Left: Chocolate Caliente and the rain that inspired it.
Please read my post below before you read this one... this is just a quick update!
I live in the coffee region of Colombia, therefore, I drink coffee in the mornings, and so do all my co-workers. The only "hot drink" variation I ever see is agua panela (which I can post about another time) and sometimes, just sometimes, the health conscious at school drink hot tea. Kids might drink hot milo (kind of like Nesquik or Ovaltine), but primarily my fellow Risaraldans drink coffee. And lots of it.
In various other regions of Colombia, coffee is second in popularity to chocolate caliente (hot chocolate). Not the typical, sweet Swiss Miss-style we drink in the United States, but pure melted chocolate, mixed in water or milk, with a tiny bit of sugar. It's dry and bitter, but just as popular as coffee, especially among working-class men. (Nothing like a cup of cocoa before heading out to build a new apartment or drive a bus!)
By a chance accident (I needed chocolate, Warren doesn't understand the words "unsweetened") we had a package of Luker brand chocolate at the apartment. On this cold, rainy day, I decided there wasn't much that I would enjoy more than a cup of hot chocolate. So, I did my best.
It wasn't as sweet or smooth as my hot chocolate at home, but it definitely warmed me up and gave me a happy dose of endorphins.
Below: Chocolate Caliente
I've included two recipes below, one from the Luker package itself (with my notes about how I prepared it) and one from my cookbook Secrets of Colombian Cooking (by Patricia McCausland-Gallo), which was a Christmas present from my brother Billy.
Luker Recipe for Chocolate Caliente
Ingredients Unsweetened chocolate (should be pure: only 100% cocoa mass) Agua Panela (if you are Colombian) or water Sugar (probably 1/2 tablespoon per cup) Unsweetened soy milk if you're vegan, regular milk if you aren't as cool as me (just kidding)
Directions: In a saucepan, warm up water or agua panela (1/2 cup for each cup you want to make). Add a square (7.8 grams) for each cup you want to make. Stir until melted. Add a tablespoon of sugar for each cup you want to make. Stir until dissolved. Remove from heat. Add 1/2 cup of milk for each final cup you want. Beat with a whisk (the Luker package suggests putting it into a blender to make it frothy, but that seemed totally unnecessary.) Warm thoroughly and then serve. Don't let this boil, ever. Also, stir often so it doesn't burn/stick on the bottom of the saucepan.
My additions: I added a pinch of salt, a teaspoon of vanilla, and extra chocolate squares. I then tasted it and added sugar until it tasted less bitter. (About another teaspoon per cup.) If you are using Baker's chocolate in the U.S.A., I would estimate that 1 Luker square equals 2 Baker's rectangles.
Chocolate Caliente, from Secrets of Colombian Cooking (McCausland-Gallo, pg 208)
Ingredients 4 ounces sweetened table chocolate (vegans-don't use milk chocolate!) 4 cups milk or 2 cups water and 2 cups milk (sub soymilk if you are vegan) 2 tablespoons sugar
Directions: 1. Place the chocolate, milk, and sugar in a pot over medium heat. Bring to a simmer (but don't let it boil) for about 5-7 minutes, or until the chocolate is very soft. 2. Remove from the heat and with a whisk stir rapidly and continously until hte chocolate forms a lather or foam. 3. Serve and enjoy!
Above: Not my best picture, as it was taken on the bus, but here's what I've seen every day since the beginning of April: clouds, rain, and more clouds and rain. Also, this is one of the poor areas of Cuba. Please read on for more about why I posted this photo--I need your help!
No one commented or voted "interesting, etc." on my last post... should I take it as a hint that you don't want to read recipes? Or am I the only person reading my blog? If you are a secret reader out there, I would really love it to hear your comments. When you comment or vote interesting, funny, or cool, it lets me know that you liked the post, and I'll know to post on the same topic or use the same idea again. Plus, you must remember that I live a fairly lonely life here in Colombia (although my 17 students informed me that they were my 17 closest Colombian friends yesterday), and when you comment or vote, it makes me feel more connected to people at home. You don't need a blog or a Google account, either. So... you secret readers out there... please let me know what you want to read about!
