This morning we went to the finca and it was a great time as usual. The farm is just so beautiful and I get a chance to see my cat and be in the naturaleza and all that good stuff. Plus its just always a good break away from things (theres no cell phone service either). Plus it helps feed my new favorite habit or addiction or thing ive learned since coming to Ecuador: eating things directly off the tree/out of the ground/etc. When it was manderina (tangerines I think) season (the earlier months I was here) I ate them even though I’m not really into the orange-flavored fruits but because it just feels so great picking things off trees and eating them right there. There’s also mangos---before they weren’t maduro or ripe but they eat them that way as well-green- and with salt and its delicious. But now they are all ripe and super duper sweet and theyre so yummy, jucy and abundant. Theres also plantains which you have to cook first so the feeling isn’t as extreme as the others but its still super fun---its kind of like hunting for your food before eating it. Lastly, I love taking leaves or grass-like looking herbs out of the ground and making tea out of it…super fun and way better than the packets, way more flavorful. I also love that now I 1.) know all of this great stuff you can eat off trees and do and how to cook it and everything and 2.) I can name all the trees and plants and know what to do with them. If were walking (or driving) through town I can name which fruits grow from which trees and even how to plant and grow some of them… :-).
Speaking of hunting for your food (a few lines up) today there was a big extravaganza in catching the gallina or hen to cook it for lunch. The boys were running around and chasing it with sticks to hit it over the head and either knock it out or stun it long enough to grab it, or better yet break its neck right there (one method haha). However this was a slippery little sucker that didn’t want to be caught (however much I enjoyed watching the chase…even videotaped it. I was rooting for the animal :)) Then they got the dog into it (Bartolome-Barto), getting him to chase it and either catch it or as it happened corner it so that they can catch it. It turns out that after so much chasing and running around both the boys and the dog finally succeeded but at the same time and with different chickens! It was hilarious and fun to watch---you can enjoy the end of it as well.
And this was it after-:)
This is a pretty typical Ecuadorian dish…way too much rice and a fatty piece of meat. Not too appetizing for me haha but they also do have tons of delicious foods as well. And the overabundance of rice is the reason they have such high obesity, diabetes and hypertension problems I suppose. Oh and by the way my cat (black and white) was found in an outside community by a friend and so I brought him to the farm to live with the other one…who would have thought id have them both back. Also leyla put hatchi (host-sisters dog) on the finca too and is making him stay there…I guess its not only me haha.
In the afternoon I worked with Consejo Juvenil. We’re working with a little barrio right outside of town (actually above town…theyre located on a big hill that is extremely muddy and pretty much impossible to walk up…cars cannot go up it) that is pretty undeveloped. We are starting a recycling project with them and got organic and inorganic containers from the municipality to start a pilot recycling project with them and if its successful we will expand to more barrios. We are also trying to start a community bank with them…hopefully it works!
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