Jungle Vacation

In mid-January, we took our vacation to the third region of Ecuador: the jungle. Yes, we've supposedly lived in the jungle throughout our two years here, but this was our chance to go "muy adentro"--way far in. We took two days to hike through Jatun Sacha (which means "big jungle" in Kichwa) with our guide, Fabio (not the margarine-eater that's on your romance novels).

Standing in front of a ceibo tree.

Project - Horticulture

From September 2012 to August 2013 (I am embarrassingly behind on writing blogs), I co-taught organic agriculture classes as one of my main activities. It was quite a learning experience for me, as it is the first opportunity I have had to participate in formal education. We had four sections, each of which came to the school farm for two hours each week. For each section, we selected a project appropriate to the knowledge level of the students. One of these projects was horticulture, or vegetable production.

Some of my students planting seeds in a freshly made bed.

Sometimes English is Hard (vol. 1)

Sometimes English is hard and does strange things. Here's what can happen if you're not careful:

An ice cream place advertising Banana Splings.

Coma-Coca, the drink of choice at this coastal restaurant. We're not sure if this is an attempt to be clever (in Spanish it means "eat cocaine") or if someone was just very confused...

We didn't eat at this restaurant.

Here's a little help with the last one:

Pescado Frito - fried fish - Correct!
Pescado Apanado - prepared fish - More correct would be "breaded fish"
Pescado al Ajillo - fish with garlic - Yay! (ps THIS IS DELICIOUS!)
Pescado a la Plancha - fish to the iron - Haha no. Grilled fish.
Pescado al Vapor - sweater fish. fish sweater? - Teehee! Steamed fish. We saw "sweaty fish" at another restaurant. We stayed away from that one, as well.

These photos all came from our trip to Puerto Lopez. The food there is fantastic (and I'm sure even the sweater fish is good). I especially recommend anything encocado--with coconut sauce!

I just hope that my flubs in Spanish can bring someone such entertainment. I can't compete with our friend Rich--he told us, "Me duele la pechuga," which means, "My chicken breast hurts."

What's your favorite language blooper?

..kirstie..

This post is part of the Language and Culture series.

Solar Food Preservation

I briefly mentioned my solar dehydrator project in a previous post. Now that this project has been wrapped up, here's a little more detail.

Having lived most of my life in temperate climates, I'm used to the idea of seasonal fruits and veggies, and the need to preserve produce in order to have something tasty to eat in the winter. Sure, NAFTA eliminates some of that need, but preserving food is still an important part of American culture.

During the first few months in Ecuador, I quickly realized that food preservation is very rare here. Before refrigeration was widely available, meat and fish were smoked or dried to extend the bounty of a hunt for up to a month. Now, even if a family doesn't own a fridge, the store down the street that sells chicken probably does. So few people preserve meat anymore.

Although food preservation isn't common, there are some products that need to be dried as part of the processing. Cacao, coffee, and plantain (for grinding into flour) are the most common.

At the school farm, the teachers were experimenting with designs to accelerate the drying of cacao and improve the quality (mold and flies are very common when sun-drying cacao).

Version 1.0 of the solar dehydrator.

The first design they came up with had a lot of good qualities:
-Made from recycled/free materials
-Improved airflow below cacao compared with sun-drying on a tarp
-Easy to use

This is Where Your Trash Goes

Part of our coastal vacation included a trip to visit a fellow Peace Corps volunteer in Esmeraldas. Isaac helped him with a tourist mapping project (that will hopefully be up soon for all to see and use!), and we also got roped into doing a beach cleanup (I say "roped in" only because we thought we were going to see the mangroves, didn't, and ended up stranded on a beach with our guide and a bunch of trash bags--but it was okay!)

I've heard a lot about the Pacific Garbage Patch and the baby albatrosses who fill their stomachs with plastic. I've taught how "all our litter eventually ends up in the ocean" (which is hyperbole, but not really). But I didn't actually GET it until I saw the beach in Muisne.

I don't want this blog to be a giant guilt-fest--there's enough of that elsewhere, and I don't know if it's particularly helpful or healthy. I do want to share some photos and some of the thoughts I had while working on the beach so that you can maybe think my thoughts with me.

Let's start with a pretty landscape of the beach.

Foto Friday: Monos en Misahuallí

Usually foto Friday is just one picture, but there's so many good ones that I can't pick. So you get some yapa this week. These photos are taken in a tourist town about an hour from Santa Clara. If you come visit us, we'll take you there.

Kirstie chasing Golem

If you have ever been around monkeys, you know they are always looking for food...

...Even if it means stealing someone's snow cone.

But they don't stoop to eating logs.

This is probably one of my favorite pictures I've ever taken.

..Isaac..

Foto Friday: The Angry Jungle Goat

Meet Kirstie's friend-goat. He likes to fight Isaac.

Foto Friday: Momotus momota

A blue-crowned motmot (Motmotus momota), also known as a culebrero, near Canoa, Ecuador.

Vacation to the Coast!

We finally made it to the coast! We took about a week and a half off from our activities here in the jungle and made the fifteen-hour bus journey to help a friend with a tourist mapping project (more about that visit in a future blog) and then head down to Puerto Lopez to chillax on the beach.

Snail trails on the beach in Puerto Lopez.

Creepy Crawlies of Ecuador, vol. 2 (Extra Creepy)

Happy Halloween! We thought it appropriate to share a dose of jungle-creepiness with you this year to celebrate. These are some of the more bizarre, terrifying, and weird insects we've snapped on camera during our journeys through the Amazon.

(If you missed it, you can check out volume 1 of Creepy Crawlies here.)

We'll start with one that isn't TOO terrifying. It may look cute and fuzzy, but these furry guys are not for petting. Ecuadorians tell us: "Esos pican." Those ones sting!

Read on... IF YOU DARE!!!