Okay, so the real part of the post (when I don't lecture my readers):
Onto a more interesting (and vastly more important subject), the photo at the top of this post (as bad as it is), is of a poor neighborhood in Cuba, a barrio in Pereira. I'm posting it to help inspire you... I need your help. I'm trying to come up with ideas to engage my students in a fight against poverty. I want to instill a desire to help and aid the lower classes in Pereira in my students. Teaching wealthy students frequently makes me guilty in this country, but I also realize that my students are the ones that have the ability to make a difference. So, I would like to hear your ideas. How can I teach my students to care about the plight of others, and what kind of projects or activities could we do to help the poor populations? I would specifically like them to help kids their own age. If you have any ideas AT ALL, please comment or send me an email. Thanks for your help!
And now: Why I hate the rainy season.
It has rained here continuously every day, all day for 2 weeks straight. The most sunlight and warmth we've gotten has been little snippets for an hour or two when we are lucky. Usually it's just cloudy and rainy, with a break for 30 minutes here or there. I've been bragging about Colombia's weather for months, but I'm so over it. Until we've moved past this constant downpour, I'm officially NOT a fan of Colombian weather. I know I sound like a big baby, but you have to remember that LPV is an OUTDOOR school. We don't have hallways or doors.. it's all open air. That means that every time it rains, all my posters fall down because the air is so moist, the desks are covered in water because it drips through the guadua shingles, all the bugs come inside to get dry, the electricity frequently goes out, my classroom and my students are covered in mud and water, and my students go CRAZY because there's no where they can go to play except our classrooms because they are the only covered areas! I love the school and it's environmentally friendly/hippie outlook, but I'm definitely not handling the rainy season well. Unfortunately, I've got around 1 more month of it left AND there's another one coming in a few months. Again: I'm so not a fan.
What I am a fan of is a hot bowl of chili when it rains.
Above: Chili, our dinner on Monday AND Tuesday (we had leftovers!)
There are few things in the world that scream American to me as much as a hot bowl of chili on a rainy, cold night. I made chili Monday and was incredibly pleased with how it turned out. Why? (I mean, it's just chili, right?) I was scared it wouldn't work because I can't find CHILI POWDER in Colombia. How is that even possible?
Anyway, here's the recipe. It's certainly not anything like my American recipe, but if you're in Colombia and want a hot bowl of chili, this will definitely satisfy your craving.
Colombian Chile
Ingredients: 3 cups of speckled beans (or black, kidney, pinto, etc. Feel free to mix if you have different types of prepared beans), pre-cooked (see directions below the recipe) 1 red onion 1 tablespoon olive oil 3 cloves of garlic 1 or 2 red peppers 4 tomatoes 4 tablespoons of tomato paste (pasta de tomate) (you can use less or more if you need... if you don't have any, use ketchup!) water as needed 1 teaspoon yellow mustard Spices: Cumin (comino), pepper (pimenta), salt (sal), ajo (garlic powder), oregano... I used a mix called "Salsina", a product of El Rey spices, that was garlic, cumin, and pepper mixed.
Directions 1. Chop onion finely and sauté in olive oil until the onions are translucent. 2. While the onion is cooking, mince garlic. Add to the onions. 3. While the garlic is cooking, dice the red pepper. Add to the garlic and onions. 4. Dice tomato and add it to the vegetables. 5. Cook until the red pepper is tender and the tomato is almost mushy. 6. Add beans and liquid from cooking the beans. Add water if needed... the beans should be floating and the mixture should be easy to stir (not stew like, soup like!). 7. Add tomato paste and up to a tablespoon of yellow mustard. Stir until the mixture is well blended. 8. Bring to a boil. 9. When it begins to boil, turn heat down a bit. Stir. Add spices. These should be to taste, but to begin I recommend: 1 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, and 1/2 teaspoon oregano. If you are using "salsina", you can use it to replace the garlic powder and pepper, but you'll still need 1 teaspoon of cumin. 10. Let it cook for about 30 minutes on medium heat. Stir often so it does not stick to the bottom. 11. After about 30 minutes, taste the sauce. I added more cumin, pepper, and salt, but you should add as you think you'll like. You might want more mustard--it helps a lot if you like it. 12. Cook for 20 minutes or more over low heat. 13. Serve with your favorite crackers, and if you are Warren, cheese!
