seeds in them and the fruit is around the long seed. They taste like nothing that I've tasted. They're sweet, in a good way, and have the texture of those little onion things that come in a jar that are sometimes served with cocktails. Regardless, I liked them best and I'd like to figure out how I could bake with them.

Has anyone seen any of these before? Or better yet, has anyone made anything with these before?

Thanks! MULUB,

Taylor

For the love of money

One thing that really bothers me is that no one here seems to have any change. Either that or they look at your money like it was printed at Milton Bradley. Look, I'm sorry that this five doesn't have any cigarette burns on it, but I can assure you that despite it's lack of wear, it is real money. But still, they feel it, hold it up to the light, call Ms. Cleo, align their chakras.

Back to the change. We were getting almuerzos one day after class (huge lunches for $1.50 each) and I go to pay and I give the guy a ten, and he looks at me like, "If I'd known you'd be using large bills, I would've, you know, not used a cup as my cash register." Now, I know, I'm the one who gave him a ten, but I couldn't give him a five, cause I didn't have one. And I couldn't give him a one, because the lunch was three dollars, and a one would've been insufficient.

He takes my ten, money is money after all, and digs through his cup looking for change, mostly fifty cent pieces. He only manages to muster four dollars before asking his (presumable) wife if she had change. (Well, you can probably guess where this story is going) She didn't. But she did ask another customer for change. Which he had. Sort of. I Think. I'm not really sure quite what happened, but I'm pretty sure I didn't lose any money in the deal.

Thankfully the ATMs here do give out fives, but maybe they can be bred with a slot machine, so that you can just put your card in and hold your over-sized drink cup underneath and, viola, no need for change ever again. Although, then you'll have to go to the renaissance fair to find a pouch big enough for all those coins. Then they'll probably tell you that they only accept bills as payment.

-Ryan

Mystery Fruit #1

This is the fruit that Ryan couldn't figure out what is was. We still have no idea, except we know that it was indeed NOT a black sapote.

Any ideas on what this is? Or what to do with it?

Three Weeks?!!?

How has it only been three weeks? I just don't understand. I feel like we've been here for three months.

Time is a different thing here in Ecuador. I'm not sure how to even explain it. It's as if it doesn't matter, it doesn't exist.

People say to be somewhere at 8 but don't show up till 9. Something starts at 10 but there's no one there until 12. Now, I'm not a very punctual person. I always came to work 30 minutes late but that was just me. I knew work would start at 9 no matter what and I would just be late. But here its like work can start whenever. A store may usually be open at 9 but then open at 10 or 11 one day just because.

So for right now, Ryan and I spend a lot of our time waiting. Waiting for meetings to happen, waiting for students to show up to class, waiting for stores to open, waiting for people to do things. Because we haven't been able to let go of our time focused American ideas that have been pounded into our heads.

Here being late is not rude. Period. Its just not. Now, I'm sure some of you (my Dad) might think that just because everyone else is late it's still rude to be late yourself. It's just not the case.

Perfect example...

Maria Jose invited us to a concert in the park for the Haitian community in Quito. The invitation said 10am. We got there at 10:45 and they were still doing sound check. We came back at 2 and the concert was just getting going.

Another example...

Yesterday we had our health insurance meeting with Pan American Life at inlingua. The email said the meeting would start at 3:30. Ryan and I hurried over there after attempting to run in the park. The Pan American Life reps didn't show up until 4 and didn't figure out the projection system until 4:30. A full hour late. These people are professionals. It's not rude to be late.

Anyways, time moves differently here and I feel like I've been here for a really long time already!

Hope all is well.

MULUB,

Taylor

ESPN Deportes

Super Bowl Sunday was yesterday, and like any red-blooded American it was our civic duty that we tune in. We actually had to sign a waiver stating that we would watch the Super Bowl while overseas, they wouldn't let us leave Miami without it. An Irish American bar (not the ethnic group, but a bar that was both Irish and American. Many restaurants down here have an identity crisis) called Mulligans was playing the game and our friend Maria Jose invited us so we went there.

The game however, was playing on ESPN Deportes, not ABC. That in and of itself was not a terrible thing, I mean, no one tunes in for the commentary. Especially when it's Chris Collinsworth. Unfortunately, the ESPN feed had NO SUPER BOWL COMMERCIALS. Oh, that's right I actually sat through three hours of Super Bowl and not once saw Burt Reynolds fight a bear. Is this what my life has come to? Also, we were sitting with a Columbian who, through countless hours of Madden, knew more of the players than I did. Although he must not have been too tainted by Madden, as he never mentioned any of the players being good strippers.

Taylor wants everyone to know that she made $0.07 for the month of January. Mazel Tov!!

-Ryan