ecuafunfacts

just some fun bits of information about life here: 

 

-the cheese here, queso fresco, doesn't melt. I'm talking, stick it in the oven and wait for an hour, and the cheese STILL won't melt.

-roosters crow at all hours of the night, not just at sunrise. Madison, our resident farm girl (she lives in idaho so we assumed she automatically knows farm things), insists that normal roosters only crow at dawn. I think these roosters get confused by the water tank trucks (tanqueros), and then set off a wave of crowing (cawing?). Little by little I'm getting used to it.

-Water trucks, or tanqueros, start rounds at 5 or 5:30, and they sure do have horns to wake up the neighborhood!

-3 lbs of flour is too much for ecua pancakes for 6 people... oops!

-cow stomach tastes just like you imagine...

-coco means coconut, and coca means cocaine... I will only make that mistake once!

-Never have I ever listened and talked about bodily functions so much with a community! Someone's stomach is always going a little crazy.

-We eat on less than $2/day, and usually closer to $1/day

-piña is heaven. (Pineapple)

-everything here always takes 3x longer than you think it will, we call it ecuatime... sometimes it's frustrating, and at times it's liberating to just not worry. For example, we went to pick up some kids the other day to go play soccer, and what would normally take 30 minutes took an hour and 30 minutes.

-I eat meat maybe twice a week.

-morning prayer is a wonderful day to quiet my heart and mind and prepare for the day.

-I have never appreciated letter writing so much!!!

-not worrying about a phone or facebook is AMAZING

-the buses are an adventure... anywhere on the street is a bus stop, you just hail it like a taxi. Then, the bus doesn't really stop fully so you just hop on (buses cost around 25 cents, which is a chunk of money for the people here). Then, vendors come on the bus selling oranges, frozen yogurt, agua de coco (coconut water), and other fun things... I always have my eye out for the frozen yogurt, which costs 10 cents.

-chocobananas are delicious... just a frozen banana covered in a thin layer of chocolate, and can be just what you need after a long day.

-sunsets here are the most awe inspiring, beautiful sight I have ever seen... the sun is BRIGHT orange, with a pink/orange sky... it always seems to take my breath away.

 

lots of love, kmaude