How to prepare dried beans (almost any type): Dump beans into a bowl, clean out and remove anything that looks like it doesn't belong, and cover with 2 times the amount of water as beans (so, 1 cup of beans, at least 2 cups of water). Soak overnight (or at least 8 hours). Drain and rinse after 8+ hours, and dump beans into a soup pot. Cover with the same amount of water. Bring to a boil, turn heat down but keep them at a low boil. Cook for at least 1 hour--may take longer, just test them every 30 minutes or so. They should be firm but easy to smash. When they seem like they are almost done, salt them a bit (a teaspoon or a bit more is good). When they are finished, store them in a plastic container in their cooking liquid in the refrigerator.
Above: Our dinner on Sunday night... Recipe Below!
First of all, I already know my way around a kitchen (but I'm always learning new things), but this blog has never served as a food blog before, hence the title. However, the only blogs I ever read before I started my own were vegan blogs, and they are still my favorite blogs to read and my writing inspiration.
Sidenote: I decided to post these recipes for a few reasons. 1) To show what we eat here. 2) I like to write and think about food. 3) If anyone is living in Colombia or South America, I think it can be hard to find ways to cook "American" food, especially for vegans/vegetarians. In case anyone ever stumbles onto my blog because they are vegan in South America, maybe this will help.
Background: I was incredibly lucky to find 3 packages of fresh, full basil at Exito on Sunday. In keeping with my desire to save money (each package cost 650 pesos, roughly 32 cents), I used only half of one package on Sunday making our favorite dish: bruschetta. Warren and I usually eat bruschetta at least once a week. It's very home-y and satisfying, and the flavors are definitely not Colombian, so it's a good variation from school lunches. Along with our bruschetta I threw together a quick dish of Italian-style beans. I didn't exactly know what I was doing, but I knew I needed protein and I had already soaked and cooked the beans. As a future warning for these and all other recipes to ever appear on this blog: I don't follow recipes or cookbooks, except sometimes when I'm baking. All recipes to appear are created by me, and I don't measure, I just eye-ball it. (I learned from my mother.) That said, make sure you taste things as you cook them if you follow my recipes.
Melody's Bruschetta
Ingredients 1 large French or Italian style baguette (in Colombia, the best ones are at Exito and Carrefour) 4-6 medium red tomatoes(I remove the hard white part directly underneath the stem, too.) baby tomatoes if you have them (we had some leftovers)--any amount from 1/4 a cup to 2 cups will work in this recipe 4 cloves (not bulbs) of garlic Tomato paste (Found near the ketchup and called pasta de tomate in squeezable packages) salt pepper fresh basil or dried oregano (basil is better!) olive oil
Directions: Before you begin, rinse the tomatoes and fresh basil in cool water.
1. Smash and chop the garlic cloves finely. Sauté over low heat in 1 tablespoon olive oil until the garlic just starts to brown. 2. While the garlic is cooking, dice the medium-sized tomatoes. Add the tomatoes. If you are using any baby tomatoes, you can add them whole). If the garlic begins to turn brown before you are finished with the tomatoes, remove the pan from heat. (Don't let the garlic actually turn brown--you just want it to start to turn brown.) 3. After you add the tomatoes, turn the heat to medium heat. Stir frequently so that the tomatoes do not stick to the pan. Let the water cook out of them so that they are mushy. If you used baby tomatoes, you want them to "pop"--there should be a place where the skin on them breaks, but they should disintegrate. 4. When the tomatoes are finished cooking, remove from heat and stir for about 30 seconds. Add the tomato paste. How much is up to you--at least 2 to 3 tablespoons, but if you add more you'll have more tomato-y goodness for your bread. It should look just a little bit thicker and chunkier than a chunky spaghetti sauce. Return to heat, simmer on low heat. 5. Slice the bread into 1 inch (or smaller) slices. If you have a toaster oven or toaster, you can toast the bread that way. If you don't, simply heat a frying pan over medium heat. You can add olive oil to it, but it's not necessary (and adds calories). Toast the bread on each side in the pan for about 1 minute--just watch it, don't let it burn. 6. Add salt and pepper to taste (about 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper), stir quickly. 7. If you are using fresh basil (and you should), chop up between 1/4 of a cup to 1/2 of a cup and add it to the tomato mixture. Stir quickly and then turn off heat. Stir tomato mixture for another minute. 8. Finally, spoon tomato mixture over the toasted bread. If you aren't watching your weight, you can dip the toasted baguette slices in olive oil first. ENJOY!
Italian-Style Beans
Ingredients 1 cup of pre-soaked and pre-cooked speckled beans (white beans would work too) 2 cloves of garlic (1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder) 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/2 teaspoon thyme or 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil (basil is better!) Salt and pepper to taste
Directions 1. Chop garlic finely if you are using fresh garlic. 2. Heat olive oil in a small sauté pan over low heat. Add garlic (if you are using fresh) and sauté for about 1 minute. 3. Add beans. Turn up the heat just a bit. Stir them around so they are coated with olive oil. 4. If you are using garlic powder, add it now. Also add the salt and pepper (about 1/2 teaspoon salt and a pinch or two of pepper.) 5. Add the basil (or thyme) and stir. 6. Cook about 5 minutes total (the beans should brown just a bit but not burn or get very dry).
Serve with something yummy--but they are addicting on their own!
In 2008, I was addicted to news about the presidential elections in the United States, but I was equally depressed by the media. If you don't know me very well, it's probably time for me to confess something: I have some very strong political views. In the 2008 elections, I was horrified that a man straight out of the Chicago political machine with almost no real experience was so incredibly popular. I was horrified by the Republican party, too. I voted Green. Warren voted for Nader. We felt like political outcasts because we know voting for 3rd parties is more of a protest against current politics than an actual vote. For someone like me, who really wants to part of the political conversation, shouting about the Green party candidate and driving around with a bilingual bumper sticker on my car (Green Party/Partido Verde) made me feel like I was making a statement, but everyone just tuned me out and campaigned for Obama.
Politics in the U.S. are nasty and unfair. We are one of the few Western countries in the world with only 2 viable parties. Everybody else has at least one viable third party, except Australia, Spain, and Portugal. There's no way two parties who have been around for over a century represent what people want. The Democrats and Republicans only represent the big business and unions that give them the donations they need to silence other candidates during campaigns.
Why am I talking about politics on my blog while writing from Colombia?
Colombia has a presidential election this year. The first election is May 30, so we're getting really close and the race is starting to get exciting. However, the fact that this is an exciting election surprises everyone, especially Colombians.
First of all, the current president, President Uribe, was generally expected to win this election 5 months ago. When we first arrived, it was widely believed that he would be granted permission to run for a third term by the Colombian Supreme Court. Current law prohibits presidents from having a 3rd term, but that seemed like a small obstacle because in the 2006 elections Colombia changed a law that allowed presidents only 1 term so that Uribe could run for a 2nd term. On the 26th of February, the Colombian Supreme Court decided Uribe would not be granted permission to run for a 3rd term.
For "uribistas", this was disappointing, but they simply turned to Uribe's Defense Minister, Juan Manuel Santos. Santos, who originally was running as a place-holder candidate for Uribe in the Party of the U(ribe/Unity), expected little competition. No one in Colombia was excited about Santos, and the general attitude at first was that people were disappointed that Uribe would not run again.
Between February and April, a radical shift in politics has shaken Colombia awake. In August 2009, three former mayors of Bogotá rebuilt the Green Party in Colombia. The mayors, Penalosa, Mockus, and Garzon, were famous for totally changing Bogota into a clean and safer city. (For a fantastic documentary about this, check out my link below.) After a primary it was decided that Mockus would run for president this year. He has been campaigning for just over a month, but after choosing Sergio Fajardo, a former mayor of Medellin, he is consistently ranked at least 2nd in the polls. In fact, according to a poll on Thursday, he is winning.
Being in Colombia for this election is incredible. In just a few weeks, people have begun to see a different kind of future for Colombia. One without "politics as usual," which, in Colombia, means widespread corruption, widespread spying on civilians (wiretapping EU meetings? Just a daily occurrence at DAS, apparently), and, particularly horrifying, false positives. I hated it when Obama promised that his term would be different, because even if he succeeded at fulfilling every single proposal he has, any change in the way we do politics in the States was never part of his agenda. Mockus, however, is not just promising change. He has proven he has the ability to create change in his terms as mayor. (For example, check out this article about Bogotá, and how it beat out all American cities and came in third against Amsterdam and Copenhagen--for cyclists!)
More importantly, Mockus is not part of the standard political structure in Colombia. Santos' great-uncle was president. Mockus' mother is a sculptor from Lithuania. He has a PhD in mathematics, was a professor at Harvard, was the chancellor at Universidad Nacional, is a philosopher, and has Parkinson's disease (in its early stages). He speaks English, Spanish, French, and Lithuanian. He has a beard. This man is not your typical Colombian.
His previous policies as the mayor of Bogotá and chancellor of Universidad Nacional were controversial but effective. For example, he mooned an auditorium of rioting students because they would not let him speak. He hired mimes to humiliate people who broke traffic laws because fines were ineffective. He closed all the bars at 1 a.m. because of the city's crime rates. He called that law the Carrot Law--which, in American slang, would translate to the Goody-Goody Law. He continued Penalosa's work during his own second term, expanding the TransMilenio bus system that works like a metro and has been lauded by environmentalists worldwide. As mayor, he reduced the crime rate and murder rate, reduced traffic and automobile accidents, and attempted to give Bogota a moral conscience. He even dressed like a superhero (tights and all) and called himself "Super Citizen." Basically, Obama can only dream about being as cool as this guy.
His campaign should be making headlines worldwide. If he wins, he will be the first Green Party candidate to become president of any country, any where. In a world facing economic turmoil and increasing environmental problems, his possible presidency seems like a sign of things to come. Especially in Colombia.
If I spoke better Spanish, I would be out on the streets, campaigning daily for Mockus. I want to vote for Mockus, I want to be part of this possibility. It is rare that I find a political candidate I can fully support. Mockus is a bit radical in his approach, but not in his ideas. His campaign slogan is this: "Con educación todo se puede" - With education, everything is possible. I love this man.
With the first election approaching quickly, Mockus has gone from being part of the "Three Stooges" to being the primary opponent to Santos. Because Colombia has two elections, this is especially significant. In the first election, on May 30, people vote for whomever they want. Since there are over 12 parties in Colombia, it is rare for a candidate to get over 50% of the vote in the first election. Therefore, Colombia holds a second election less than a month later, and only the top two candidates in the first election are allowed to run. This gives everyone a say in who the next president will be, twice. At this point, it seems very likely that the top two candidates will be Santos and Mockus. Of course, if one candidate can get 50%+1 vote, that candidate will win and a second election won't be necessary. Mockus recently suggested that if he wins the first election, the money saved from only needing one election could build 20 schools.
Like I said, I love this man.
For more information, check out all my links (Grandma, click on anything that is blue and it will lead you to a new webpage) or watch the documentary called Bogotá Cambio, which is available on YouTube. (I've embedded the first part of seven below.)
Nearly three weeks after the fact, this will be the last post concerning Ecuador until we go back in 2031.
We did some searching and booked a new hotel room starting Friday morning. Melody just couldn't do the other hotel any longer, and honestly I was pretty sick of it, too. Our new room was in Hotel San Francisco de Quito, and was quite a bit better in amenities, appearance, and atmosphere. It was a step up, certainly.
Melody and I located a nice bakery and had a breakfast of pineapple pastries while sitting on a shaded curb on a bustling side street while waiting for the masses to assemble for the procession of Jesus, El Gran Poder. This is billed as the largest and most pious Easter procession outside of Spain. And it definitely deserves some kind of notoriety, for reasons you are about to read.
With the sidewalks packed with people, the procession began with a police squadron in the lead, followed by a police band playing a trumpety durge, followed by the real eye-candy of the procession. These are the cucaruchos, or "sinners," who dress themselves in purple robes, clutch icons of Catholicism held to their chests, and who sport pointed hoods with eye and mouth holes. Yes, they look like purple KKK members marching on and on. Then, interspersed between groups of the cucaruchos are the Jesus impersonators who drag large wooden crosses (sometimes with help and sometimes not). A few of these men had pasted fake beards on their faces and had crowns of barbed wire wrapped above their brows. Some have crosses so heavy that a few of the cucaruchos help with the lifting while another poors water over their Jesus wigs. Roman soldiers in cardboard armor lash fake whips. Waves of marching bands follow, playing the same brassy, funereal music.
It gets successively stranger. Kids dressed up in the purple robes, or dressed like small Jesuses and carrying crosses made of nailed plywood. There are the cucaruchos who walk barechested, with barbed wire wrapped too tight around their torsos in an X pattern, sweaty and bleeding from the puncture wounds. They shackle their ankles and drag chains down the streets. They slap tied bunches of weeds over their swelling, irritated backs. Six foot tall Jesus statues are hoisted on platforms shouldered by the cucaruchos. The Virgin Mary moves through afterward.
This lasts for two hours.
We didn't really know what to make of all of it except for being weirded out.
We went to the top of Pichincha volcano, which overlooks Quito, soon after. We met the personal pilots for Axel Rose's South American tour on the top and they talked about how much of a bigoted idiot he is. We laughed. We got sunburned.
Saturday was our last real day in Quito and was ironically the day of our true introduction to the city via our official tour. This was provided by a member of the tourist police, who was in the process of studying for English so as to cater to gringos like us.
She took us to beautiful churches and cool museums over a period of two and a half hours and explained everything in quirky English. It was good.
Bought some souvenirs at the official tourist store and at a place where all products were made by indigenous people and all profits went back to them.
I went to the Ecuadorian central bank museum. It was uninteresting except for a huge space in a wall encased with transparent plastic and filled from floor to ceiling with a portion of all the Ecuadorian coins taken out of circulation when the country adopted the dollar back in 2000.
We left Quito Sunday morning. At the airport, while we stood in line to be checked in, we heard English spoken behind us. We turned around to see the two personal pilots for Axel Rose in their crisp flight uniforms, hauling their bags into an elevator.
Next stop, Medellin. Melody has agreed to pick up from there.
It was nice posting for a while. Maybe I'll jump back on board again soon.
In this post, I'm going to cut down a bit on the sort of dragging details I included in the first post about our Easter week in Ecuador. My thought is that, due to spending several days doing similar things in the same place, my memory's gotten hazy. Plus, I taught six hours today and I'm a little beat.
I forgot to mention on our way to Quito, we passed through the Mitad del Mundo, which is a monument erected by a French expedition in the 19th century to mark the exact place on the globe where the equator passes. Apparently it's special, because everywhere else on Earth except for Quito the equator passes through either teeming rainforest or ocean. The monument itself is interesting but not amazing, though I do have a cool photo here marking where the equator should be.
And by should, I mean surveyors later discovered that the French had been mistaken about plopping their monument down, because the true equator was actually a few hundred meters away, where the Indians told them to build it. Of course, being brilliant Western academics, they had to go and prove themselves wrong just out of spite.
So, after locating our hotel room, Melody got depressed at how unlike its online description it turned out to be. Read her thoughts in the post below if you want to know exactly what she was thinking. Basically, the place smelled like fish sticks, our window faced loud traffic, there was internet but no connectivity, and there was shower water that was at best lukewarm.
We went to Gringolandia, a neighborhood in Quito where all the foreigners hang out as business-owners and tourists. We agreed to go on a later bikeride with the Biking Dutchman, and had lunch/dinner (lunner?) at Red Hot Chili Peppers (Mexican food). Our first night was honestly blah.
Day two, Wednesday, we woke and walked to the government square where some protesters were shouting. We signed up for a personalized tour of Quito for Saturday. We went to a museum about ancient Ecuadorian cultures as well as colonial religious artwork. Weird combination. Paid for our biking trip to the volcano Cotopaxi for Thursday at Biking Dutchman. Bought cheapo fridge magnets and keychains later. And later still, we lined up outside the symphony hall for a free concert in which the orchestra lacked a string section but still insisted on playing some classical style pieces like Barber's "Adagio for Strings." Ironic choice, eh?
Thursday morning we woke in the dark and took cold showers before heading to Gringolandia and hopping in the Biking Dutchman Toyota Land Cruiser for our excursion to Cotopaxi. We had a bilingual biking expert lead us, a Spanish-speaking driver, and there were two other guys along for the adventure--Camilo, a Colombian engineer from Bogota who worked for Mazda, and an ex-pat Brit named Oliver who recently left his job as high school math teacher in New Zealand. We were eclectic, but we all meshed somehow.
We saw Cotopaxi volcano's snow-capped peak much sooner than the two hours it took us to traverse the Pan-American Highway to get there. We stopped along the way so that we could take pictures. It was both cool and cold.
Riding down was definitely an experience. We bundled in coats, gloves, and stocking caps (I bought Melody gloves and a cap made of alpaca wool at the entrance to the national park) to battle the fierce cold. The first eight kilometers were downhill on a curvy, steep, pothole-encrusted, more-dirt-than-gravel road. Hurts your hands from all the shaking. When the land flattened out again it was easier on the hands and harder on our lungs. Thankfully we stopped for water and pictures every so often. Everyone had lunch around a hut meant to demonstrate what the ruins of the Incan hut at the top of the next hill would have looked like. We ate excellent hummus and pita, cheesy pasta, and some kind of lasagna, washed down with warm green tea and finished off with brownies.
More tomorrow... I still have to write about the el Gran Poder procession/parade that featured thousands of people dressed in purple robes and hats that strongly resembled KKK costumes.
Hey guys. As you hopefully noticed below, Warren posted today about the first part of our trip to Ecuador. He is going to continue posting this week, so hooray for me not having to!
I'm sorry I made empty promises about updates a few weeks ago. I had a very bad experience with a hotel in Quito. I anonymously reviewed them, but they somehow figured out it was me and found my email in their old reservations. They sent me a truly horrible email that bordered on harassment. It was hurtful and cruel and prejudiced to the extreme. I was upset about it for days.
I don't normally review the places where I stay, but this place promised all sorts of things on its website and didn't have any of them: specifically, hot water, clean rooms, a quiet night's sleep, and free laundry. It also had a terrible breakfast and the entire place smelled like fish sticks. We left after 3 days because it was so horrible. It is absolutely the worst place I have ever stayed.
So my review, which was honest and completely true, upset them. The owner responded by calling me a stupid American and blaming the Iraq war and all the other problems in the world on me. She said she was disgusted by my behavior and called me a liar who never traveled and expected the whole world to be like the U.S. She also told me that if I spoke Spanish I wouldn't have had any problems. FYI, I spoke in Spanish to almost every person working at the hostel, and I had been very proud of myself for communicating in my developing second language.
Basically, I was hurt. I had my review removed and I told the woman to never contact me again. But that didn't make her words any less painful.
Although it may seem ridiculous, that's why I haven't posted in 2 weeks. At first, I was too upset and couldn't even bring myself to think about our trip. Since I had promised to write about Ecuador, I didn't want to just start writing about something else. Then I felt guilty about not blogging in so long... and well, I guess I never got beyond it.
So, Warren is going to blog about Ecuador, and I'm not. I might post some photos though--it really was a good trip, and I just need to get over that nasty email.
Hi, this is Warren, not Melody. She's been asking me to write her next post for at least two weeks and has refused to update until after I have made my own mark here for once. Now, I know she promised to talk about all of what went on in Ecuador, so I suppose that task is mine for now. Here goes nothing:
We made sure to do all of our paying of monthly bills and tennis shoes shopping (for Melody) on Friday the 25th, the night before we would be out of the country for just a little over a week.
Got up early on Saturday the 26th. By early I mean 4 a.m. Took a short 35-minute connecting flight on low-cost carrier Aires to Medellin. In Medellin, we grabbed our bags and jumped in a taxi to Colombia's Walmart, which is called Exito. We stocked up on breakfast and traveling snacks there, and then took another taxi to the international airport, which is conveniently (read inconveniently) located 45 minutes and 25 dollars outside Medellin. We literally waited the entire day there, reading English language magazines, eating Dunkin' Donuts and peanuts, and watching the jersey-clad team members of various South American countries who had participated in the Ninth South American Games, which had just come to a close. Melody and I bought two snazzy screw-cap water bottles with the Games logo on them.
TACA Airlines flew us to Quito in the late afternoon. A bunch of team members took the same plane as we did. After arriving and taking our bags, we found Estuardo holding a piece of paper with Melody's name on it. He was the guy we hired to drive us to Mindo, a tiny village two hours northwest of Quito, located in what's called the "cloud forest." He drove us there as night was falling. I fell asleep for awhile, and when Melody poked me awake, I could see the shapes of clouds hanging thick and ghostly just above the trees as the truck snaked on and on, down the mountainside. We were welcomed by an American voice when we arrived at our hostal/hotel/bed & breakfast called CasKaffeSu in Mindo. Susan showed us to our room and filled our new Medellin water bottles for us, kindly reminding us not to drink from the tap in Ecuador.
After breakfast and conversation in CasKaffeSu dining room the next day, we bought a map of Mindo from Susan and then rode in a taxi (It was actually just a truck owned and operated by one of the town's residents. Mindo's backroads are pretty scruffy.) to the ziplining location. Our two professional guides outfitted us in support ropes and clips and helmets, and then our group nine listened to their safety talk in Spanish. They threw in a couple English words here and there for the gringos' benefit. Then we were off.
For what must have been at least an hour, each of us took turns being hooked up and run across lines dipping through the forested valley between two mountains. It was pretty amazing. Melody and I even got to do what they called "the Superman." Not surprisingly, this entails them hooking your support from the backside of your waist rather than from your navel, which is the regular way. From there, you fly down the cable with your arms spread wide like you are, well, Superman.
Following that, we decided we'd hike it to the next attraction--the butterfly house. The journey was, however, much longer than it appeared on the map, so we ended up walking for probably over an hour on gravel roads intersected by some quick-moving streams. Luckily for us, the butterfly house also housed a butterfly restaurant. Our waitress and cashier turned out to also be our tour guide for the butterflies, and she explained in English the stages of butterfly life while demonstrating chrysalises in an upright box with a mesh door. There were hundreds flying about, with many latched to the walls and ceiling of netting. Melody and I made a new friend there. Her name was Isabella, and she would not let go of my finger. When she finally did, she decided to come right back and land on my arm.
The next day we went to the nearby Terrabita, where a canopy car shuttled us over leafy valleys to the next mountain over. We hiked on what felt like a jungle path all the way to several waterfalls, then disrobed into our swimming suits. The water was quite cold, however, so we were content to simply sit on river rocks with our feet dangling off the side. We snacked there and took cover when it began to rain. But half an hour later it was raining that much harder, so we sucked it up and trekked back up the trail. Needless to say, we were drenched through and through long before we got back up to the cable car platform.
That afternoon we ate a late lunch at El Quetzal, a nice but empty local restaurant where they also produce their own coffees and chocolates. We asked for a tour, but the two girls working recommended we come back after the manager returned, who could guide us in English. We did. The guy turned out to be in his early thirties at most and was a Michiganer recently transplanted to Ecuador to oversee the chocolate production. After the tour (which was interesting but a bit bland), we bought chocolate and dropped by The Dragonfly Inn, where we had fajitas and drinks. Monday night was our last night in Mindo.
So there you go. The first three days of Spring Break for us. We'll be posting more about it in chunks later.
Beyond this, our time here lately has been CONSUMED with creating, administering, and grading final examinations. We publish grades tonight, and tomorrow is the first day of second term. One down, three to go.
Isabel the butterfly at the Butterfly Museum in Mindo, Ecuador
Hello, blog. Hello, readers. I'm finally back. We just returned from Ecuador after a wonderful Semana Santa (Holy Week) vacation. I am going to post on our trip throughout the week, but for now I have lots of unpacking, cleaning, and planning to do to prepare for this coming week... BUT I want you to keep reading this week, so here's a taste of some things I experienced:
1. Taking a terribita (cable car) across a mountain valley through clouds in the pouring rain (actually way more fun then it sounds).
2. Watching people dressed in outfits that are basically a purple version of KKK outfits drag chains through the streets of Quito.
3. Learning about how chocolate is made late at night, outside, in the rain, with a guy from Michigan.
4. Riding a bike down the highest active volcano in Ecuador and eating hummus next to an old Inca fortress.
5. Closing the degree of separation between me and Axel Rose (of Guns & Roses) from about one million people to one. (Too bad I don't listen to them...)
And here is why I am glad to be back in Colombia:
1. I can drink the water out of the faucet.
2. I cooked my own dinner tonight.
3. My pesos go farther than my pesos-into-dollars did.
4. I can flush toilet paper down the toilet.
5. The weather. There's no where in the world with weather as good as the weather in this part of Colombia!
So, yes. It was a great trip, but it's lovely to be back in my own apartment in the 80 degree F weather. Please check back frequently this week, as I promise to post often this week and tell you all about my trip.
